On the Opposition Parties Meeting in Bengaluru
Below we publish the interview given by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury to Ganashakti, on July 20
Ganashakti: 26 parties have formed ‘INDIA’ in Bengaluru meeting. Is it an electoral alliance?
Yechury: No, not at all. This is an understanding among the parties to work for the defence of secular, democratic, republican character of the country. This has become the main issue for the country today. 26 parties have come to this understanding that the constitution and democratic framework have to be defended at all costs. I proposed in the meeting that the name of the platform might be ‘We for India’. We will fight together to defend the idea of India. Others agreed to the idea but it was told it was good for a slogan. The name should be shorter and INDIA was agreed upon. The last alphabet was ‘A’, therefore an Alliance. But it is not an electoral alliance. It cannot be. There cannot be an all India common electoral alliance. That would be done in states. For example, Left will fight to defeat both the BJP and the TMC in West Bengal. We will seek support of Congress and other allied parties there. Again, in Kerala, the fight will be between the LDF and Congress-led UDF. States have their concrete realities.
Ganashakti: Then what will be the task of this platform?
Yechury: We will campaign on important issues, like against sharpening communal polarisation, against bulldozer politics, against call for genocide, against economic policies of Modi government, for conducting caste census etc. We will conduct political campaign against the policies of Modi government and mobilise people against it. BJP is scared after this meeting. Till now, it was said Modi alone was enough to take on entire opposition. But on the same day, NDA was resurrected and parties and groups were huddled. It is a sign that they are already reading the writing on the wall.
Ganashakti: BJP and some others are saying that there are contradictions among many of these parties. Then how can they fight unitedly?
Yechury: These are nothing new in India. In 2004, Left won 61 MPs in the Lok Sabha. Out of this 61, 57 were elected defeating Congress. Then we supported UPA government led by Manmohan Singh for national interest. But for us, UPA government itself would not have been formed. There is no contradiction. At the state level, interests at the state level will prevail. At the national level, the interest of the country and India will prevail.
Ganashakti: CPI(M)’s political line has been decided in Kannur Party Congress last year. Does this development conform with that political line?
Yechury: Yes, it does. In Kannur the first task taken in the political line was that the first and foremost task is to isolate and defeat the BJP. That was the first task undertaken in Kannur Congress. And then in the last point of the political line it was said that on the basis of this political line appropriate electoral tactics would be worked out in the states. This is in conformity with this line that CPI(M) is acting upon.
Ganashakti: In West Bengal, TMC has unleashed marauding attack on democratic rights of the people. In the just concluded panchayat elections it was evident again. Questions are being asked from some quarters that why CPI(M) participated in Bengaluru meeting despite TMC being there.
Yechury: Because TMC is there we will not be there in fighting against BJP was not something Party Congress has said. We will work for TMC’s defeat in Bengal. That is where it is relevant. That is where the fight against them is going on. That is where we have to defeat them. As for the entire country it is BJP which has to be defeated. Other than Kerala, where we have to fight against Congress. The electoral tactics will be different in the states. The question is to maximise the pulling of anti-BJP vote so that division of the opposition vote does not give much gain to BJP. In West Bengal it will be maximising anti-BJP and anti-TMC votes. In other states, it will be defeating BJP. In Telangana we will go either with BRS or Congress. If you look at Andhra Pradesh or Odisha, each one of the states is different. Ground level reality has to be considered. We will decide considering the concrete situation in the states.
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