BJP, TMC engaged in 'shadow war of words': Left parties

BJP and Trinamool Congress are engaged in a "shadow war of words" to divide the people on religious lines, with the former trying to woo the ruling party in West Bengal to seek its support post-elections, Left parties said today.

"The BJP and the TMC leaders are engaged in a shadow war of words. The TMC has been promoting communal politics in the state by patronising religious and communal leaders belonging to the minority community to bolster their support base. The BJP is the obverse side of this communal competitive politics," CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said.

Veteran CPI leader A B Bardhan said the TMC was not a like-minded party with whom it can do business.

Karat said BJP was seeking "to brand Mamata Banerjee and the TMC as appeasers of the minority community. The BJP is criticising and, at the same time, wooing Mamata Banerjee as seen in the approach and speeches of Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh."

"The message from its former ally, the BJP, to the TMC is clear: join us after the elections. This is what Narendra Modi means by saying that the people can have a 'rosgolla' in both hands," Karat said in an article in the forthcoming issue of party organ 'People's Democracy'.

Therefore, the fight against the BJP and the Hindutva forces and the struggle in West Bengal being waged by the Left and democratic forces are inextricably linked, he said.

"It becomes imperative to defeat the BJP at the national level and to rebuff the venomous anti-Communist reactionary force, TMC, in West Bengal," Karat said.

In the same vein, CPI Central Secretariat said, "As far as the TMC led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is concerned, she is actually helping the BJP by polarizing the West Bengal voters on communal lines. Her attack on the BJP is a got-up game."

It also termed as "unfounded" certain statements being attributed to different CPI leaders about the future alliances and constituents of the possible non-Congress non-BJP alliance. 

Asked about the possibility of Banerjee's party joining a non-Congress and non-BJP alternative, Bardhan said, "TMC is not a like minded party. They are fighting with us. We are fighting with them. In Bengal, in fact we are poised against with each other."

The West Bengal Chief Minister has already rubbished the Third Front as an unviable "tired front".

Favouring the formation of a third alternative as also to check Narendra Modi from becoming Prime Minister, the CPI leader ruled out the possibility of the TMC joining in it.

"The whole idea is to keep Modi out of power. I do not think they (BJP) will get the majority number," he told reporters.

In the article, Karat said the last phase of the Lok Sabha polls has brought forth "certain disturbing features".

First, the rising of communal temperature, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with a "concerted communal campaign being conducted by the BJP and the RSS."

The repercussions of a campaign against Bengali-speaking Muslims dubbed as infiltrators has already manifested in Assam with the recent violence taking over 30 lives, Karat said.

The other factor was the "fascistic attempts by the Trinamool Congress to rig the elections in West Bengal in order to suppress the CPI(M) and the Left," he said.

He also spoke about BJP leaders' efforts to "bolster their political rhetoric" through a campaign "fuelled by blatant anti-minority propaganda and appeals for Hindu consolidation."