BJP will meet its Waterloo in Tripura: Yechury

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday cited the BJP’s alliance with the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) as an instance of the ruling party’s “dangerous and divisive” electoral strategy.

The Left will be a centrifugal force in the realignment of parties to usher in alternative politics in the 2019 general elections, he added.

Declaring that the ruling party will “meet its Waterloo” in poll-bound Tripura, Yechury told the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) that the BJP’s promise of achche din in 2014 stands exposed with the GDP growth plummeting to a four-year low, and a dangerous escalation in social strife and agrarian distress.

The BJP’s only answer to real issues confronting the people such as economic crisis, unemployment and agrarian distress is to foment an “anti-Muslim” feeling and rely on manipulating the base instincts of the masses to win elections, he said. The political answer to this, he added, is to create an alternative political discourse based on social cohesion, situating the poor at the heart of policy-making and economic development.

“The BJP has shown a dangerous cynicism in its strategy to win elections. In Tripura, where the BJP wants to defeat the Left at any cost, (BJP President) Amit Shah is talking about an alliance with the IPFT, which is claiming to have already met the Prime Minister. The IPFT originated in the demand for separation of Tripura from India. The BJP’s alignment with them is going to spell mayhem in the North-East, and it will create long-standing issues for India’s internal security. The only good part is, the people have seen through these designs. The BJP will meet its Waterloo in Tripura,” said Yechury.

Yechury was grilled on his promise of “realignment of political forces”, especially the CPI(M)’s tie-up with the Congress. Although he did not give a direct answer, the indication was that his effort would be to stitch up a coalition of “all social democratic parties”.

“The situation in the country is very critical. The GDP growth is the lowest in four years and India has slipped downward in the index of global hunger and Human Development Index (HDI), and agrarian distress is spurring social unrest. The BJP’s only political response is to spread hatred and communal divide with anti-Muslim being the only policy agenda. The challenge before the Opposition is unite the diverse movements against this anti-democratic and oppressive regime. The Left will endeavour to unite all the social democratic forces who believe in secularism and share a pro-people policy framework with us,” said Yechury.

Citing the denial of permission to a Dalit rally by Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mavani, Yechury said the BJP is practising “undeclared Emergency” and using “authoritarian tactics” to suppress dissent and democracy. “The Left has an extremely positive attitude towards the rise of young leaders in India who appropriately represent the demographic transition among India’s voters. These are people giving a voice to the movements against the anti-poor, anti-Dalit and authoritarian BJP regime,” he said.

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