Yechury calls for broad-based struggle

HANAMKONDA

CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has said the party will spearhead a nationwide campaign against the “unrelenting attack” on the tenets of the Constitution, democratic rights and civil liberties by the BJP regime at the helm in the Centre from August 1 to 15, marking 75 years of Independence.

Addressing the inaugural session of the three-day meeting of the CPI (M) State committee in Kazipet of Hanamkonda district on Monday, Mr Yechury said the ensuing fortnight-long campaign would feature a host of mass contact programmes to mobilise a broad-based mass movement against the BJP-RSS Hindutva forces.

Reaffirming his party’s resolve to wage a spirited struggle to protect the pillars of the Indian Constitution – secular democracy, social justice, federalism and economic sovereignty, he underlined the need for building a broad front involving the Left, secular and democratic forces against the BJP regime at the Centre to protect the secular and democratic character of the nation.

The BJP dispensation at the Centre is stifling the voices of dissent and brazenly attempting to turn India into Hindu Rashtra by vigorously pursuing divisive politics to divide people on communal lines, he charged, accusing the BJP regime of unleashing repression against those exposing its communal agenda.

He said: “The number of people arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UPPA) increased by 70 % under the present BJP regime at the Centre. In Bhima Koregaon case, the undertrials are languishing in jails for more than three years and those raising their voices against the communal agenda of the ruling BJP are being implicated in cases, he charged, terming the case booked against journalist Mohd. Zubair as an attempt to muffle dissent and free expression.

Alleging that the BJP led central government is brazenly misusing the central agencies including the Enforcement Directorate to settle political scores, Mr Yechury lambasted the ruling BJP at the Centre for trying to distablise the elected governments in the non-BJP ruled States including in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government in Kerala. The recent episode in Maharashtra speaks volumes about the flagrant misuse of money and power by the BJP to topple the non-BJP government unethically.

The colonial British regime taxed food items before independence and now the Naredra Modi regime at the Centre imposed GST on food items in an arbitrary manner in this 75 th year of independence, he said, alleging that the BJP dispensation was continuing its onslaught on livelihoods of people while allowing the crony capitalists to plunder nation’s wealth.