Defending ‘Idea of India’ is the Left’s immediate task on hand: Yechury

Republican values getting undermined under BJP regime: CPI-M leader at MBIFL

Trivandrum / February 4, 2023

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb. 04:  As the basic tenets of the Constitution are facing increasing assault under the BJP rule, the Left believes that the immediate task on hand is to defend the ‘idea of India’ as a secular-democratic republic that guarantees rights, justice and liberty to all people, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said today.

Mr Yechury was speaking on the topic “How the Left politics shapes India’s democracy” at the Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters (MBIFL) here.

The pillars of democracy and the fundamental ideas enshrined in the Constitution like equality, liberty and fraternity along with social justice is being destroyed systematically by the present regime by consistently building a false consciousness, he told the “Reimagining India’ segment of the four-day festival, which was also attended by Mathrubhumi Managing Director and MBIFL Chairman Shri M V Shreyams Kumar.

“The urgent task is to at least go back immediately to ensure what is laid down in the Constitution is preserved so that we could build the future,” the CPI(M) leader said.

Fostering the unity of people at all levels possible is vital in this struggle and the Left is committed to working earnestly in that direction by putting an agenda before them and joining their struggles, he asserted.

The present regime largely thrives by creating a false consciousness of a glorious past destroyed by invaders. Scientific temper, rational thinking and sense of equality and fraternity are wilfully suppressed. Religious and linguistic minorities are grossly discriminated against, Mr Yechury said.

“You are being fed with this false consciousness every day. The history is being rewritten and the facts are distorted in the textbooks.  The thread that runs through the New Education Policy is communalisation, centralisation and commercialisation,” he said.

The BJP has been winning elections by perpetuating this false consciousness which is similar to what happened in Nazi Germany where Hitler came to power through elections. This was largely achieved by destroying the ability of masses to think rationally, he contended.

“This grim situation has to be combated politically, culturally and ideologically by uniting people at all levels and the Left is committed to working towards that direction and that is what immediately defines the Left’s role in Indian politics,” he noted.

Removal from power the regime that is destroying the edifice of the republic by uniting the people is the task cut out before the Left now, Mr Yechury said.

Reacting to questions relating to the opposition unity, he said the best strategy is to go ahead depending upon the specificity of the situation and maximise the unity of the people.

Asked why his party did not join the conclusion of the Bharat Jodo Yatra undertaken by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the CPI(M) leader said when it started the Congress did not  tell others to come and join. “Towards the end of the Yatra, the Congress leaders asked us why don’t you join?  Our response was that you go ahead with your programme. We welcome anybody coming forward to defend India.”

“We are also appealing to all parties to come together. We are willing to take help from all those coming forward to join the struggle. In Tripura, we are co-operating with all secular parties. But politics is not arithmetic and in politics 2 plus 2 could become 22,” the Left leader said

Ultimately, history is made by the people and they will force the opposition unity, he said, recalling how the Janata Party emerged after the elections in 1977 which marked the end of the emergency regime.

Answering a question on the Left’s capability to fight the BJP after losing much of the ground in the country, an optimistic Yechury said it is a wrong notion that popularity is measured only in terms of elections. “The Left is putting an agenda before the people. The issue is what the agenda is. Once the agenda is put before them, people will do the rest. Also, it is significant that the Left has played the lead role in all the major struggles that country had in the last several years.”

Noting that independent discourse and freedom of expression are facing grim threats in India, Mr Yechury congratulated Mathrubhumi for organising events like MBIFL where diverse views are expressed and debated.