Senior CPM leader Sitaram Yechury on Thursday likens the BJP to ‘Macbeth’ in reply to the saffron party’s MP Meenakshi Lekhi statement that the Left was like a witch to India’s growth story.

Yechury used the ‘song of witches’ portion in William Shakespeare’s play to hit back at the ruling party, saying the witches in the play correctly predicted Macbeth’s fall.

Reading out a portion from the play while initiating the debate on universities, Yechury said, “We have been, what you call, saying that the Left like witches....Yes, we are witches; we forewarn. We are witches, Sir, and we forewarn what is going to happen. Like in Macbeth, the witches forewarn.”

He then goes on to detail the forewarning to Macbeth by the witches who said Macbeth would be king, but the line of kings will come from Banquo, indicating that the BJP-led government would not remain in power forever.

‘We are witches’
“So, if you call us witches, then, also understand the prophecy of the witches, which comes out to be true. We forewarn, we are witches like in Macbeth. If you understand the prophecy of witches, and being forewarned is being forearmed. That is why we are saying this. We are calling upon the  people to be forearmed against this attack that is happening in the name of nationalism that is basically a certain brand of religiosity,” he said. During his speech, he also narrated how he became a communist.

“I was born in a Hindu traditional family, had my Ved path done and thread ceremony done at the age of 11, and have studied all the Vedas. Then, you say, with a name like Sitaram, having read all the Vedas, why have you landed up as a communist? I have landed up as a communist because I have studied all of them. So, don’t teach us all this,” he said.

“If you want to debate and argue, come, debate and argue, and that is how our philosophy grew, through debate and argument, and that is exactly what they want to suppress today,” he added.