Trinamool threatens mass agitation in Delhi
KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress (TMC) has threatened to launch mass agitation in Delhi if the BJP-led Centre decides to privatise Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and other public sector companies.
Following the party’s recent protests in Kolkata by its workers’ wing against the alleged privatisation of LIC, TMC MPs have threatened to launch a mass protest in Delhi in days to come if the Centre does not retract its decision. TMC MP Sougata Roy said that LIC was made into a public sector enterprise so people’s insurance with it remains protected. However, it seems the BJP has become desperate in wanting to privatise it, leaving the fate of millions of Indians in uncertainty. This needs to be stopped, he asserted. Roy also pointed out how Indian ports are being privatised by allegedly selling them to the Adani Group.
TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay said that if required TMC will start a mass protest movement in Delhi to stop this privatisation drive. He said that it is not just the LIC but the BJPled Centre appears to have decided to sell off every public sector unit, eventually. “We need to force the Centre to step back from its decision to sell off the country’s assets to a coterie of industrialists,” he said.
The protest by TMC also comes in the wake of the LIC Agents Organisation of India (LICAOI) alleging that the Centre was planning to push LIC onto the path of privatisation by coming out with an IPO and subsequently handing it over to corporate groups.
As part of this, the IRDAI draft ‘Bhima Nigam’ and other policies were brought out by the government. LICAOI fears that not only the existence of LIC but also that of LIC Agents was put at stake.