Left-of-Centre stance key for opposition unity against BJP: CPI

The Communist Party of India on Saturday exhorted the secular, democratic parties to take a Left-of-Centre stance to cement a principled unity against the RSS and the BJP that were “alleviating the nation of peace and communal harmony”.

The CPI said it was raising the banner of Left unity and unity of all secular, democratic, patriotic forces to defend the fundamental interests of the nation and its people.

Delivering the inaugural address at the party’s 24th national congress that began here on Saturday, CPI general secretary D Raja said the Opposition’s agenda needed to be distinct from that of the RSS to defeat the RSS-BJP combine. Public health, education, land, housing, employment and food security should be the fundamental demands of the Opposition agenda, he said. “A Left-of-Centre position among secular, democratic parties is needed to cement a principled unity against the RSS-BJP. The Left will have to take initiative in forging this unity,” Raja said.

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“Trampling all democratic institutions and dividing the society has been the agenda of the RSS. RSS is using a fabricated victimhood to aggressively mobilise the religious majority against minorities on dangerously communal lines. RSS-BJP are quick in appropriating the fault lines of caste and region for their Hindutva project,” the CPI general secretary alleged.

Raja also said the “Ambani-Adani brand” of crony capitalism was threatening economic sovereignty and defeating the idea of social justice. “Systematic dismantling of the public sector under Modi is the result of ideological reliance on neo-liberalism. Multi-national corporate giants with no social responsibility are plundering our natural resources,” he added.

Unemployment, he noted, was at an unprecedented high. Modi government's mismanagement of Covid-19 pandemic claimed lives and livelihoods of millions and plunged the nation into a deep crisis. Gap in education during the pandemic years, digital divide and increasing privatisation were making education a distant dream to many. “It is imperative that we take up public health, public education, land, housing, employment and food security as the fundamental demands of our agenda. Our agenda is diametrically opposite to what the RSS is trying to achieve economically, socially and culturally,” the former MP said.

Mocking BJP’s claim that the Prime Minister was working day and night, Raja remarked, “Yes, he is working day and night to hand over India to corporates.” CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechuri, who attended the CPI congress as a fraternal delegate, said people were facing the “gravest of challenges” and an all-round crisis.

“The Modi government is making a serious assault undermining the Constitution of India. It is also seeking to transform the secular democratic character of the Indian republic into the RSS project of a rabidly intolerant fascistic Hindutva rashtra,” Yechuri alleged. He accused the Modi government of abandoning “time-tested” independent foreign policy, due to which the country has now been reduced to a “subordinate ally of US imperialism” in all global matters. Yechuri called for unity of the Left and democratic forces that could give an alternative policy direction.

“At the same time, the broadest mobilisation of secular forces must be ensured to isolate and defeat Hindutva communal onslaughts,” he observed. CPI-ML (Liberation) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, All-India Forward Bloc leader G Devarajan and other leaders also stressed the need for unity of Left and democratic forces against the BJP. Ambassador of Cuba to India Alejandro Simancas Marin also attended on behalf of the Communist Party of Cuba.

This is the third time that Vijayawada city – once a citadel of the Left in Andhra Pradesh – has been hosting the national congress of the CPI, after 47 years. Apart from delegates from various States of the country, fraternal delegates from at least 12 foreign countries, including China, Russia, France and South Africa, are attending the five-day event.