VIJAYAWADA: Stating that his government will take the BJP head-on in Sabarimala issue, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac has said that a human wall will be formed by women from one end of the State to the other.
Delivering the Makineni Basavapunnaiah memorial lecture here on Friday, the CPM leader said, “You know the Sabarimla agitation... We have decided to take it (BJP) head-on. Now it is our turn. Three million women are going to stand shoulder to shoulder from one end to other end of Kerala. We call this the renaissance.”
The human wall is scheduled to be organised on January 1, when the women will form a 600-km-long wall. The human wall by women is an attempt by the Kerala government to garner support to its stance following the protests by right-wing organisations, including BJP, against the entry of women of all ages in the Sabarimala shrine after the Supreme Court verdict.
On the occasion, Isaac criticised the BJP-led Centre for its alleged attempts to restrict the States on various issues. He said the Centre was trying to make Financial Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act more stringent by reducing the percentage of fiscal deficit, curtailing the borrowing and resource moblising capacities of the States. Isaac also noted that the BJP-led Centre was destroying the institutions of democracy such as Reserve Bank of India and others and said that the States were not consulted during the appointment of RBI Governor or the Chairperson of the Finance Commission.
Talking about the Finance Commission, he said, “The Finance Commission is supposed to be a neutral body, which should be a facilitator between the States and the Centre. However, the BJP government, framed atrocious Terms of Reference (ToR). It is asking the 15th Finance Commission to review the ToR of its preceding commission. The Centre wants to rollback even the little gain the States are getting by manipulating the ToR.” Alleging that the Centre was trying to bypass even the local governance systems such as Panchayat Raj, the Kerala minister accused the BJP government of centralising the financial resources.
“Doing away with Planning Commission and substituting it with Niti Aayog is the biggest centralisation of power. Huge financial resources are at the Centre’s disposal and the BJP dictates what the Niti Aayog should do,” the Kerala minister added.
He stressed the need of complete federalism and said giving States the powers was the only way to ensure national unity, achieve balanced development across the States and reach the aspirations of every region.