MODI and Edappadi governments in the centre and the state should go, said national leaders of the CPI(M) at their election campaign in Tamil Nadu.

Sitaram Yechury, general secretary, Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau members of the party, toured across Tamil Nadu for three days and campaigned for the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in the state.

Sitaram Yechury addressing a massive gathering at Kovilpatti in Thoothukudi constituency in support of Kanimozhi, DMK candidate, said that the manifesto of the BJP is just another ‘jumla’. He pointed that the Modi government has utterly failed in delivering its earlier commitments to the people. “Modi and other BJP leaders have no words to put forth their achievements in the last five years,” he said.

In Madurai, Yechury addressed a public meeting in support of Su Venkatesan, CPI(M) candidate. He appreciated Venkatesan's efforts to protest the attacks of Modi’s government on the cultural front. Yechury elaborated the attacks of RSS-BJP combine on cultural sphere of the country and appealed the people to oust the government in the upcoming elections. He said that the 17th Lok Sabha polls are crucial for the country to save India and its constitution.

Prakash Karat addressed a meeting at Thiruvarur in support of CPI candidate at Nagapattinam Lok Sabha constituency, M Selvaraj and DMK candidate Kalaivanan contesting for Thiruvarur assembly by-polls. Karat appealed the people to oust the Edappadi government in the state and the Modi government at the centre, as the AIADMK government has become a slave of the BJP and became anti-people. He vehemently criticised the AIADMK government under Edappadi Palanisamy as the worst one in the political history of Tamil Nadu.

Brinda Karat addressed various meetings in Madurai and Coimbatore in support of CPI(M) candidates Su Venkatesan and P R Natarajan. She appealed the people to defeat two targets, the Modi and the Edappadi governments, with one arrow.  

"Every single party represented on the dais here is committed to defeat BJP-RSS in order to save India, save democracy, save secularism and plurality. This election is not an ordinary election. Secular forces are on one side and the divisive communal forces are on the other side. The DMK-led alliance in which Left parties are an integral part would defeat BJP to protect the state of Tamil Nadu" she said.

“In the last five years, the central government at Delhi destroyed the legacy of our civilization. The government focussed on 'one language, one culture, one religion'. They want to destroy the constitution of India and remove the word ‘secular’ from the constitution. They attacked every democratic institution of the country including the Supreme Court, RBI and CBI. Educational institutions are not safe in the hands of the BJP government. Four Supreme Court judges came out and addressed the press which highlighted the threat to the independence of the judiciary,” she said.

She added that the central government is responsible for mass lynching in the name of cow protection and love jihad. “There are severe attacks and violence in the country in the last five years. People of India have to vote for the Left forces, progressive forces and secular forces. Then in the next five years, there will be a secular government at Delhi to protect our constitution,” she said.

Brinda Karat explained that in a country where more than 50 per cent of the population is women, four women were sexually assaulted every hour in the last five years.  “Why the conviction rate is so low? When a five- year-old child was brutally raped and killed in Kathua, the entire BJP came to the streets not to support the child but to support the perpetrators of the crime because the criminals had the BJP flag. The prime minister didn't say a single word. Pollachi sexual abuse case is a shame to the state of Tamil Nadu. In a similar fashion, in the Pollachi case, the EPS-OPS duo, Edappadi Palanisamy and  O Panneerselvam, are supporting and protecting the criminals,” she lamented.