Farmers Movement Archive

Communist parties working like a team against the BJP

In Sunday, at a joint public meeting near Salem, DMK president M K Stalin urged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to take the lead and form a national-level alliance of opposition parties to take on the BJP/RSS combine in time for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. TOI spoke to R Mutharasan and K Balakrishnan, state secretaries of CPI and CPM, about such a move and their support for it. Excerpts:Q: What do you think about M K Stalin’s suggestion?Mutharasan: It is a politically significant statement that Stalin and Rahul Gandhi made in Salem. Today, the country under the BJP is heading towards a dangerous zone with dictatorship looming large on its horizon. Starting with one nation, one card, one election, we could well be heading into a one religion and one party regime. That is their last weapon, which is against the people and the principles of secularism. Considering the looming danger, all communist organisations should merge into one without wasting any further time. This is important to stop the fascist forces and to safeguard the Constitution. Today’s youngsters sport Che Guevara T-shirts, but they are not coming to us since they feel we are weakened. Only a merger can change that perception. The differences that led to the breakup of communists in 1964 do not exist now at the international and national level.Balakrishnan: This is a significant move. Today, the only danger looming over the country is the stranglehold of the BJP/RSS, which is keen to destroy federalism, social justice, multi-cultural society and secularism with a single-minded approach. Stalin has proposed the move and it is a good thing. All parties have to forget about their personal agendas and join hands nationally to stop the march of the BJP/RSS.Q: The CPI suggested a merger of all communist parties to strengthen itself for such a fight. Your view?Balakrishnan: Even though we are two parties, we are already functioning as a team. Our political objective across India is one. When we are already functioning as one, what difference will it make after becoming one. In fact, as two parties we are able to reach out to a larger number of people. More than the issue of merger, we could focus to work more closely. A merger could possibly happen in the future and we do not know now. Let it take its own course. There is a process and journey involved to warrant such a merger. I am not saying no.Q: What is your take on the TN assembly election?Mutharasan: Our Democratic Progressive Alliance will do much better than what the opinion polls are predicting. An alliance should have political strength and alliance strength. We have both. On the political front, the AIADMK-BJP combine does not have answers to the questions that we raise on the farm laws and CAA. We have not only retained the alliance partners from the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, we have added more parties. We see a big support among the people and they are yearning for change.Balakrishnan: Our alliance campaign is having a positive impact on the people and we can see a surge in support for us. There is discontent against the Centre and the state government. There is a wave of opposition against the BJP and the AIADMK. The wave will be visible for others only after the results are out.

The Times of India

2021-04-01

Chennai