The United Democratic Front (UDF) is resorting to low-grade social media campaign against K.K. Shailaja, Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate from the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, because it feels that she has already won the election, Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] general secretary Sitaram Yechury has said.
He was in Vadakara on April 17 (Wednesday) evening to speak at a campaign event for Ms. Shailaja.
Mr. Yechury claimed that scurrilous campaigns were being conducted against her on the social media. “But I take that as a positive sign. Our opponents and the UDF have now declared that Ms. Shailaja has won the election. They must be answered back, not in that language, by democratically, by giving Ms. Shailaja a resounding victory in the coming elections and sending her to Parliament,” he said.
Mr. Yechury alleged that there had been a systematic assault on the four foundational pillars of the Constitution of India: secular democracy, economic sovereignty, federalism, and social justice. “That assault is directed at destroying the Constitution and replacing our secular democratic republic with an authoritarian rabidly intolerant fascistic Hindutva rashtra. That is why all these Bharatiya Janata Party leaders are saying give [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi 400 seats, we will change the Constitution,” he pointed out.
Mr. Yechury also mocked Mr. Modi’s promise of guarantees to the voters. “Not a single guarantee has been fulfilled in the past 10 years. ‘Modi guarantee’ means zero guarantee. He promised to generate 2 crore jobs and now we have the highest level of unemployment since Independence. Almost 42% of our graduates are unemployed,” he added.
