Accusing the Centre of dithering in disclosing names of people who had kept black money abroad, CPI National General Secretary A B Bardhan told reporters here that the apex court`s appointment of SIT "was a slap on the face of the Centre for its inaction to deal with the black money issue."
"The UPA government simply lacks will to make public the names of people who have stashed black money abroad," he claimed.
He said the UPA government had increased the price of kerosene, diesel and LPG cylinders hurting the common man and suggested universalisation of the public distribution system to ensure that the poor were assured of food security.
The Centre should also speed up the process for defining the criterion of poor and identify their numbers so as to include them in the ambit of the proposed food security bill.
He also demanded repeal of the `colonial` Land Acquisition Act, 1894, and replacement with new legislation with pro-farmer and pro-production features.
The new land acquisition policy should incorporate provisions for barring acquisition of fertile land for industries, he said and criticised the Naveen Patnaik government in Orissa for acquiring land for the Posco steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district in Orissa and said that the locals there were rightly resisting it.
He also said there should be unity among communist parties on an unification agenda.