CPI(M)‘s top priority is to defeat “communal forces” in 2019: Sitaram Yechury

Terming the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government as a “complete disaster” for the country as well as a threat to its “unity and integrity, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said on Friday that the foremost task before the party “is to defeat communal forces” in 2019 general election.

Blaming the government for breaking promises and betraying the people, the CPI(M) alleged that the entire foundation of parliamentary democracy was under threat under the current dispensation.

“The living condition of people has deteriorated. The GST and demonetisation have ruined informal sector, which generates half of our jobs. Private armies rule the streets. Dalits and Muslims are being lynched in the name of cow protection. Every institution is under strain under the Modi government,” said CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury at a press conference on four years of Modi government.

Accusing the Modi government of polarising the society for political gains, Yechury said that Centre-state relationship has come under severe attack. He said, “Every single institution is under strain under the Modi government.”

“The institution of parliamentary democracy, and its entire foundation, has been severely undermined. In sum total, this government has been a complete disaster for the country’s unity and integrity and for our internal strength and diversity,” he said.

In the lead-up to his press briefing, CPI(M) leaders released a set of four booklets on four years of Modi government, titled “Four years of Modi Misrule. Why it has to end?”

The booklets are titled:

• Economy in Shambles
• Constitution: Denied, Diluted and Dismantled
• Promises Broken, People Betrayed
• When Lives and Future are Endangered

When asked about the victory of opposition in the recent by-polls and possibility of an alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019 general election, the CPI(M) general secretary said that the defeat of the BJP signifies that the people of this country want to get rid of Modi government.

“Whether opposition parties will come together to stich a national alliance or not is a secondary question. “Unity among people on the ground will force political parties to join hands against communal forces,” remarked Yechury.

However, he feared that the loss in the by-polls will push the RSS-BJP to spread communal tension and create a further divide between religious communities to consolidate the “Hindutva votebank” ahead of the 2019 general election.

A member of the CPI(M) Politburo, Brinda Karat, also addressed the conference. Brinda, the editor of the four booklets, stated that Dalits and Adivasis suffered unprecedented assaults in the last four years.

“We have specifically looked into the social aspect of the BJP-RSS regime. And in that, we have looked what is happening with Dalits, Adivasis, women and the working poor of the country. The way the economic policies have been framed, the way the concept of reservation is being diluted, is alarming.” said Karat.