Decision on alliance with Congress soon, says CPM

Continuing to stress on the need to consolidate organisational strength to fight communal forces, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury kept abuzz speculations over an alliance with the Congress in Bengal before the crucial 2016 Assembly polls.

He said the decision regarding a tie up will be taken by the state committee soon.

Reiterating the policy of a double-barreled attack against the BJP at the Centre and the Trinamool Congress in Bengal, who Yechury called “two sides of the same coin”, he said the state CPM unit will start deliberating over the issue of electoral tie up in January.

 He, however, asserted that “no state committee is autonomous” and they have to take a call “in accordance with the central committee”. “Any decision in this regard will be taken only after a consensus within the politburo,” he said.

Yechury further said alliances will be decided looking at existing situation in respective states. “New Year will start in Bengal with an exploration of this. We’ll consider things looking at ways to drive away the BJP from India and Trinamool from Bengal,” he said. He added that the primary objective is to combat right wing forces by “strengthening Left unity and unifying Left and democratic entities”.

Stating that the RSS-backed BJP is “seeking to replace Indian history with Hindu mythology and Indian philosophy with Hindu theology”, the CPM general secretary said his party is exploring “novel methods” to counter this, particularly among Dalits and tribals.

 “They are trying to change education policies. We’re looking at suitable alternatives,” he said. Even in institutes like IIT Madras, study circles on social reformers such as B R Ambedkar and E V Ramaswamy or Periyar have been stopped.

The party will also take up in a big way the twin issues of economic exploitation and social oppression so that RSS’ design of projecting “rabidly intolerant fascistic Hindu nation” can be brought to a halt. “Communal forces are able to push forward a historical agenda because of state patronage even though no historian of international repute have come ahead to support their views.”

Talking about “caste disillusionment”, Yechury said, “This can only happen finally with economic independence. The idea is to recognise them as equals and ensure economic empowerment.” The party also plans to establish bodies for young professionals and students nationwide to make them “alert” on “anti-people” policies and provide a platform to “speak out on issues that affect such people”, he said, adding that the challenge was shortage of such platforms to reach the youth.
DH News Service