New Delhi, 27 Mar: Notwithstanding its reduced numbers in Lok Sabha, the Left has been at the forefront of setting the agenda in the fight against the BJP – whether it was on Article 370, CAA, agri laws or electoral bonds – and will improve its performance electorally in the upcoming polls, CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said in New Delhi.
\nIn an interview with PTI, Yechury also asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not be able to make a dent in the southern states.
\nFacing a shrinking voter base, the Left parties, which are part of the opposition INDIA bloc, are virtually engaged in a do-or-die battle in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
\nWith just five MPs in the outgoing Lok Sabha – three of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and two of the Communist Party of India (CPI) – the Left parties are at their lowest in almost six decades.
\n\u201cYou see, electorally the Left will definitely improve from the earlier election. But the point\u2026 the crucial thing for the Left is not really the question of how many seats you win or not but how much of the agenda are you setting?” he said.
\n“You look at even the last five-year period, on every single issue that the BJP brought which we consider divisive and which we don’t consider is in consonance with our Constitution on India\u2026 the Left’s initiative was setting the agenda and simultaneously for the entire people’s struggles,\u201d Yechury told PTI while citing various issues raised by the Left.
\n\u201cIt started with Article 370, the first one. That Article 370, the Left was the first to contest and in fact, I was the first political leader who managed to breach through and visit Srinagar with Supreme Court’s authority and orders,\u201d Yechury said.
\nAfter the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, which was followed by the detention of political leaders and imposition of curfew in Jammu and Kashmir, Yechury filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court regarding the detention of party leader Yusuf Tarigami.
\nHe was allowed to travel to Srinagar to visit the ailing leader. Tarigami was also allowed to come to Delhi for treatment at AIIMS and later permitted to go back as top political leaders in the state remained under detention.
\n\u201cThen CAA, that entire debate on that nationwide debate and the protest and the challenges in the Supreme Court, the Left was in the forefront,\u201d he said.
\nThe passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) led to a series of protests in Delhi and the rest of the country against the law, which expedites the grant of citizenship to members of minority communities- Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Buddhists- from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who came to India on or before 31st December 2014, as well as the National Register of Citizens (NRC) .
\n\u201cWhether it is on the question of electoral bonds, whether it is on the question of Bilkis Bano reference etc., on each one of them, the Left’s initiative was setting the agenda and simultaneously for the entire people’s struggles,\u201d Yechury said.
\nCPI(M) politburo member Subhashini Ali was among the petitioners who went to the Supreme Court against the release of convicts in the Bilkis Bano case.
\nThe apex court had quashed the Gujarat government\u2019s decision to grant remission to the 11 convicts in the case of Bano\u2019s gangrape and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots. CPI(M) was also a petitioner in the case against Electoral Bonds in the Supreme Court along with the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which led to the scrapping of the scheme, and data related to donations being released.
\nYechury also cited the farmers’ protests of 2020-21, which led to the scrapping of the three farm laws brought by the Narendra Modi-led government.
\n\u201cThe historic Kisan struggle was the only thing that made the Prime Minister withdraw from what he said or what he would do. He was forced to withdraw the laws,\u201d he said.
\nSeveral Leftist farmers\u2019 unions are members of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha which had led the protests. CPI(M)\u2019s farmers\u2019 organisation – the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), is also a major component of the SKM.
\n\u201cSo on all these things the Left has played a major role in setting the agenda and that is something that will strengthen after these elections,\u201d he said.
\nYechury said his party will improve its position in the upcoming polls.
\n\u201cWe will enter the Lok Sabha from different states. More than what we entered last time. Last time it was Tamil Nadu and Kerala,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThis time it will be much more than that. There will be much more progress that will be made,\u201d he said.
\nAsked if he saw the BJP making any dent in the southern states, Yechury replied, \u201cNo, not at all.” “And however much the Prime Minister may labour, even with the huge amount of labour and the gross violation of the Code of Conduct, like in Karnataka, where they called for votes in the name of \u2018Jai Bajrangbali\u2019,\u201d Yechury said.
\n\u201cYou saw what happened in the Karnataka assembly elections. You saw what happened in Telangana in the assembly elections. These sorts of things will not work,\u201d he said.
\nHe said the BJP may be able to \u201cwhip up passions\u201d in northern states by \u201csharpening communal polarisation,\u201d but that will not work in the southern states.
\n\u201cIt’s just not possible in the societies in the south. So I don’t think they will be of any success. They will draw a blank,\u201d he said.
\nThe BJP, which has expressed confidence of getting 370 Lok Sabha seats this time, has been focusing on increasing its tally in southern states, where its presence is negligible except in Karnataka. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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