Monday, March 13 2006 17:33 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Opposing FDI in retail and mining sectors, CPI(M) today (Mar 13 2006) dismissed Finance Minister P Chidambaram's suggestion that the Left should do away with "political and ideological blinkers" and instead asked him to remove his "neo-liberal" blinkers.

"First let him remove his neo-liberal ideological blinkers," party leader Nilotpal Basu told sources.

He stated this when asked to comment on the Finance Minister's recent statement that India could emulate Communist China which is largest producer in the world of shoes and toys if "ideoligical and politican blinkers were removed", an obvious reference to the Left parties.

To another question, Basu said his party saw nothing wrong in seeking US investments by the Left-ruled West Bengal government. "We are against US imperialist policies of the US but have no enmity with the US people."

The CPI(M) leader his party was totally opposed to FDI in retail and mining sectors as retail was the second largest employment generator while multinational mining companies have "manipulated" political processes in countries as was witnessed in Chile.