THE ruling dispensation of the country has been rushing ahead with its agenda of establishing a Hindu Rashtra. Secular and democratic forces must get united to resist this effort, for which the Left, particularly the CPI(M) needs to be strengthened so that a formidable challenge can be thrown to the divisive forces trying to polarise the society in communal lines, said CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury at a seminar organised by CPI(M) Tripura state committee, held on August 24 in Agartala Town Hall. The seminar, presided over by CPI(M) Central Committee member Aghore Debbarma, was also addressed by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Manik Sarkar and state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury.

The auditorium of the hall was filled up to its capacity. Many people, finding no vacant seat to sit on, stood outside the doors to listen to the speeches. Addressing the huge gathering, Sitaram Yechury said, the ruling party is dreaming to wipe out all opposition from the country. They very well understand that, the Hindu Rashtra project cannot be implemented if the opposition forces are not decimated. But the fact is that, the agitation programmes against the destructive agenda of the ruling dispensation are growing day by day. People of all sections including peasants, workers, employees of PSU, students, youth, women, anganwadi workers, are there in the frontline of such agitations. This struggle is for people’s interest, and it must be strengthened. The constitution and the polity of India cannot be saved until and unless the fight against the venomous ideology of Hindutva, is not linked with the struggle for economic sovereignty. To build up a formidable united struggle, CPI(M) must be strengthened, because the opponents know very well that their aggressive campaign can only be resisted effectively by the Left forces. In spite of a small presence in the parliament, the Left forces go all out to block divisive and brazen agenda of the present government. With a view to strengthen the resistance, we have to enhance our level of political consciousness. At the same time, we must be on a continuous campaign trail raising the people’s demands. Unity of Left and democratic forces must be strengthened. The ruling dispensations have not spared a single constitutional institution from their aggressive authoritarianism. All such institutions are under continuous attack during the present regime. The only way to save the independent institutions from the clutches of authoritarianism is to free the government from the communal forces.

In his address Sitaram Yechury also mentioned that the political outfit which did not hoist the national flag in their office for 52 years since independence, is now trying to lead the campaign for flag hoisting. Their present day rhetoric about the national flag is bound to generate doubt. Those people also question the contribution of the communists in the freedom struggle. But the fact remains that these right wing outfits have never took part in the freedom movement. The communists have a proud history of sacrifice in the struggle for freedom. Not less than 75-80 per cent of the freedom fighters put in the Cellular jail of Andamans were communists. British rulers had lodged not less than 12 serious cases against the communist freedom fighters including the infamous Peshawar conspiracy case, Kanpur conspiracy case etc. Neither RSS nor any of its allies can cite a single conspiracy case filed against their leaders. Communist leader A K Gopalan was jailed by British rulers before the independence. He was in prison even on August 15, 1947. But he hoisted the national flag on that day within the prison itself. Before that, Harkishan Singh Surjeet was arrested by British government, on the ‘offence’ of hoisting national flag at Hoshiarpur. The communists have a long history of fighting for the independence, he told.

Sitaram yechury also mentioned that the communist party, since its inception in India in 1920, took a decisive role in determining the course of freedom struggle. In 1921 Congress session, Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Swami Kumaranand, on behalf of the Communist Party, raised the demand for complete independence (Poorna Swaraj) for the first time in India. But Gandhiji was not willing to accept it. However the demand was adopted in 1929 Congress session at Lahore. He told that the attempt for transforming India from a secular democratic republic to a fascist Hindu Rashtra, is going on for the last 70 years. Their agenda gained momentum after 2014, and especially after 2019, when the Modi government was formed for the second consecutive term. But the stumbling block in their mission for Hindu Rashtra is the Constitution of India. That is the reason the ruling party is relentless in attacking the four fundamental principles of the constitution, ie, the principles of secular democracy, economic sovereignty, social justice and federal structure. The main objective of Hindutva is to establish a fascist regime by replacing the democratic structure.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Manik Sarkar, in his address, said the ruling party of the state, ie, the BJP, is now alienated from the common people and therefore scared. Grievances of the common people have piled up to an intolerable limit. Under such circumstances, the responsibility of the secular and democratic forces is to build up an impregnable barricade against these outfits, which are nothing but enemies of the people. He told that, two struggles are going on simultaneously, one of which is on the important economic issues related to the life and livelihood of common people while the other is the struggle to protect the constitution, democracy and secularism. Both these struggles are to be unified and strengthened. Under BJP rule, plight of the country has worsened to an all time low. Common people’s sufferings have made their life miserable. Now the aggrieved people are to be mobilised to create a huge mass movement throughout the country. Speaking about the state, he mentioned that every public amenity and delivery system has collapsed in the last four-and-half years rule. Education, health, roads, communication, power supply, drinking water supply, employment opportunities, availability of food and work – the government has failed miserably in all aspects. He made a call to the leaders and workers of the Left entities to go to the common people and unite them, so that a strong resistance to the anti-people policies of the ruling party can be built up. He expressed his hope that the people’s movement in Tripura will inspire the whole country.

CPI(M) state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury has called for a huge people’s movement for defeating the BJP-IPFT coalition government of the state. He mentioned that the entire state, including the capital city of Agartala was covered by huge hoardings on the campaign for Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and Har Ghar Tiranga, by the BJP-led state government, but not a single hoarding displayed any name or photo of a freedom fighter. Such hoardings contained faces and photos of those individuals, who were instrumental behind the relentless attack on the lives and livelihoods of common people. The state of Tripura has been transformed into a laboratory for experiments with the model of Hindu Rashtra. All the patriotic, secular and democratic minded individuals must get united in protest against this anti-people regime.

CPI(M) Central Committee member Aghore Debbarma said, we must vow to achieve victory in the coming political struggle. The situation is very difficult, but we have the responsibility to overcome obstacles to bring success. He mentioned that the idea of democracy is not liked by rulers. Their only strategy is to gag people for robbing the democratic system. We must raise ourselves to the occasion by shouldering greater responsibility of building up people’s movement. The seminar raised the spirit of the huge crowd who attended the event by braving the terror tactics of the ruling party.