Modi repeating Vajpayee's electoral gambit: Yechury

CPI(M) has described the Narendra Modi government's announcement to earmark 10% reservation for economically backward people as a repeat of an "electoral gambit" the BJP played during Atal Bihari Vajpayee government's decision in 2003 before elections.

In a late night tweet on Monday, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury shared his party Polit Bureau's statement on 4 October 2003 which had described Vajpayee government's decision on providing a similar quota as an "unfiltered election gimmick".

On Modi government's move, Yechury tweeted, "A similar gambit was played by the Vajpayee govt months before its term ended. Our Polit Bureau had this to say then...
History repeats itself, this time as a farce."

"The point is, Modi promised 10 crore new jobs before 2014. All we have at the end of his term are job losses and the destruction of livelihoods. So such ploys are meaningless. Where are the Jobs? #Jumlas," he tweeted.

Vajpayee government has cleared the proposal for reservation for upper castes and 2003 October statement by CPI(M) had castigated the then BJP government on this.

It had then said that the issue was under discussion since the Mandal Commission days but Vajpayee government did not take any action till the fag end of its tenure.

The CPI(M) leaders believe that the Modi government has lost the narrative and trying to "hoodwink" people through such measures. They feel that such measures are too late and people would call the bluff.

The Left leaders said that the move showed that like the Vajpayee government, the Modi government also "exposed itself". "This shows their insincerity and opportunism," they said.