Karat: BJP trying to exploit people’s ire against Centre

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat has said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) are trying to come to power by taking advantage of the discontent among the people against the ‘anti-people’ and neo-liberal policies of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre.

He was inaugurating a mammoth public rally at the valedictory of the three-day State CPI (M) plenum at Stadium ground here on Friday.

Centre criticised

Mr. Karat said the policies followed by the Union government had led to skyrocketing prices, crisis in the agriculture sector, unemployment, and other problems.

The BJP instead of coming out with an alternative policy to the Congress was trying to divide the people along communal lines.

He said the Congress could not fight the communalism of the BJP and the RSS as it was not consistent in its fight to protect secularism.

In Kerala, the CPI (M) had decided to fight against the “anti-people” and “communal” policies of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government by getting the support of all secular democratic forces.

New chapter: Pinarayi

In his presidential address, CPI (M) State unit secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said the plenum that ended here on Friday would write a new chapter in the history of the party in Kerala as it would strengthen the organisational and ideological basis of the party.

“The CPI (M) which is working in a decadent capitalist system also got influenced by some of its devaluations and deviations. The plenum was organised to correct these deviations in the party,” he said.

The party, Mr. Vijayan said, was not against believers as some people were trying to portray. “We want class struggles in which people of all religions and the believers participate,” he said.

Vigil urged

He said the party should be vigilant against the attempts by right wing parties to weaken the CPI(M).

He called upon party leaders and workers to follow the Communist principles and become a model to society to further strengthen the CPI (M) and the Left and progressive forces in the State.

CPI (M) Polit Bureau members Sitaram Yechury and S. Ramachandran Pillai also addressed the rally.