Yechury takes on Modi for targeting Opposition alliance

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has taken on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for finding fault with Opposition's united efforts to defeat him in the Lok Sabha elections, saying he came to power with the support of 42 parties, some of which BJP did not see eye to eye with.

Yechury's response came as Modi is continuously attacking the Opposition describing their efforts as an act of desperation" and his strong position has forced parties with diverse ideology come together.

In an article in the forthcoming issue of party mouthpiece Peoples Democracy, Yechury said Modi was "clearly rattled by the reading the writing on the wall" on the outcome of upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"...he (Modi) is doling out various excuses and reasons in order to portray the efforts for unity, that is emerging among the secular opposition for the ouster of the BJP from government, as an act of either opportunism, an act of money bags getting together or an act of sheer desperation," he said.

Yechury said the BJP got the advantage of a "dispersed opposition" in 2014 to gain majority and form the government by merely garnering 31%.

"A repetition" of this is "no longer possible" in the forthcoming elections because state-level understandings were emerging in major states that send a large number of MPs to the Lok Sabha. The possibility of gaining majority by a divided opposition does not appear to work for the BJP in 2019 and it was the "first reason for the panic" that is growing in the saffron camp, he said.

Trying to project that opposition was desperately getting together as they cannot take on Modi effectively, Yechury said that Modi was supported by 42 parties when he assumed power and BJP cannot an eye to eye with some of them like the PDP and Asom Gana Parishad with which it shared power.

Referring to the BJP forming governments in Goa, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh despite being in minority," he said the BJP is “least qualified” to talk about any principles and who have “literally no scruples at forsaking principles for the sake of power”. They are today giving moral lectures to the people and to secular parties about morality and principles, he said.

He also rubbished Modi's allegation that the coming together of opposition parties represents money power while he represents people’s power, saying “nothing could be more absurd”.

By changing the laws for political funding, it is the BJP that has been the beneficiary to the tune of nearly 95% of all donations made through electoral bonds to any political party. And that is why when they say there is no money trail that one can find in the Rafale deal; the electoral bonds are the money trail," he said.

On Ram Temple, he said the RSS-BJP is sharpening communal polarisation ahead of the elections. "In that category falls once again the demand for the construction of the Ram Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. All these four-and-a-half years nothing was done by the BJP and clearly this is an issue that it wishes to exploit for its electoral propaganda and electoral polarisation," he said.