Oppose Vijaya Bank's merger with other banks: Rai

Mangaluru: Union Government has decided to merge the profit making Vijaya Bank with the loss making Dena Bank and Bank of Baroda with the objective of protecting the interests of the rich capitalists, said former minister Ramanatha Rai at Congress party office here on Monday, September 24^th.

Addressing the reporters Mr Rai said, “The union government has been appeasing the corporate entities. The merger of Vijaya Bank with other banks is a classic example for the same. Vijaya Bank is making profits, then why merge it with the banks that are making losses.” he asked.

Oppose the move

“Vijaya Bank was founded by Attavara Balakrishna Shetty and Mulki Sundaram Shetty was the founder chairman of the Bank. When the Bank was in a loss, the employees of the bank sacrificed their salary until it got success. It has opened its branches in almost all rural areas so as to benefit farmers and others. Despite Vijaya Bank making profits now, Narendra Modi-led union government is now planning to merge it with other banks,” he said urging people to oppose this move.

“The NDA government was only interested in protecting the interests of the rich. UPA government had waived Rs 72,000 crore loans of farmers while the present government has written off Rs 2 lakh crore loans of industrialists,” said Rai placing forth some statistics on waiving of loans by UPA and BJP government.

Country facing undeclared emergency

“There is an `undeclared emergency` in the country which is more dangerous than the one declared by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975. As the Lok Sabha election is fast approaching, the BJP is raising the issue of Ram Mandir and is trying to convert its vote bank. Instead of taking the opinion of the masses, Narendra Modi is acting like a dictator by taking unilateral decisions,” observed the former minister.