Terming the outcome of the Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland Assembly elections a matter of serious concern, former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has called for a joint offensive by all secular forces to bring down the BJP and the Sangh Parivar.
“The challenges that the nation face today are very serious. The Congress, which had ruled India for decades after independence, is quite weak now. Left parties that ruled Bengal and Tripura are also weak today. The BJP, which has come into this space, is on the one side pushing neo-liberal policies and, on the other, forging ahead with its extremely communal agenda,” Mr. Achuthanandan said calling for efforts to rally secular sections within all bourgeois parties for a final offensive against the Sangh Parivar.
The actions of the BJP had acquired a fascist character. “The challenge before the Left is to drive out this fascist epidemic. Unless this is done, the nation’s sovereignty, economic security, secularism and democracy will come down crumbling,” he said.
The former Chief Minister reminded Left cadres that the Left did not have the strength to lead or win such a battle all by itself. Other national and regional bourgeois were also in a state of disarray. They were also victims of globalisation and liberalisation policies and, as such, their hallmarks were corruption and nepotism.
The Left could not, therefore, enter into any alliance with them or share power with them. However, if the Left was unable to open a new battle front forging a strategic alliance with the secular sections within these bourgeois parties, it would be difficult to bring down Sangh Parivar fascism. “This election outcome reminds us that the time for all sections of the people in India to get ready for the final assault is here,” Mr. Achuthanandan said.
