CPI calls for secular front against BJP

Says Congress alone cannot fight the BJP at the national level

A broad secular platform of political parties and mass organisations is imperative to fight the BJP, CPI general secretary Sudhakar Reddy has said.

Addressing a meet-the-press programme organised by the Press Club here on Friday, Mr. Reddy stopped short of accepting a key role for the Congress in the fight against fascist forces.

“The Congress alone cannot fight the BJP at the national level. The need of the hour is to forge a platform of secular forces and all opposed to the BJP. We have not worked out the details,” Mr. Reddy said.

The onus for forming the front was not on the Congress alone, but the party with a pan India presence was key to the fight. The policies and priorities of the Congress did not augur well with the Left and secular forces in many States and regional parties would play a key role, he said.

The CPI party Congress to be held in Kollam in April 2018 would chalk out a strategy and discuss about a broad national forum to take on the fascist forces.

“After the ascension of the NDA government, a sense of insecurity has swept the country among the common man, Dalits, minorities, secular forces and the media,” he said.

The fascist forces got emboldened to take on those opposed to their line of thought after the Narendra Modi government assumed office, he said.

The BJP claim that it did not face graft charges was untrue. He demanded a white paper on the Panama paper leaks, a probe into the corruption charges against various BJP State governments, publicising the details of the beneficiaries of the bank loan waivers, and curb the price rise of oil and other essential commodities.