BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi symbolises the forces that brought down Babri Masjid and there was need for the Left parties to bring all democratic and secular forces together to stop him from leading the next government at the Centre, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said here on Friday.
“The Left parties are working for a secular alternative. We do not think that the BJP is an alternative of the Congress…. Our alternative will be based on alternative policies” he said at a rally held to protest the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.
Referring to the killing of minorities in Gujarat in 2002 when Mr. Modi was the Chief Minister, Mr. Karat said that by putting Mr. Modi’s name as a candidate for the post of prime minister, the BJP and the RSS were again trying to fuel the fire of communalism in the country.
Commenting on the Trinamool Congress, Mr. Karat said the party maintained silence on the BJP and would decide who to support depending on which party was closer to forming a government after the general elections. “They [Trinamool] are waiting to see what situation emerges in 2014. They are neutral. They can either go this way or that way.” In 2002, when minorities in Gujarat were attacked, the Trinamool was in the BJP-led government at the Centre only to subsequently switch sides and support the Congress led UPA government in 2009.
