[Marxistindia] Article-Com. Sitaram Yechury-Peoples Democracy

[news from the cpi(m)]

Article written by Com. Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary, CPI(M), to be
appeared in the forthcoming issue of Peoples Democracy:

 

 

Desperation of BJP all the more evident

 

PM MODI is clearly rattled by reading the writing on the wall concerning the
outcome of the 2019 general elections. As a result, he is doling out various
excuses and reasons in order to portray the efforts for unity, that is
emerging among the secular opposition for the ouster of the BJP from
government, as an act of either opportunism, an act of money bags getting
together or an act of sheer desperation; that it is Modi versus the rest in
the forthcoming elections. Let us examine these claims of the prime
minister. 

It was always clear that the advantage the BJP and Modi had in 2014 of a
dispersed opposition allowed them to gain a majority and form the government
by merely eliciting the support of 31 percent of the electorate. A
repetition is no longer possible in the forthcoming elections. A divided
opposition despite 69 percent of the electorate voting against the BJP,
ensured that Modi could have his own majority in the Lok Sabha. But now with
the state level understandings emerging in the major states that send a
large number of MPs to the Lok Sabha, this possibility does not appear to
work in 2019. This is the first reason for the panic that is growing in the
BJP camp. 

In order to show this sort of a coming together of secular parties as an act
of sheer desperation it is being portrayed that the strength of Modi is
such, that the entire opposition is getting together. It must be recollected
that in 2014 when Modi assumed office of the PM there were 42 parties that
supported the BJP and many of them joined the NDA.  While only a few of them
had representation in the Lok Sabha; the rest of them were state level
parties who were hoping for spoils of office  at the levels of the state
governments whenever the assembly elections are held and this happened in a
large number of states. But of those who were part of the NDA and who had
MPs in the Lok Sabha many have now withdrawn their support to the BJP and
exited the NDA.

The TDP, a key member of the NDA which gave a large support base with its
MPs from Andhra Pradesh, is now out of the NDA. In the north East the AGP
whose support ensured that the BJP formed a state government there has now
exited the NDA on the controversial amendment to the Citizenship Act.
Likewise, in Bihar at least three of the constituents of the NDA have now
deserted the BJP and moving towards an understanding with secular forces. In
UP many of BJP's smaller allies including some of them who had shared
cabinet positions are seriously reconsidering their support to the BJP.  In
Maharashtra the Shiv-Sena is displaying belligerent opposition to the BJP
and we will have to wait and see what happens as the election draw closer. 

Likewise, in the other states where recent elections were held many of the
regional parties and smaller forces have now deserted the NDA. So, put
together, what is seen is the coming together of the secular opposition
forces as against the withering away of the NDA coalition. This is causing a
sense of desperation in the BJP and the RSS. 

Prime Minister Modi today expresses his dismay over the fact that the
secular opposition parties are coming to certain understandings in order to
maximise the pooling of anti BJP vote and he dubs this effort as being an
opportunistic and unprincipled alliance. Of the 42 parties that we spoke of
who supported the NDA in 2014, many of those were parties with whom the BJP
cannot see an eye to eye. What is the commonality between the BJP and the
PDP in state of Jammu and Kashmir except the urge to share the spoils of
office that brought them together? What is the commonality between the Asom
Gana Parishad and the BJP when the AGP has been waging a battle and its
birth originates in this battle against "foreigners" in Assam? What was the
commonality between the TDP and the BJP when they fought against each other
and continue to fight against each other earlier? What happened with the
JD(U) in Bihar is well known; after defeating the BJP the betrayal of Nitish
Kumar and the JD(U) rejoining the BJP, what are the principles involved in
that. 

The BJP has been unscrupulous in the manner in which it roped in various
political parties either by allurement or by threats and intimidation or by
offering them share of power at the level of the state governments. This is
reflected in the brazen manner in which it has bought over MLAs to form
governments even after being in the minority like it happened in Goa,
Manipur and Arunachal. These are the people who are least qualified to talk
about any principles and who have literally no scruples at forsaking
principles for the sake of power and they are today giving moral lectures to
the people of India and to the secular parties about morality and
principles! 

In order to overcome the desperation a belligerent bravado is being
displayed by saying that Modi is the strong man the "King Kong", so to
speak, against whom every other force is coming together to defeat him.
First of all, it must be understood that the ruination of the Indian economy
apart from the ruination of the constitutional institutions and the social
unity amongst the people has generated a deep discontent amongst the people
over the last 57 months. This discontent is taking the shape of popular
militant struggles as was seen recently in the coming together of the
working class, the kisans and the agricultural labour in a joint
worker-peasant massive rally outside the parliament at Delhi. This was
followed up by nearly 200 kisan organisations, organising yet another
massive march to parliament which had forced leaders of 21 major opposition
parties to come together on that platform and pledge support for the
legislations that this movement had drafted regrading remunerative price of
one and a half times of the production cost to the farmer and a one-time
loan waiver to prevent growing distress suicides among the farmers. This
coming together of the top most leaders of these parties on the platform of
this joint kisan manch was in itself an indicator that what was dominant and
what is becoming increasingly dominant in the electoral discourse for the
2019 elections are the issues of the working people, issues of agrarian
distress, the issues of growing unemployment and issues of economic burdens
that are crippling the livelihoods of vast majority of our people.

Added element to this discontent is the brazen loot of our public money and
people's money that Modi government is facilitating by patronising and
giving protection to such elements who have looted our country. The
humongous amounts of unpaid loans taken from the banks, which is now
estimated variously, as official figures are very difficult to come by,
amounting to around Rs 12 lakh crore including interest; has crippled the
banking system. Those who have looted have scooted the country and they have
scooted the country under the patronage of this government. Instead of
taking penal action and confiscating the properties of those who have taken
such loans and scooted; the banks are being recapitalised once again by
diverting people's money that is lying in the deposits in the banks. So,
this is the double whammy loot and attack on the Indian people due to the
profligacy of promoting crony capitalism at its worst by this Modi
government. 

Added to this is the exposure connected with the Rafale scam. By the day it
is becoming increasingly clear that it was the direct involvement of Prime
Minister Modi that this deal was brought into effect cancelling the earlier
deal that was undertaken by the UPA government. This was done allegedly to
benefit his own corporate crony Anil Ambani at the expense of India's public
sector, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and at the expense of national
security interests by not procuring required squadrons for the Indian Air
Force which has been pleading for them for a long-long time. 

This loot, along with the growing economic burdens, is what is creating the
parameters on the basis of which the elections are going to be fought. The
electoral template is thus emerging as a solution for the people's problems
and a solution for improving the livelihood of the people that is a solution
that can only be brought about through a shift in the policy direction. It
is towards such a shift in policy direction that the mass support base of
every single political party is putting the pressure on its leadership to
ensure that BJP-RSS do not gain from a division of anti-BJP vote and comes
back to power albeit with a very small minority support of the electorate.
This is the factor that is bringing all these parties together when the
country's people are demanding the ouster of this government with a hope for
a policy shift which will be a pro people's policy direction that the future
must take.

In addition to this has been the sharpening of communal polarisation, which
is now rampantly rising. The RSS-BJP have perfected the perfidy of raking up
contentious communally sensitive issues just prior to the elections. And in
that category falls once again the demand for the construction of the Ram
Temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. All these four and a half years
nothing was done by the BJP and clearly this is an issue that it wishes to
exploit for its electoral propaganda and electoral polarisation. Whether it
is the private armies in the name of cow protection, in the name of moral
policing  leading to mob lynchings, leading to inhuman depravity that we are
seeing around us where young girlchildren are being brutally gang raped and
murdered. In none of such cases have the culprits ever been brought to book.
The attacks on the Dalits and Muslim minorities is mounting further on the
one pretext or the other. Clearly therefore for the vast sections of Indian
people they see the Modi government as a government that is brazenly
violating the constitutional directive of granting equality "irrespective of
caste, creed or sex " . 

On top of all this is the manner in which this government has mounted a most
naked authoritarian assault on all Constitutional institutions and
authorities. The Parliament itself is being deprived of proper time to
discuss important legislations. In the history of independent India, we have
never seen a situation where within 24 hours without any prior
consultations, without any prior preparations, without any prior circulation
of the legislation, the Constitution is amended as was the case in granting
10 percent reservations to the economically weaker sections. Now this is an
issue on which a consensus needed to built and it could have been built as
major political parties have all been in favour of such a move. There are
very contentious legal issues involved. Reservations are a means to tackle
the issue of social exclusion and to bring in these sections through a
process of inclusion, through a process of affirmative action, so that the
constitutional fundamental right of the Indian people of equality is
ensured. But can reservations work as a measure for poverty alleviation?
That is a question that has to be seriously addressed. And further, what is
the criteria on the basis of which the weaker sections or EWS will be
defined. The government has now issued, under the rules of this
constitutional amendment, a set of parameters which says that those who earn
less than Rs 8 lakh per annum will be eligible for this reservation. Now
this is a very-very high limit given the fact, that this government itself
has set the limit of needing to be under the limit of Rs 5 lakh per annum
earnings to qualify for a subsidised gas cylinder.  The BPL cards and the
targeted subsidies for food; all these have limits which are much lower. The
working class in its two-day historic all India industrial strike has
demanded a guaranteed minimum wage of Rs 18,000 per month for unskilled
workers. This works out to Rs 2.16 lakh per annum. Even this, this Modi
government is not willing to concede. In the light of this, to have a limit
of Rs 8 lakh per annum for qualifying for the EWS reservations sounds
absolutely absurd. 

Further, these parameters talk in terms of land holdings of less than five
acres; now a five-acre land holder in major parts of the country would not
really qualify to be equivalent to being poor. This Modi government has not
yet brought out its own figures on what is the poverty rate in the country.
It was earlier considered that those who earn less than Rs 35 in rural and
Rs 66 per day in urban India were poor. Anybody earning more than that was
not considered poor. 

All these things required to be discussed, but the parliament was not
allowed to discuss at all. The parliament is the only authority to whom the
government can be accountable. By depriving parliament of time, of the
opportunity, the government escapes accountability. 

The Supreme Court; the four judges coming out on executive's interference
into its work is itself a very grave charge. Now these attacks on the CBI,
the attacks on the RBI targeting its reserve funds which the government
wants to draw in order to offer pre-electoral "lollypops", as the PM says,
are of serious nature. To the people, all these attacks on the institutions
whether it is the CVC question marks over the EC, the CAG and at the same
time large scale appointments of RSS functionaries in all universities and
bodies of higher learning and research in our country; are all indicative of
the fact that the constitutional foundations of our republic are being
systematically and diabolically undermined.

It is a sum total of all these factors that is actually bringing the people
together with the single imperative in the coming general elections for
ousting this government. Ousting this government means that the new
alternative secular government must under the pressure of popular struggles
be made to change the policy direction towards a pro people's policy
orientation. 

It is this reality that is defining the discourse preceding these
forthcoming elections and that is why those who are coming together to
defeat this government are not doing so because of 'opportunism', as alleged
by Modi, but in response to the urge that is being articulated by the
people.

Prime Minister Modi has come up with another claim that the coming together
of opposition parties represents 'dhan shakti' or money power while he
represents 'jan shakti' or the people's power. Nothing could be more absurd.
By changing the laws for political funding, it is the BJP that has been the
beneficiary to the tune of nearly 95 percent of all donations made through
electoral bonds to any political party. And that is why when they say there
is no money trail that one can find in the Rafale deal; the electoral bonds
are the money trail. They are the money trails which explain how all this
loot that is taking place is finding its way back into the coffers of BJP.
If at all there is any 'dhan shakti' that is there to be seen by everybody.
Everybody in India today knows the amounts of money that the BJP spends both
for its PR campaigns and during elections. 

The truth of the matter is that it is the growing discontent amongst the
people over the economic ruination that this government has mounted ; it is
the growing alienation of the people over the brazen communal polarisation
that this government is undertaking , it is the  complete utter distraught
of the people to see the constitutional authorities being mercilessly
attacked and destroyed are bringing the people of India together to ensure
that this government is ousted. People of India, when they come together;
the political parties to whom they belong or political  parties whom they
support are under tremendous pressure to come together to achieve this
objective and that is precisely what is happening with  the different
understandings being arrived at in different states to ensure that the BJP
does not return to power in 2019 .

And finally, the old argument that we had faced even in 2004, when the
BJP-RSS came forward to say who is the alternative to Vajpayee? Today they
say who is the alternative to Modi?  In 2004 the people of India ensured
that an alternative to Vajpayee came and it came in the shape of Dr.Manmohan
Singh who continued to be the PM of India for ten years. Likewise, in 2019
this alternative will come before India and it should give a policy
direction that will be pro-people. A stable secular government will assume
office in 2019, post elections, which is a way that always happens in our
country, whether 1996, United Front, 1998, NDA, 2004, UPA, all formed after
elections.

 

 

 

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