Chennai, Mar 22: AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa today opposed the entry of multinational companies into retail sector, charging that it would affect the livelihood of six crore small traders in the country.

''It is necessary to keep in mind that the East India Company entered India in 1750 in such a manner and later went on to enslave the entire country,'' she said in a statement here.

She claimed that the US firm, 'Wal-mart', which had made a foray into Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Gautemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and England, had totally demolished retail trading in those countries.

The Government could not give any guarantee that such a situation would not arise in Tamil Nadu as well, she said and added that the background of the Government's invitation to the MNCs and its involvement in the matter should be probed.

Ms Jayalalithaa charged that the companies, taking into consideration the fact that 60 per cent of the Indian population had the buying power, had entered the market with the ruse of offering commodities at low prices.

Once small traders are debilitated in the competition, those firms would take control of the entire retail market and fix prices as per their wish, she alleged.

Should the business of crores of small traders suffer just for the sake of the growth of a few companies', the AIADMK supremo asked.

Expressing solidarity with wholesale and small traders who were opposing the entry of MNCs into the retail segment, she announced that party Presidium Chairman E Madhusudanan would take part in their token fast to be observed in the city tomorrow .


UNI