Use bulldozers against BJP leaders in Bihar: CPI

The Communist Party of India (CPI) has asked the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar, which it is supporting from outside, to use bulldozers against leaders of the BJP in the state.

CPI national secretary Atul Anjan also demanded that a "white paper" on the "ill-gotten" wealth of BJP leaders in the state be brought out to debunk the notion that "only other parties are corrupt".

"Let (CM) Nitish Kumar and (deputy CM) Tejashwi Prasad Yadav instruct officials concerned to identify and raze structures belonging to BJP leaders which are found to be encroaching upon public land. Bulldozers should now be used against the party," he told reporters on Friday.

"If Nitish and Tejashwi baulk, we will take it as a lack of moral courage (naitik saahas) on their part," said Anjan.

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The CPI leader said his party was still open to joining the cabinet in the state, unlike other Left parties -- the CPI(ML) and CPI(M) which have ruled out such a possibility.

"But we have received no offer so far. And we do not want ministerial berths at the cost of unity among alliance partners," he said. Replying to a query, the CPI leader said the party believes that Kumar will play an "important role" in forging unity among opposition parties in the country.

He, however, evaded pointed queries about Kumar being "prime minister material" saying, "We shall cross the bridge when we reach it. Let us not try to name the child even before it is born."

Anjan, however, added that a weak Congress had "emboldened" the BJP and "its Ashvamedha yajna has hit a roadblock in Bihar, the very land where Advani's Rath Yatra was stopped".

Lalu Prasad Yadav, RJD chief and the then chief minister of Bihar, had stopped Advani's Ram Rath Yatra at Samastipur in October 1990. The CPI leader stressed the need for combating communalism which was being manifested in "denigration of the Prophet on one hand and cries of 'sar tan se juda' (beheading) on the other".

He also charged the Narendra Modi government at the Centre with having wrecked the economy and indulging in "window dressing" in the face of depleting foreign exchange reserves and the rupee in a state of free fall.

Asserting that CPI was committed to protecting the national interest even vis-a-vis communist China, Anjan blamed Modi government for a skewed balance of payments and challenged it to bring a "white paper" on territory allegedly encroached upon by the neighbouring country.