Air India: A gift by Government to Tata?

General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI M) Sitaram Yechury busted his rage upon the central government over the sale of Air India, he in his harsh words called the sale a “restless loot of India’s national assets.”

The CPI (M) leader on Monday said that Air India was given to the Tata as a “gift” and it was a “daylight highway robbery” of the national assets.

While Yechury addressed the press conference he alleged that the burden of debt on the airline of Rs 46,262 crore will be charged from the public in the form of taxes.

"The central government continues with its relentless loot of India's national assets. The iconic national flag carrier, Air India, has been sold to the Tatas. This sale is tantamount to giving a gift to the Tatas by the Modi government. This is daylight highway robbery of national assets”.

"The Tatas will inherit Rs 15,300 crores of debt, which will surely be restructured, paying the central government a mere Rs 2,700 crore for the national carrier, with all its core assets," Yechury said.

The remaining debt of Rs 46,262 crore will be the burden of the government, which means the people will have to bear this, he claimed.

"However, all the assets acquired by Air India via its debt, including the brand new fleet of aircraft, will be the Tatas' property now," Yechury said.

Rumours about the alliance of CPI with Congress:

On being asked about the alliance of Congress and CPI(M) at the national level, Yechury eliminated the question by saying that the final decision shall be taken by the CPI(M) party congress.

On being asked further he said that "The focus is now to isolate and defeat the BJP and to maximize polling of anti-BJP votes. We will decide state-wise how best this can be done. The focus is on strengthening our independent ways. Find and rectify weaknesses,"

This indicates that there is still a disagreement among the senior leaders of CPI(M) about the nationwide merger of the party with Congress, sources tell that during a party meeting, leaders from Kerela opposed the idea while others favoured it.

During the press meet, Yechury raised the issue of violence in Jammu and Kashmir which the central government promised peace.

Further questions arose against BJP as while PM Modi gave the slogan to remove the bitterness from the hearts of people and give new opportunities and quality education to the people of Kashmir remains undone, "Dil ki doori, Dilli ki doori" remains "empty rhetoric" he said”

The CPI(M) leader demanded immediate action in the sense of termination of the Union Minister of State for being in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.  “Justice cannot be delivered with his continuation as a minister," he said.

The prime accused can be identified in this footage. The party demands the immediate dismissal of the minister and stringent action against his son on charges of brutal cold-blooded murder," he added.

Writer’ perspective:

If we look at the history of the Airline we come across the fact that Air India was started by JRD Tata, but due to nationalision of the company, the airline was shifted to as a government resource with JRD no longer being a part of it, the lack of management by the government over the years made a huge debt of over Rs 60,000 Crore with no sign to repay it thus it was a wise choice for the government to sell it and for the airline and staff it is rather good news that Air India is returned to Tata.

From the statements of CPI(M) leaders, it is clear that the only thorn in the eye for CPI(M) and other opposition parties is BJP thus it might be wrong to blame the central government for selling the airline to its highest bidder over the agreed price.

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