Thiruvananthapuram: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has announced a statewide Black Day on Wednesday, protesting what it calls the Centre’s continued neglect of Kerala in the Union Budget. The party has instructed its cadres to organise protest demonstrations at all polling booths across the state.
The CPM alleged that none of the 29 demands submitted by Kerala ahead of the budget were taken into account, accusing the Centre of overlooking the state’s long-term development priorities. The allegations were raised by the party’s state secretariat in a strongly worded statement.
The party further pointed out that Kerala was excluded from the proposed seven high-speed railway corridors, and was also left out of key budget announcements related to inland waterways, new universities, and township development projects.
“The Union Budget reflects an attitude as if Kerala does not exist on India’s map,” the CPM state secretariat said, accusing the Centre of adopting a discriminatory approach towards the state.
The Black Day protests are expected to intensify the political confrontation between the state government and the Centre over resource allocation and development priorities.
