CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury Elaborated on his thoughts on seat sharing In tamil nadu, His party’s position on the third front And BJP, among others. Edited excerpts:
When did the CPI share with the CPI-M for the assembly elections?
Well, the conversation continues. It is essentially on the number of seats that every single election will be contested. But i think it will be done by tomorrow [Monday] Or the day after tomorrow.
The DMK’s allies have reluctantly settled for fewer seats citing the need to fight the BJP. Is such an agreement necessary?
Well, it is not really a compromise because it is a political understanding that in today’s situation in the country, the paramount objective is to ensure that the BJP does not hold the reins of any government. [This is] Due to the experience of the last six years, how they are destroying everything guaranteed by the Indian Constitution, including independent constitutional authorities.
As with Parliament, how all these are being reduced starts with Parliament – Parliament, Judiciary, Election Commission, CBI, ED, and the last two being used as political tools by the state. And also, the type of economic policy they are adopting, enriching the rich and influencing the poor; The polarization they are working towards and the anti-constitutional law they are bringing.
Look at Love Jihad, which is anti-constitutional – every person who is an adult has the right to choose his or her spouse. Now, that is being denied. Therefore, what they are doing is actually building a new India.
The character of the Indian Republic is being changed. Which is not in the interest of the country or the people. Therefore, defeating them is the primary political objective. So, this is not a compromise. This is the best way that you beat them. There is a need to pick and take by each one.
There may be some dissatisfaction with the number of seats as never before has the CPI (M) contested so few seats. But a large number of forces are also coming together. Everyone has to stay.
Did the Left parties not see the emergence of BJP and Modi as political mismatches?
No, indeed, the sad part is that we were warning, but others failed to take it seriously. Now they are. If you remember, the Left came back in 1996 when the BJP emerged as the largest party under the leadership of Shri Vajpayee… which could not be allowed in the interest of India. Unfortunately, the unmatched fears of our BJP and Modi have been more resolved after Gujarat.
If they are in office, then this is going to happen in the country.
Why the Left, once synonymous with the Third Front, is not pursuing an alternative front in Tamil Nadu?
See, the question is that in times of intense polarization, no third front is really sustainable because people are divided between two polarized political groups. In such a situation, the point is that you want to save India for the time being and for the immediate agenda.
We should be very clear. The BJP is the political agent of the RSS. It is the political wing of the RSS. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) today all believe and believe that India is a monolithic Hindu state. And which is increasingly intolerant and fascist in its nature. And this is what they want to change India. This means that this constitution has to go if it has to come.
What we are seeing now is the process… they are underestimating the constitution. Therefore, the Third Front is not a viable option right now. The point is to have maximum unity between secular and democratic forces.
But you support the Third Front in West Bengal …
The reason for this is a concrete assessment of the situation. Unfortunately, many people make the mistake of considering politics as arithmetic.
But politics is based on ground reality. There is a lot of anti-incumbency against the Trinamool government in West Bengal.
Does the BJP need a national alliance to help it? If yes, who should lead it?
See, who will lead will depend on, again, the support of the people. Today the main opposition party in the country is the Congress. Left parties and… regional parties also have an important role. So you have to bring all these forces together. What you need is an optional program, an optional policy.
Congress and DMK have been pushed to declare that they are not opposed to Hinduism? Does it show that the BJP has succeeded in pushing them into a corner on the plank of Hindutva?
No, Hinduism and Hinduism are different things. In fact, the person who coined the term Hindutva, Savarkar, clearly states that Hindutva has nothing to do with Hinduism. Hindutva is a political project. And the political project of Hindutva is the RSS vision of a Hindu state or a Hindu country.
Sometimes some people fall prey to soft Hindutva. The more soft Hindutva they talk about, the more they are strengthening hardline Hindutva.
So there is a danger that I think many parties are coming true.
Do you think the BJP’s ‘Vetravel Yatra’ will have an impact on Hindus?
You can see, for a moment, they will have some kind of fleeting effect. But, in the final analysis, that hypocrisy is also exposed.
Do you think the Election Commission will be successful in curbing the distribution of money to voters in Tamil Nadu this time?
Well, we hope they succeed. The Election Commission has been generous and very polite in many of its decisions which helped the ruling party.
And we hope that won’t happen [this time] And we hope that they will be successful in capturing the money power distorting democracy in our country.
(For the full interview, go to http://bit.ly/Yechury)
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