The Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi represents a “strange union” of the regressive policies of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha (RSS) and that of corporate houses in the country, said Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Polit Bureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), here on Saturday.
Addressing a section of the city’s intelligentsia, who are supporters of the Left parties, he criticised Mr. Modi’s model of development and said that it represents a development led by the corporates where the rich would become richer and poor would turn poorer.
Mr. Bhattacharjee also took on the RSS saying, “It does not believe in the country’s constitution and wants to make a new India of Hindutva.” The CPI(M) leader made it clear that the party is opposed to both the Congress and the BJP. “We are not ready to jump from the frying pan to the fire,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said. Referring to the alternative which the Left parties are trying to come up with at the national level after the Lok Sabha polls, he said that it would be based on alternative “policies and programmes”.
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Mr. Bhattacharjee pointed out that both the Congress and the BJP put together did not comprise 50 per cent of the total votes polled in the country in the previous elections, and even in the past the Left parties presented the alternative to the people.
“We could not sustain it for long in the past. But that does not mean we will not be able to do the same in future,” he added.
Ridicules West Bengal’s modelADVERTISEMENT
Questioning the claims made by the Trinamool Congress government that it has come up with a “model” of development, Mr Bhattacharjee said, “What is the model?”
“Does this model mean borrowing money and spending on organising festivals? Does it mean painting buildings blue and white?” he asked.
“The Chief Minister claims that she has completed 90 per cent of the work she had promised. Being a Chief Minister she does not know what work she has to do, or else she would never have said something like that,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said.
The former Chief Minister raised concerns about deteriorating law and order situation and the rise in crime against women as well as issues like reduction in paddy production and lack of industrialisation.
He cautioned that an “evil force” has made inroads into the cultural sphere of the State and among other things is affecting “our values”.