DRAWING parallels to the BJP regime and the RSS with Hitler and his idea of nationalism, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury warned against the metamorphosis of a "secular democratic republic of India into a rabidly intolerant fascistic Hindu Rashtra".

Delivering a lecture on 'Neo-liberalism, Communalism and Intellectual Resistance' at the 77th Foundation Day of the National Book Agency in Kolkata on June 29, Yechury cited the Jawaharlal Nehru University controversy as well as "Love Jihad" and "Ghar Wapasi" as a bid by the BJP and the RSS "to replace India's inclusiveness with the exclusive concept of Hindu Rashtra".

"In a chilling similarity to Hitler's concept of 'purifying' the German nation, the RSS's ideology involves replacing nationalism of Indian inclusiveness to the exclusive concept of Hindu Rashtra, where Hindus and Hindus alone are the true inhabitants of the country," Yechury said.

"Anybody else who practices any other religion or refuses to get subsumed under the Hindu way of life, are but foreigners and anti-nationals," he said.

Accusing the Modi government of juggling statistics to paint a rosy picture of the Indian economy which actually was "sluggish", Yechury also lambasted the centre over foreign direct investment (FDI).

"Much like they found a messiah in Hitler, national and international corporates were looking for a messiah in India who will deliver for them and allow the opportunity for profit maximisation."

"That is exactly what Modi did in his visit to the US, where he signed all the instruments for opening everything to FDI, including the defence sector," he said.

Yechury called for building "intellectual resistance against the fast approaching fascistic tendencies".

"What we are having in the country today is not yet fascism. Fascism means replacement of parliament democracy by a naked terrorist dictatorship. We have not yet allowed them to jettison parliamentary democracy."

"But efforts are on to jettison democracy," he said, pointing to the imposition of President's Rule in Uttarakhand.

"It is not that we wait for fascism to arrive and then fight because there will be very few to fight," he said.

"Fascism will succeed only if they succeed to replace Indian history with Hindu mythology, replace Indian philosophy by Hindu theocracy."

"That is why building up intellectual resistance holds significance. It's the battle of reason against unreason. We need to strengthen reason so that it triumphs over the unreason," he added.

Biman Basu and Surjyakanta Mishra also addressed the meeting, commemorating NBA’s journey of Marxist publication for decades.