Cautioning against a more aggressive implementation of neo-liberal policies as well as the widening of the communal divide in the country if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) comes to power after the Lok Sabha polls, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Prakash Karat said here on Sunday that the non-Congress, non-BJP parties would announce a common alternative policy this month.
“This month, after the end of Parliament session, there will be a meeting of the non-Congress and non-BJP parties after which we will present the alternative policy before the people,” Mr. Karat said while addressing a huge rally organised by the Left Front at the Brigade Parade grounds.
Accusing the Congress of failing to check communal forces in the country in the 10 years of its rule at the Centre, he said only the non-Congress, non-BJP parties could stop their onslaught.
Referring to the comments the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, made at the same venue four days ago that the third front was of third grade, Mr. Karat said it was true that “Narendra Modi is still in first grade and we from the Left Front and those who are in third alternative are [in the] highest grade, the third grade”.
“He [Mr. Modi] is trying to impose on the entire country the model he is pursuing in Gujarat,” he said, adding that it was under the stewardship of Mr. Modi in Gujarat that “the capitalists have got more opportunities to increase their profits”.
Mr. Karat also said that in 2002 — the year Mr. Modi became Chief Minister — 2,000 people were murdered in Gujarat.
“When there will be elections then people will realise where the BJP stands — in West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. It is in these States that all the secular, non-Congress, non-BJP parties are going to the fight the Congress and the BJP,” he said.
‘Not much difference’
He said that there was not much difference in the policies of the Congress and BJP.
It is in such a situation “that the Left parties have initiated a search for an alternative that will protect secularism and democracy in the country”.
