Only the Left can provide a credible alternative to the ‘encounter politics’ of the RSS-BJP duo, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat has said.
Opening a convention on the ‘Left initiatives in national politics’ here on Wednesday, she said that the Congress would not be able to resist the BJP as the aggressive pursuit of neo-liberal policies, now being followed by the ruling party, was started by the main Opposition party.
Ms. Karat said that the current national political situation in the country could be defined by three features – an all-out assault on constitutional principles of secularism, democracy and individual liberty, all-out assault on the basic right to life of the working people and aggressive pursuit of neo-liberal policies, and the assault on right to privacy, right to information and right to choose your own religion, etc.
“In politics, we have a new type of politics called encounter politics, being practised by the Modi-Shah duo. It is inspired by the ideology of the former Sarsanghchalak of the RSS, Golwalkar. It has entered the arena of elections, the arena of running governments, and the arena of basic principles of democracy,” she said. Giving the example of the political situation in Tripura, Ms. Karat alleged that the BJP was trying to destabilise the CPI(M)-led Left Front government there by buying out Opposition Congress MLAs and secretly funding a section of the tribal outfit Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, who had been demanding a separate State. She claimed the saffron party was again playing dual politics as it was whipping up sentiments against tribals in urban areas too. Santanu Bhowmik, a young journalist, was killed for reporting about the secret funding of the BJP, she claimed. Ms. Karat said that the Left would ally with democratic and progressive-minded organisations to counter these challenges. On the governance front, the initiatives in education and health sectors taken by the Left Front governments would be projected as a better alternative too, Ms. Karat said.
‘Individual right’
The CPI(M) leader also expressed solidarity with Hadiya, whom she claimed, “had been imprisoned by her parents because of judicial pronouncements” that challenged her basic right to choose her life partner.
“If there is a security angle to it, let the Centre and the National Investigation Agency take action. But, please don’t link it with the individual right of a woman,” she said.
Resolution passed
The convention passed a resolution in support of Rohingya refugees. CPI(M) district secretary P. Mohanan, Pema Ram, farmers’ leader from Rajasthan, Fysal, brother of Junaid, who was allegedly lynched by cow vigilantes, and Nitheesh Narayanan, students’ leader from Jawaharlal Nehru University, were present.
