UP, BJP States not to implement FDI in retail

NEW DELHI, Sept 15:
Uttar Pradesh and BJP-ruled States today said they will not implement FDI in multi-brand retail.
As the stand taken by State Governments on executing Centre’s decision yesterday to allow 51 per cent FDI in retail went along party lines, the BJD Government in Odisha said it would examine the matter.
BSP also joined the BJP in opposing the FDI decision while the RJD backed the Centre.
BJP spokesperson Jagat Prakash Nadda said all States in which the party is in power are unanimous in their opposition to FDI in multi-brand retail.
The parties and alliances ruling in 11 major States including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have opposed the Centre’s decision, which has also been opposed by the AIADMK Government in Tamil Nadu.
If one went by the 2011 Census data, there are 37 cities with more than one million population in 11 States ruled by the parties opposed to the decision.
States which have supported the Centre’s decision include Maharashtra, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Assam-all ruled by UPA.
These States have 19 cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Vijaywada and Srinagar with more than one million population.
As per the FDI policy approved by the Cabinet, the final authority for granting the trade licence rests with the States under their respective Shops and Establishment Acts. Also, Foreign retailers will only be allowed to set up shop in cities with a population of more than one million.
A day after giving a 72-hour deadline to the Centre to roll back its FDI decision and diesel price hike, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said reforms did not mean “selling out everything”.
“I do not support any decision to sell out everything. This might suit one section of the Government,” she said.
“Samajwadi Party’s view is very clear on the FDI issue and it will not implement it in Uttar Pradesh,” UP Chief Minister Yadav said in Lucknow.
“Foreign investment in grocery cannot be accepted leaving our people jobless. It will not be implemented in Madhya Pradesh,” Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in Bhopal.
Mamata Banerjee, known for her stiff opposition to FDI in multi-brand retail, said, “A series of unilateral and anti-people decisions might help in raising Sensex points only for the time being.
“I agree that Sensex must be stable, but at the same time, policy and planning should not be used to impose back-breaking burden on the common people.”
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the State Government will do whatever is best for Odisha and its people.
“The Centre has left it to State Governments. Therefore, we will examine it carefully,” he said in Bhubaneswar.
Defending the Centre’s decision, RJD chief Lalu Prasad said farmers stood to gain from FDI in multi-brand retail as they will get a fair price of their produce.
Welcoming the announcement, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said those States opposed to FDI in retail should not prevent others from implementing it.
Gogoi described the decision of the Union Cabinet as “very bold” and said under no circumstances should it be reversed.
Lashing out at Government’s decision, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said it will affect the domestic manufacturing and lead to massive job losses.
Describing FDI in retail as “anti-people”, BSP supremo and former UP Chief Minister Mayawati said her party has been opposing the policy from the last one year.
Congress-ruled Haryana’s Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda hailed the Centre’s decision and congratulated Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for his “bold initiative”.
Punjab, where BJP is a junior partner in the Government led by ally SAD, was initially in favour of FDI in multi-brand retail before throwing its lot with BJP-ruled States.
Meanwhile, UPA ally Samajwadi Party, along with a number of other non-UPA parties including BJP, will hold coordinated agitational programmes on September 20 across the country to protest the hike in diesel price and FDI in multi-brand retail.
In a joint statement, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav along with Left parties, JD(S), BJD and TDP alleged that the UPA Government has “stuck cruel blows on the people one after another” by raising diesel price, limiting subsidised cooking gas, opening up of multi-brand retail and disinvestment of PSUs.
“Let us all unite to stop these measures which will further burden the people and ruin their livelihood. Let there be a powerful protest on September 20 through hartals, picketing, demonstrations and court arrest programmes,” the statement said.
Besides Yadav, the statement was signed by H D Deve Gowda (JD-S), Prakash Karat (CPI-M), S Sudhakar Reddy (CPI), Naveen Patnaik (BJD), Chandrababu Naidu (TDP), Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and T J Chandrachoodan (RSP).
BJP-led NDA separately announced that it will hold a nation-wide strike on the same day, September 20, to demand rollback of FDI in multi-brand retail and the Rs 5 hike in diesel prices.
NDA Working Chairperson L K Advani said the people of the country were feeling “suffocated” by the UPA Government and want this to end. He asked Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to introspect and call for fresh polls.
“I am sure that the suffocation felt by the people for a long time is about to come to an end. It would be prudent and wise for the Prime Minister and the Government itself to decide that they will not wait till 2014 for the people to give their opinion about the UPA Government. Let them call for an early election. Let the people make a decision,” he said.
SP and JD(S), which are supporting the UPA Government from outside, have been critical of the Government’s decisions. They along with Left parties had earlier written a joint letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on price hike issue.
“It (UPA) has raised the price of diesel by Rs five per litre, burdening the farmers. It has limited subsidised gas cylinder per family to six and the rest will have to be bought at market price which is more than double.
“It has opened multi-brand retail trade to foreign supermarket chains, endangering livelihood of more than four crore people involved in retail trade and the mass of consumers. It is selling off shares of profitable PSUs and Navaratna companies like NALCO and Oil India,” their statement said.
Asking public to protest the “anti-people measures”, the leaders appealed to farmers, workers, women, youths, transporters, shopkeepers, traders organisations and all “patriotic-minded citizens” to join the movement.
NDA held a meeting this evening to discuss the new developments and all its constituents, BJP, JD(U), SAD and Shiv Sena, decided to hold the protests on the same day along with the Left parties, SP and JD(S).
Sources said these non-Congress parties are in touch with each other and are making all efforts to make the protests a big success.
The BJP alleged that Government is in a very bad situation, more so since the Supreme Court observations on the coal allocations, and wanted to shift focus from the scam. Hence it had announced FDI in multi-brand retail as a diversionary tactic.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has also called for a nation-wide bandh on September 20, to protest against Government’s decision to operationalise 51 per cent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail.
“The CAIT and Bharat Udyog Vyapar Mandal have called for a Bharat Trade Bandh on September 20, in which majority of traders across the country would participate,” CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said here today.
All shops will remain shut for a day, besides traders will also formulate their future strategy to protest against the Government’s move, he added.
Khandelwal said: “We want the Government to roll-back its decision to implement FDI in multi-brand retail as it would adversely impact the traders.”
The Cabinet, yesterday, decided to operationalise 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail but left it to the state governments to allow setting up of such stores.
Further, the CAIT said it has also appealed to various political parties to extend their support to Bharat Trade Bandh call.
“Traders will also meet Chief Ministers of various States to garner their support for the movement,” Khandelwal said.
Further, he said, the Government even did not consult the traders and other stakeholders of the retail trade before announcing its decision to liberalise the retail sector.
Traders and opposition parties had said allowing foreign retailers like Walmart, Tesco and Carrefour in multi-brand retail in India would lead to loss of jobs for lakhs of people.
The confederation claimed it has a membership of over five crore traders across India. (PTI)

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