CPM's Sitaram Yechury refers to Congress' Emergency days in presence of Sonia, Rahul Gandhi at INDIA bloc rally
Tag: Sitaram Yechury
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Three-way fight will help Left-Congress alliance in Tripura polls: Sitaram Yechury
By PTI
AGARTALA: The three-cornered fight that is unfolding in the tiny but politically crucial state of Tripura will help the Left-Congress alliance in the upcoming assembly elections, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.
The Communist leader told PTI that local-level leaders will make an assessment to see “who is best able to defeat the BJP”, while looking at possible adjustments with other parties (such as Tipra Motha) in the run up to the polls slated for February 16.
“The BJP (and its ally IPFT) had won 18 seats in the last elections out of 20 seats in the tribal areas,” pointed out Yechury.
In the 60-member Tripura assembly, 20 seats are reserved for tribal areas. The BJP had won a total of 36 seats to form a government in 2018, with half of them coming from the tribal region.
“This time the Tipra Motha is at the forefront in tribal areas. The IPFT is now just a rump and BJP has given them only 5 seats. The advantage that BJP got last time won’t be repeated. That should help the Left-Congress alliance,” he explained.
Analysts here tend to agree with CPI(M)’s assessment that with the rise of the Tipra Motha, a party founded by Pradyut Kishore Manikya Debbarma, a scion of the former royal family of the state and a Tripuri, BJP’s vote and seat share in tribal areas will be drastically reduced.
In the last elections, BJP had a 43.59-per cent vote share compared to CPI(M)’s 42.22 per cent and Congress’s couple of percentage points.
“We will gain from it,” asserted Yechury.
In 2018, the BJP had stormed to power, gobbling up most of the Congress vote that in 2013 was nearly 37 per cent and partially into the CPI(M)’s vote bank, which was 48 per cent in 2013.
Tipra Motha had won a majority in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council in 2021, trouncing the BJP-supported IPFT.
Since then its demand for Greater Tipraland has consolidated its hold over tribals and seen large-scale desertions from IPFT to its ranks.
With the expected reduction in tribal votes (which accounts for nearly a third of the state’s total) for the BJP, the Left believes the alliance led by it stands to gain an advantage in the forthcoming elections.
The elections to this tiny state’s assembly are considered important as political pundits see the possibility of a tough contest between the ruling party and the opposition, the first in a year of polls to elect state governments.
Till 2018, the electoral contest in the state was largely between the Congress and CPI(M), with smaller tribal parties playing minor but at times crucial roles.
With both the erstwhile Maharaja and Maharani, having been Congress MPs (Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya Deb Barman Bahadur won three terms in Lok Sabha – 1967, 1977 and 1989 – while his wife Bibhu Kumari Devi won in 1981), the grand old party had a strong presence in the tribal belt.
However, legendary tribal Communist leaders like Dasarath Debbarma, who became a popular chief minister of the state and Jitendra Choudhury, a possible Left candidate for chief ministership in this election, have ensured that the CPI(M), too, has a huge presence in the tribal belt where Tripuris, Reangs, Jamatias, Chakmas, Mogs, Kuki and others live.
“At the ground level, who will be able to defeat the BJP, that assessment will be made by ground-level leaders,” Yechury said, explaining his statement made earlier at a press conference that though there is no pre-poll adjustment with Tipra Motha, there can be a local-level understanding.
“That is why I said there is a likelihood at that point of time because the people will decide who can achieve this objective (of defeating the BJP),” he said, without committing to any further elaboration on ground-level adjustments that may be made.
He also explained the visible resurgence of the CPI(M) as a result of among other things, his party’s ‘consistent opposition to repression unleashed” by the BJP government.
“CPI(M) was the most consistent in opposing the repression unleashed on the people and that has been recognised by the people,” Yechury said.
He also added that the “people have realised the necessity of unifying all secular and democratic forces in order to ensure the BJP government is removed”.
The CPI(M), which suffered attacks on its party offices and workers in the past and desertions by some of its workers to BJP, has been more than visible in the assembly elections.
Hammer and sickle red flags dotting the countryside, convoys of trucks and motorcycles ferrying supporters of the SFI (the Communist students’ wing) and CPI(M) activists wearing red t-shirts are part of the landscape.
Speaking on the possibility of post-poll negotiations, Yechury said, “Let us see” the first battle to be won is on the 16th (February, the election date). The second battle will emerge on March 2 (counting day). That we will meet then”.
AGARTALA: The three-cornered fight that is unfolding in the tiny but politically crucial state of Tripura will help the Left-Congress alliance in the upcoming assembly elections, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.
The Communist leader told PTI that local-level leaders will make an assessment to see “who is best able to defeat the BJP”, while looking at possible adjustments with other parties (such as Tipra Motha) in the run up to the polls slated for February 16.
“The BJP (and its ally IPFT) had won 18 seats in the last elections out of 20 seats in the tribal areas,” pointed out Yechury.
In the 60-member Tripura assembly, 20 seats are reserved for tribal areas. The BJP had won a total of 36 seats to form a government in 2018, with half of them coming from the tribal region.
“This time the Tipra Motha is at the forefront in tribal areas. The IPFT is now just a rump and BJP has given them only 5 seats. The advantage that BJP got last time won’t be repeated. That should help the Left-Congress alliance,” he explained.
Analysts here tend to agree with CPI(M)’s assessment that with the rise of the Tipra Motha, a party founded by Pradyut Kishore Manikya Debbarma, a scion of the former royal family of the state and a Tripuri, BJP’s vote and seat share in tribal areas will be drastically reduced.
In the last elections, BJP had a 43.59-per cent vote share compared to CPI(M)’s 42.22 per cent and Congress’s couple of percentage points.
“We will gain from it,” asserted Yechury.
In 2018, the BJP had stormed to power, gobbling up most of the Congress vote that in 2013 was nearly 37 per cent and partially into the CPI(M)’s vote bank, which was 48 per cent in 2013.
Tipra Motha had won a majority in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council in 2021, trouncing the BJP-supported IPFT.
Since then its demand for Greater Tipraland has consolidated its hold over tribals and seen large-scale desertions from IPFT to its ranks.
With the expected reduction in tribal votes (which accounts for nearly a third of the state’s total) for the BJP, the Left believes the alliance led by it stands to gain an advantage in the forthcoming elections.
The elections to this tiny state’s assembly are considered important as political pundits see the possibility of a tough contest between the ruling party and the opposition, the first in a year of polls to elect state governments.
Till 2018, the electoral contest in the state was largely between the Congress and CPI(M), with smaller tribal parties playing minor but at times crucial roles.
With both the erstwhile Maharaja and Maharani, having been Congress MPs (Kirit Bikram Kishore Manikya Deb Barman Bahadur won three terms in Lok Sabha – 1967, 1977 and 1989 – while his wife Bibhu Kumari Devi won in 1981), the grand old party had a strong presence in the tribal belt.
However, legendary tribal Communist leaders like Dasarath Debbarma, who became a popular chief minister of the state and Jitendra Choudhury, a possible Left candidate for chief ministership in this election, have ensured that the CPI(M), too, has a huge presence in the tribal belt where Tripuris, Reangs, Jamatias, Chakmas, Mogs, Kuki and others live.
“At the ground level, who will be able to defeat the BJP, that assessment will be made by ground-level leaders,” Yechury said, explaining his statement made earlier at a press conference that though there is no pre-poll adjustment with Tipra Motha, there can be a local-level understanding.
“That is why I said there is a likelihood at that point of time because the people will decide who can achieve this objective (of defeating the BJP),” he said, without committing to any further elaboration on ground-level adjustments that may be made.
He also explained the visible resurgence of the CPI(M) as a result of among other things, his party’s ‘consistent opposition to repression unleashed” by the BJP government.
“CPI(M) was the most consistent in opposing the repression unleashed on the people and that has been recognised by the people,” Yechury said.
He also added that the “people have realised the necessity of unifying all secular and democratic forces in order to ensure the BJP government is removed”.
The CPI(M), which suffered attacks on its party offices and workers in the past and desertions by some of its workers to BJP, has been more than visible in the assembly elections.
Hammer and sickle red flags dotting the countryside, convoys of trucks and motorcycles ferrying supporters of the SFI (the Communist students’ wing) and CPI(M) activists wearing red t-shirts are part of the landscape.
Speaking on the possibility of post-poll negotiations, Yechury said, “Let us see” the first battle to be won is on the 16th (February, the election date). The second battle will emerge on March 2 (counting day). That we will meet then”.
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New, united anti-BJP front in the making for 2024 polls?
By PTI
FATEHABAD: In a major step towards forging a united anti-BJP front, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and other prominent opposition leaders on Sunday called for a new alliance that includes the Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, stressing that a bipolar contest will ensure the BJP’s defeat.
“If all non-BJP parties unite, which must include our friends from Congress, then we can get rid of those working to destroy the country,” Kumar said at a mega rally organised by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) here to mark former deputy prime minister Devi Lal’s birth anniversary.
The JD(U) leader, who snapped ties with the BJP last month, said there is “no question of a Third Front” and there should be one “main front” to trounce the BJP in the 2024 elections.
The same sentiment was echoed by other leaders including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant.
Even INLD president OP Chautala said that “they will talk to all parties including Congress to form a united front of opposition parties.”
Chautala and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh Badal, both with a long history of fighting the Congress, were on the stage with other senior leaders like Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.
Though not in as many words, Badal underlined the need for opposition parties to come together.
He asserted that the “real NDA is here on this stage not somewhere else. The founding members SAD, Shiv Sena, and JD(U) are present here. We removed the BJP from the NDA.”
The leaders attacked the BJP, accusing it of trying to create “Hindu-Muslim disturbances” to benefit politically and making false claims and promises.
Pawar spoke at length on the plight of farmers who protested against the three farm laws and said the government has still not fulfilled their demand for minimum support price (MSP).
He also talked about the government not taking back cases filed against the protesting farmers.
“The real solution to problems of farmers and unemployment can only be by bringing a change and everyone must strive for a change of the government at the Centre in 2024. All opposition parties should come together,” he said.
Speaking on similar lines, Yechury said it is time to change the manager who is ”mismanaging the country and creating chaos”. “We all should come on one platform including the Congress,” the CPM leader said.
Though no one from Congress attended the rally, Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence in the national capital after the public meeting.
Kumar later told reporters that all parties are on the same page in the fight against the BJP and talks on a concrete plan of action will be held after the election of the Congress president.
However, regional bigwigs like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who have shown an inclination towards forming a non-Congress alliance to take on the BJP in the past, stayed away from the rally, besides Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
With one leader after another pitching for a larger unity among opposition parties, JD(U) leader K C Tyagi said in his speech that the rally marked the beginning of the coming together of non-BJP parties in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
In his address, Kumar suggested that an opposition front cannot be envisaged without the Congress and the Left parties.
He urged leaders on the dais, including some with a strong anti-Congress history, to work for a larger unity and said this “main front of opposition” will ensure that the saffron party loses badly in the 2024 general elections.
There is no real Hindu-Muslim conflict in society, Nitish Kumar said in his address, adding that some mischief-makers are present everywhere. A large number of Muslims chose to remain in India after the Partition in 1947, he added.
RJD leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav alleged that the BJP does not want real issues such as price rise and unemployment to be discussed and instead harps on topics like “Musalmaan, Pakistan, mandir and masjid”.
He said the JD(U), SAD and the Shiv Sena left the BJP-led NDA to save the Constitution and democracy. Where is the NDA now, he asked.
He accused the BJP of making false claims and promises and dubbed it as “Badka Jhuta Party” (big lying party).
The RJD leader called for fighting the BJP, saying those who will be scared of it will be finished while those who take it on will win.
Yadav said the BJP wants everyone except those aligned to it and the RSS to be finished and lauded farmers of Haryana and Punjab, saying they taught the party a lesson, a reference to their protests against the now-repealed farm laws.
ALSO READ: Bihar CM Nitish pledges special status to backward states if voted to power
The BJP government is selling out all public firms and wanted to sell off farmers’ land as well, he alleged and also attacked it for the ‘Agniveer’ scheme, a short-term recruitment programme in the armed forces.
While leaving the rally venue, Kumar told reporters he was not a contender for the prime minister’s post.
No real work is happening under the BJP government at the Centre, he alleged, accusing it of imposing its control over different institutions, including the media, to peddle a “one-sided” narrative.
Seven parties are together in Bihar and the BJP is all alone, the Janata Dal (United) leader said, adding that the BJP can’t win in the elections.
The rally was organised by INLD to mark the 109th anniversary of its founder Devi Lal.
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is fighting for survival in Haryana following a split after its patriarch Om Prakash Chautala’s elder son Ajay Chautala formed Jannayak Janata Party, a BJP ally. The JJP had managed to secure most of the traditional INLD votes in the last assembly polls.
FATEHABAD: In a major step towards forging a united anti-BJP front, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and other prominent opposition leaders on Sunday called for a new alliance that includes the Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, stressing that a bipolar contest will ensure the BJP’s defeat.
“If all non-BJP parties unite, which must include our friends from Congress, then we can get rid of those working to destroy the country,” Kumar said at a mega rally organised by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) here to mark former deputy prime minister Devi Lal’s birth anniversary.
The JD(U) leader, who snapped ties with the BJP last month, said there is “no question of a Third Front” and there should be one “main front” to trounce the BJP in the 2024 elections.
The same sentiment was echoed by other leaders including Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant.
Even INLD president OP Chautala said that “they will talk to all parties including Congress to form a united front of opposition parties.”
Chautala and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh Badal, both with a long history of fighting the Congress, were on the stage with other senior leaders like Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav.
Though not in as many words, Badal underlined the need for opposition parties to come together.
He asserted that the “real NDA is here on this stage not somewhere else. The founding members SAD, Shiv Sena, and JD(U) are present here. We removed the BJP from the NDA.”
The leaders attacked the BJP, accusing it of trying to create “Hindu-Muslim disturbances” to benefit politically and making false claims and promises.
Pawar spoke at length on the plight of farmers who protested against the three farm laws and said the government has still not fulfilled their demand for minimum support price (MSP).
He also talked about the government not taking back cases filed against the protesting farmers.
“The real solution to problems of farmers and unemployment can only be by bringing a change and everyone must strive for a change of the government at the Centre in 2024. All opposition parties should come together,” he said.
Speaking on similar lines, Yechury said it is time to change the manager who is ”mismanaging the country and creating chaos”. “We all should come on one platform including the Congress,” the CPM leader said.
Though no one from Congress attended the rally, Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi at her residence in the national capital after the public meeting.
Kumar later told reporters that all parties are on the same page in the fight against the BJP and talks on a concrete plan of action will be held after the election of the Congress president.
However, regional bigwigs like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who have shown an inclination towards forming a non-Congress alliance to take on the BJP in the past, stayed away from the rally, besides Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
With one leader after another pitching for a larger unity among opposition parties, JD(U) leader K C Tyagi said in his speech that the rally marked the beginning of the coming together of non-BJP parties in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
In his address, Kumar suggested that an opposition front cannot be envisaged without the Congress and the Left parties.
He urged leaders on the dais, including some with a strong anti-Congress history, to work for a larger unity and said this “main front of opposition” will ensure that the saffron party loses badly in the 2024 general elections.
There is no real Hindu-Muslim conflict in society, Nitish Kumar said in his address, adding that some mischief-makers are present everywhere. A large number of Muslims chose to remain in India after the Partition in 1947, he added.
RJD leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav alleged that the BJP does not want real issues such as price rise and unemployment to be discussed and instead harps on topics like “Musalmaan, Pakistan, mandir and masjid”.
He said the JD(U), SAD and the Shiv Sena left the BJP-led NDA to save the Constitution and democracy. Where is the NDA now, he asked.
He accused the BJP of making false claims and promises and dubbed it as “Badka Jhuta Party” (big lying party).
The RJD leader called for fighting the BJP, saying those who will be scared of it will be finished while those who take it on will win.
Yadav said the BJP wants everyone except those aligned to it and the RSS to be finished and lauded farmers of Haryana and Punjab, saying they taught the party a lesson, a reference to their protests against the now-repealed farm laws.
ALSO READ: Bihar CM Nitish pledges special status to backward states if voted to power
The BJP government is selling out all public firms and wanted to sell off farmers’ land as well, he alleged and also attacked it for the ‘Agniveer’ scheme, a short-term recruitment programme in the armed forces.
While leaving the rally venue, Kumar told reporters he was not a contender for the prime minister’s post.
No real work is happening under the BJP government at the Centre, he alleged, accusing it of imposing its control over different institutions, including the media, to peddle a “one-sided” narrative.
Seven parties are together in Bihar and the BJP is all alone, the Janata Dal (United) leader said, adding that the BJP can’t win in the elections.
The rally was organised by INLD to mark the 109th anniversary of its founder Devi Lal.
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is fighting for survival in Haryana following a split after its patriarch Om Prakash Chautala’s elder son Ajay Chautala formed Jannayak Janata Party, a BJP ally. The JJP had managed to secure most of the traditional INLD votes in the last assembly polls.
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Mamata meets Pawar; Yechury says NCP chief said no to being Oppn nominee for prez poll
By PTI
NEW DELHI: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Left leaders met NCP chief Sharad Pawar separately on Tuesday trying to convince the veteran leader to be the joint opposition nominee for the presidential election.
Pawar, however, refused, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said after his meeting with him. Pawar met Yechury, CPI general secretary D Raja, and NCP leaders Praful Patel and P C Chacko in Delhi and conveyed to them his decision to not contest the election.
“I have been informed that Pawar will not be the opposition face for the presidential poll, other names are under consideration,” said Yechury.
Opposition sources said Pawar was not keen to enter a battle which he is destined to lose at this point in his political career.
Banerjee is in Delhi for a meeting of non-BJP parties she has convened to formulate a joint strategy for the upcoming presidential poll.
Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress supremo, has convened the meeting on June 15 at the Constitution Club in the national capital for discussions to come out with a consensus opposition candidate. The election of the President of India will be held on July 18.
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Spurt in violence in India part of larger BJP conspiracy, alleges Yechury
By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: The general secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Sitaram Yechury on Thursday alleged that communal tactics are being employed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to divert people’s attention from the failure of the Central government in multiple spheres including combating rising prices and unemployment.
Referring to the spate of communal incidents across states, he said that these incidents are part of a larger conspiracy hatched by the Government to destroy the social fabric and constitutional arrangement in India.
“The ruling party is inciting this violence and hatred. There is a great conspiracy behind this; conspiracy against humanity and the constitution. Attempts are being made to destroy the constitution. We haven’t seen such barbarism in the last 75 years since independence and beyond. Eid and Ramnavmi were celebrated together but this kind of violence, hatred and bloodshed never existed before. It is being executed in a planned manner, which has the backing of the ruling party and the Government,” said Yechury.
EDITORIAL | Selective demolitions bring no glory to the nation
He was speaking at a protest jointly organised by the Left parties — CPI (M), CPI, CPI (Marxist–Leninist), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) — at Jantar Mantar against the ‘targeted’ demolition drive in Jahangirpuri by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (North DMC) after communal clashes during the Hanuman Jyanti procession.
The Left parties alleged that the demolition drive was part and parcel of the nefarious design to create communal tension in the area. Hundreds of people participated in the protest.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Brinda Karat and CPI-ML’s politburo member Kavita Krishnan were also present during the protest.
Yechury said that this (protest) is the beginning. Left parties would hold demonstrations across the country against divisive fascist politics.
The CPI (M) leader further stated that the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi despite the violation of laws is surprising.
“PM doesn’t say a word. The character of the country is being altered. Condemning the violence is one thing but it has to be stopped; prevention is necessary,” said Yechury.
He also criticized the Government for the continuous rise in petrol and diesel prices. Yechury said that instead of asking the governments of non-BJP governed states, the Central government should scrap central excise duties on petroleum products to control their prices.
ALSO READ | ‘Centre devoured Rs 26 lakh crore from fuel prices but they blame states’: Stalin, PTR hit back
“The BJP and RSS are creating an environment of hate in the name of removing encroachments in Delhi. We have seen this happening in Jahangirpuri and now they are planning to conduct such activities at other locations in Delhi. We are demanding the government to end such practices,” said the secretary of CPI (ML) Delhi Ravi Rai.
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INTERVIEW| Bringing down BJP from power our priority: CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury
Express News Service
Bringing down the Modi government is the top priority for the Left, which will consider the possibility of joining any third front or opposition alliance only after this objective is achieved, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury told Rajesh Kumar Thakur in an interview.
Excerpts:
Do you think a Third Front imperative to challenge the BJP’s hegemony in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections?
At present, talking about the Third Front is mere speculation. In Indian politics, so far pre-poll coalitions in parliamentary elections have not been successful. They have succeeded only in state elections. Was there a pre-poll alliance in 2004?
The UPA was formed after the elections and ruled for two terms. Currently, the need is that all opposition parties first fight strongly to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and then think about a post-poll coalition.
Would the CPM go with the TMC if the latter forges a non-Congress, non-BJP front with parties like TRS, DMK?
Again, I am repeating that talks about pre-poll alliances or Third Front are premature. The TMC, just a few days ago, had marred the local bodies’ elections in West Bengal with violence. In Bengal, the CPM lost 229 comrades between 2011 and 2021 and around 1,02,000 sympathisers were driven away from their homes. More than 1,30,000 of our members were implicated in false cases.
The TMC, having been a part of the BJP-led NDA, is today ranged against the BJP. But it continues with its anti-CPM actions. It is aspiring to be the leader of the anti-BJP forces at the national level. We are neither against such aspirations of any party nor in support till we pull down the BJP from power.
In its draft political resolution, the CPM has noted that the Congress party’s political strength is on a decline. Will you be inclined towards joining a coalition led by it?
Our objective is to defeat the BJP in the next parliamentary elections. Whichever party in opposition works on this objective, we can have an ‘electoral understanding’ with them for the common goal… There can’t be a political alliance with the Congress party. But the CPM will continue supporting all secular parties in their efforts to defeat the BJP.
TMC supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee recently telephoned her Tamil Nadu and Telangana counterparts suggesting a meeting of all opposition CMs over governors overstepping constitutional mandate in non-BJP states. Will the CM of your party join such a meeting if it is held?
This does not carry much political significance for us. The most important task for us is to educate and polarise the people against the BJP-led government that has ruined the future of the youth.
Will the results of state polls have a bearing on opposition strategies against the BJP?
Yes, they will. But despite that, there is a need to work objectively to make the people aware of the BJP-led government’s utter failure in sorting out country’s basic problems. At the national level, five Left parties have given joint calls for action on various issues and we will continue fighting to first pull down the BJP from power and then think of anything further.
It is said that the Opposition lacks a face to counter Modi. With this handicap, how will they be able to oust the BJP?
Let me make it clear that it’s not a presidential election that will be held in 2024 for which a face is required. It is the parliamentary elections, which will be fought on issues plaguing the country’s prosperity and peace.
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Relentless loot of India’s national assets: Sitaram Yechury on Air India sale
By PTI
NEW DELHI: The CPI(M) on Monday hit out at the government over the sale of Air India to the Tatas, claiming that it was a “gift” to the group from the Centre and a “daylight highway robbery” of national assets.
Addressing a press conference here, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury alleged that the airline’s burden of Rs 46,262 crore will be left to the people of the country.
“The central government continues with its relentless loot of India’s national assets. The iconic national flag carrier, Air India, has been sold to the Tatas. This sale is tantamount to giving a free gift to the Tatas by the Modi government.
This is daylight highway robbery of national assets.
“The Tatas will inherit Rs 15,300 crores of debt, which will surely be restructured, paying the central government a mere Rs 2,700 crore for the national carrier, with all its core assets,” Yechury said.
The remaining debt of Rs 46,262 crore will be the burden of the government, which means the people will have to bear this, he claimed.
“However, all the assets acquired by Air India by its debt, including brand new fleet of aircraft, will be the Tatas’ property now,” Yechury said.
Replying to a question on an alliance with the Congress on the national level, Yechury said the final decision will be taken by the CPI(M) party congress.
“The focus is now to isolate and defeat the BJP and to maximise polling of anti-BJP votes. We will decide state-wise how best this can be done. The focus is on strengthening our independent ways. Find and rectify weaknesses,” he said.
Party sources indicate that the top leadership are divided over a nationwide alliance with the Congress.
During a politburo meeting, while leaders from Kerala were opposed to the idea, those from West Bengal contended that a united opposition cannot emerge sans the Congress.
At the press meet, Yechury also raised the issue of violence in Jammu and Kashmir, and questioned the government on the Centre’s promise of peace in the region.
The party said that the prime minister’s meeting with the leaders of Jammu and Kashmir in June this year with promises of erasing “Dil ki doori, Dilli ki doori” remains an “empty rhetoric”.
The CPI(M) leader also demanded the immediate sacking of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.
“Justice cannot be delivered with his continuation as minster,” he said.
There is a large volume of recorded footage of the incident which clearly shows the “deliberate manner in which this brutality was executed”, Yechury said.
“The prime accused can be identified in this footage. The party demands the immediate dismissal of the minister and stringent action against his son on charges of brutal cold-blooded murder,” he added.
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CPI-M offices, workers come under attack in Tripura, Yechuri seeks PM Modi’s intervention
Express News Service
GUWAHATI: Over two dozen offices of the CPI-M were either dismantled or torched while two media houses vandalised allegedly by the workers of the ruling BJP in Tripura.
The statewide attacks were carried out from Wednesday morning till the wee hours of Thursday. A number of vehicles, mostly two-wheelers, were also set ablaze. Four people were arrested in connection with the incidents.
The CPI-M condemned the attacks and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention. “We draw your attention to the outrageous violence let loose on the CPI-M and the Left Front in Tripura yesterday. In a pre-planned fashion, scores of offices of the CPI-M, including the state headquarters, were attacked by mobs of BJP men,” Yechuri wrote in a letter to Modi.
He said the most brazen attack was on the state committee office in Agartala in which the assailants ransacked its ground and first floors, burnt two office cars, and broke the bust of Dasarath Deb, a “revered leader of the people of Tripura”.
Yechuri also wrote that the houses of many party leaders and activists were attacked, ransacked, or set on fire. He highlighted the attack on “Daily Desharkatha”, a media house supported by CPI-M.
He said the police, who were present at many of these venues, remained silent bystanders. In the case of the state committee office, he said some CRPF jawans were present in front of it but they were withdrawn an hour before the attack began.
“The impunity with which the attackers operated shows the connivance of state government. These attacks took place because the ruling party has tried and failed to suppress the activities of the main Opposition in the state,” the CPI-M general secretary further wrote.
He said it was evident from the attacks that the state government had grossly failed in discharging its constitutional responsibility of maintaining law and order.
Tripura Left Front convener Bijan Dhar said the CPI-M’s state office, one district committee office, and 23 local committee offices were dismantled or torched. He said four injured party workers were admitted to a hospital.
“According to reports we received, the houses of at least 50 people were damaged or torched. They used even a bulldozer while attacking our office. Everything happened under the nose of the police,” Dhar said.
He said the party’s state leaders would meet the Governor and apprise him of everything. He alleged that such attacks had been going on since the BJP captured power in 2018.
“The government has failed on all fronts. It failed to combat the pandemic and check rampant corruption. There are no democratic rights, law and order, and developmental activities. So, people who voted for the BJP have started rejecting it by spontaneously hitting the streets,” Dhar said.
He said the BJP was angry to see the Left parties in people’s movement and trying to silence them by launching the attacks.
“By resorting to violence, they want us and the people of Tripura to accept their undemocratic and fascist activities. But we are not ready to accept those,” Dhar added.
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India failed to draw up plan well in advance to evacuate citizens from Afghanistan: Sitaram Yechury
By PTI
COIMBATORE: CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday accused the Centre of failing to draw up a plan well in advance to evacuate Indians from Afghanistan before the Taliban gained control over the country.
“The government should have planned the evacuation much earlier before the Taliban took over Afghanistan, as the air space was totally closed down after it,” he told reporters here.
Demanding that the government provide proper information about the steps taken to ensure the safety of Indians, he said many countries had evacuated their citizens earlier, anticipating what was going to happen in another 10 days.
India on Tuesday brought back home the Indian ambassador and its staff at the embassy in Kabul in a military transport aircraft in view of the deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital, two days after its takeover by the Taliban.
Yechury, here to address the two-day Party State Committee meeting, alleged that India was seen as a ‘subordinate ally’ of the United States, “which should not have gone to that country.
” On the Pegasus snooping issue, he said the Centre’s response in the Supreme Court was a ‘clear admission that it has used the spyware.
The Supreme Court on Monday said it cannot compel the ‘reluctant’ Centre to file a detailed affidavit on pleas seeking information if Pegasus spyware was used to snoop on certain citizens and steps it took to probe the allegations amid vehement claims that there was ‘nothing to hide ” and it will set up a panel to examine all aspects related to the issue.
Yechury also flayed the Centre’s move to observe August 14 as ‘Partition Horrors Remembrance Day’ and asked the Government to focus on strengthening the Constitution further, as the country had adopted a secular and democratic Constitution (after partition.
The CPI(M) would organise nation-wide protests along with Opposition parties next month on various demands, including effectively controlling the pandemic, he said.
Yechury also demanded that the Centre withdraw the duty hike on petroleum products.
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CPM hits out at Modi government over its decision to observe Partition Horrors Remembrance Day
By PTI
NEW DELHI: The CPI(M) on Friday hit out at the government after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for observing August 14 as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day in memory of the struggles and sacrifices of people, alleging that it appears to translate into reality a “mirror image” of Pakistan which is in negation to the Constitution.
The government has said the decision would be a fitting tribute to all those who lost their lives due to the partition of the nation and were displaced from their roots.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that while the partition was the most horrendous experience and the largest human trans migration in peace time, India still maintained its secular fabric.
“Even as millions were displaced and killed, India refused to be a mirror image of Pakistan’s Islamic State to become a Hindu Rashtra. India chose to be a secular democratic republic to move ahead and repair the horrors of partition,” he said.
He said this is embedded in the Constitution of India, strengthening it and its foundation.
“This is the answer to the horrors of partition. Instead we see a destruction of our Constitution which means reliving these horrors.
“This decision of the government appears to translate into reality a mirror image of Pakistan which is in negation to our Constitution,” he said.