Tearing into the Centre's big ticketreforms, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa todaydescribed it as "diversionary" to "anaesthetise the mammothcorruption charges" against the UPA Government especially whenelections seem imminent.
"The UPA Government is unfazed by the sufferings of thecommon people, small traders and small farmers.....This moveat best is a gimmick and at worst an unworthy risk," she saidin a statement two days after the Manmohan Singh governmentunleashed the second wave of reforms over FDI in pension andinsurance sectors.
Strongly opposing these moves, she said they weredetrimental to the future of common people of the country.
"The act of disguising harmful decisions and promotingthem under the name of grand reforms amounts to deceiving thepeople of the country. No amount of rhetoric will change thetruth," she said.
The AIADMK supremo lambasted the Centre when she saidthat its decision to hike FDI in Insurance sector to 49 percent, "against a Parliamentary Standing Committeerecommendation will prove disastrous".
"As to whether they have the right to jeopardise thiscrucial sector is a debatable issue," she said adding limitingthe capital requirement to Rs 50 crore for insurance companieswill lead to "mushrooming" of small companies lackingexperience and capability and will be fraught with danger.
It will unnecessarily expose the public to the risk ofuncertainty, she said.
Allowing FDI in pension funds and channelling thedomestic savings of elderly persons into the highly risky andunpredictable capital market will place the future of seniorcitizens at tremendous risk, the Chief Minister added.
Jayalalithaa said the government's green signal to hike FDI ceiling in insurance sector to 49 per cent from 26 per centand opening up the pension sector will be operational only ifrelevant bills were passed in Parliament where, she said,the UPA "faces a number crunch."
"FDI in the Insurance Sector will lead to the emergence anddominance of private insurance companies whose motives will betotally commercial," she said.
Consequently, public sector insurance companies like LIC,which participate actively in the developmental process, will"suffer", she said.
"As a result, the developmental process of the nationitself will be adversely and severely affected," the ChiefMinister, who had earlier announced she will not implement FDIin multi-brand retail in Tamil Nadu, said.