CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said they would continue their fight against the BJP at the national level under the banner of Opposition parties’ INDIA alliance but a tie-up with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal was out of question.
Addressing the inaugural session of the party’s West Bengal committee meeting in Howrah, Yechury said, “Today, our political and ideological project is to save the secular and democratic fabric of the republic for a better future. All non-BJP parties must come together to do this.”
On the CPI(M) members questioning the presence of Mamata Banerjee-led party in the INDIA bloc, Yechury said the CPI(M) leadership has always maintained that the TMC cannot be an alternative to the BJP. “If we have to save India and its people, we have to separate the BJP from controlling government power and state power,” he said.
The TMC compromises with the BJP-led NDA if such a situation arises, he alleged.
“If we have to save India and its people, we have to separate the BJP from controlling the government and state power. You enlist the support of whoever is willing at this moment, being fully aware that it will not be consistent, there can also be betrayals on the way,” Yechury said.
Hitting out at the BJP and the RSS, Yechury said, “You assault reason and rationality. Attacks on reason and rationality breed irrationality, which in turn, breeds blind faith and a false belief system. Blind faith and belief are exactly what they want for their fascistic project to advance. They need that only. They resort to gimmickery to divert the attention of people. We have to now understand the rabid right-wing ecosystem that has been created.”
Slamming the NDA government at the Centre, he said, “We no longer live in a democracy. We are in an electoral autocracy. Amrit galat hathon mein chala gaya hai… hum sabko woh amrit lana hai desh ki janata ke hit ke liye… yehi aj ka sabse bara kartvya hai Bharat ka logo ka…(The nectar has gone into the wrong hands. We have to bring it back for the good of the people of the country. Today, it is the biggest duty of the people of the country).”
On allegations of corruption against TMC leaders, the CPI(M) leader claimed that the ruling party in Bengal is “anti-people and anti-democratic and they destroyed the entire concept of democratic elections in the state”.
Asserting that while the target is to defeat the BJP, Yechury said there’s also a need to focus on democracy and people’s rights against attacks by the TMC in Bengal. After achieving the bigger goal of defeating the BJP, other issues can come up, he added.
The CPI(M) leader claimed that the BJP government is trying to rewrite the history of the country, including that of the Mughal era and British rule.
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“Learning from history is the foundation for any society’s development,” he said.
Stating that prices of onions have risen to Rs 80 per kg in Delhi, Yechury said, “Since 2014, prices of every commodity have risen by at least 30 per cent on an average. Nearly 40 per cent of the country’s graduates are unemployed. India has one of the highest youth unemployment in the world.”
Also, the party’s youth wing DYFI led by Minakshi Mukherjee on Friday started an “Insaaf Yatra” from Cooch Behar. The two-month-long yatra will be held across the state before concluding in Kolkata on January 7 with a rally that will be addressed by senior CPI(M) leaders.
— With PTI inputs
