Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and MP, said here on Sunday that the BJP was systematically trying to promote the fascist agenda of the RSS and its brand of Hindutva nationalism.
Speaking at the Save Constitution Patriot Convention organised by the CPI(M), Mr. Yechury said the core values of the Constitution were under attack as people were being dictated as to what they can eat, wear, and with whom they can interact or marry through moral policing by the private armies.
“As the country is stepping into the 70th year of Independence, India is at the crossroads and it is imperative to consolidate the cherished values of liberty, equality and fraternity instead of moving in the opposite direction,” he said.
Mr. Yechury touched upon the Constitutional, social, economic and religious elements alleging that each of them was under attack by the Modi government.
“Secularism and democracy were entwined and the two were inseparable in the Indian context and in the present times, the rights of the minorities were being encroached upon by the strident and aggressive Hindutva thus undermining the entire basis of the secular order,” said Mr. Yechury.
He warned that the RSS concept of Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan — of one language, one religion and one country — being promoted by the BJP was supplanting diversity with imposition of uniformity and would undermine the integrity of the country. Describing India as a confluence of civilization, the CPI(M) leader said it has the potential to give a new direction to human civilization but was being destroyed by a narrow bigoted vision and that is why unity of all patriotic Indians is a must to save the Constitution.
Referring to economic inequality, he said while 1% of the population controlled 49% of the GDP under the Manmohan Singh government, this has increased to 58.4% in three years under the Modi government.
Criticizing demonetisation, he said it was a windfall for private MNCs as they benefited from the service tax on each transaction while pushing millions of Indians ostensibly to the digital economy. He was also dismissive of the concept of one country-one election and said it cannot be a reality unless the Centre abrogated Article 356, which was misused to dismiss elected State governments.
Senior CPI(M) leaders G.V. Sriram Reddy and G.N. Nagaraju were present.
