The United Progressive Alliance government was 'barking up the wrong tree' by pumping more liquidity into the financial market to overcome the financial crisis, instead of taking steps to strengthen the economic power of the common man, CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said on Tuesday.

Inaugurating a seminar on 'the global financial crisis and its impact on India' in Thiruvananthapuram, he said that the genesis of the global meltdown was the incapacity of the borrower to repay and not the weakness of the lender. So targetting the lender would not solve the problem.

Claiming that the Left parties had saved the country from a deeper crisis, Yechury said they had prevented the UPA government from going ahead with bank reforms, opening up the insurance sector, privatisation of pension fund and full capital convertibility.

'The crisis would have been worse if the UPA government were allowed to go ahead with these neo-liberal policies,' he said and suggested a mass movement of the working class to prevent the Centre from carrying out with its globalization policies, which have proved disastrous with the collapse of the US economy.

Yechury said the government should strengthen public investments, generate employment opportunities and increase the purchasing power of the people.

Criticising the Centre's decision to reduce aviation fuel tax, he said the government was giving relief to the airline sector but was reluctant to provide a similar concession to two-wheeler riders by reducing petrol and diesel prices.