Kolkata, Feb 16 (PTI) CPI(M) Politburo leader Sitaram Yechuri today criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for talking of inclusive growth even as the UPA government was providing Rs 15 lakh crore tax subsidies "to the rich". "In the last three budgets Rs 15 lakh crore tax subsidies in the name of stimulus packages have been given away to the rich," he said at a function to mark the 23rd CPI(M) state conference here. "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is talking of inclusive growth, but such acts are only increasing the divide between the rich and the poor," Yechuri, also a Rajya Sabha MP, said. "Inclusive growth can only happen if these taxes are collected and spent on infrastructure and development projects," he said. The government's neo-liberal reforms trajectory should be changed to pro-people policies to save the country from going the way that some European countries have gone due to financial crunch, said the leader. "The only way our country can save itself from a financial crisis, which it is heading for by blindly opening up the market to global economic forces, is by increasing public investment and raising purchasing power of the people in the coming Budget," he said.
