The Opposition UDF on Monday used Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal’s budget announcement regarding foreign and private universities to mock the CPI(M)-led LDF for ‘ditching’ its declared policies on private investment in higher education.
Speaking in the State Assembly on the opening day of the general discussion on the 2024-25 budget, UDF members said the CPI(M) owed an apology to former vice chairman of the State Higher Education Council T.P. Sreenivasan who was assaulted by SFI activists during a protest against the Global Education Meet at Kovalam in 2016.
The LDF government should explain whether it has shifted from its stand on neoliberal policies with its budget announcement, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said.
“You (the CPI(M)) who had claimed that privatisation of education is an agenda of globalisation are now rolling out the red carpet to foreign universities,” Congress’s P.C. Vishnunadh said.
Mr. Balagopal’s February 5 budget announcement that steps will be taken to establish private universities in the State and examine “opportunities” for foreign university campuses had sparked a heated debate.
Mr. Chennithala went on to add that the UDF was not against foreign universities, as it would help stem the outflow of Keralite students.
UDF slams Budget
UDF members said the 2024-25 State Budget betrayed the people of Kerala and lacked proposals to overcome the present crisis. “The Union Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the State Budget tabled by Mr. Balagopal are best described by Shakespeare’s lines “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” Mr. Chennithala said.
The State Budget was utterly devoid of constructive proposals to overcome the present crisis faced by the State, Mathew Kuzhalnadan of the Congress alleged.
“What is Plan B?
UDF members also demanded the Finance Minister to clarify as to what he meant by ‘Plan B’ in the budget speech. It is improper procedure not to disclose what ‘Plan B’ is, N. Shamsudeen of the IUML said. “If there is a Plan B, it has to be discussed in the Assembly. It is the House that has to approve it,” he said. He wanted Mr. Balagopal to explain the plan in his reply to the discussion on the Budget.
UDF members also criticised the government for bias against Opposition constituencies in the allocation of funds.
LDF members supported the budget saying that it provided hope to the State in the face of the neglect shown by the BJP-led Union Government.
The general discussion on the budget will continue in the Assembly on Tuesday.
