The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) works for the interests of the affluent alone, despite claiming to represent a majority of the country’s population, Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said.
He was inaugurating a Left Democratic Front (LDF) convention organised to drum up support for V.K. Prasanth, its candidate in Vattiyurkavu Assembly constituency, on Thursday.
‘Bent on privatising’
“Besides setting a dangerous precedent of dividing the nation on religious lines for a few votes, the Sangh Parivar is now hell-bent on privatising the country. The Prime Minister has gone to such an extent to espouse privatisation that it is bound to affect large sections depending on public sector enterprises,” he said.
Mr. Balakrishnan, who had kept off public programmes since October 2019 due to health reasons, said the Left alone could counter the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-Sangh Parivar agenda since the Congress had diverged from its founding principles on secularism.
He added that the Congress has begun to self-implode with the “exodus” of numerous party workers, the latest being veteran leader P.C. Chacko. “The decline of the Congress that had begun when it toed the RSS line on majority appeasement and privatisation has enabled the BJP to expand its influence countrywide. The party’s wavering stance on various issues led to an outflow of workers, paving the way for the fall of Congress-led governments in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Puducherry. The party also kept quiet when the BJP grabbed power in Goa, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh despite having emerged the single largest party in these States,” Mr. Balakrishnan said.
Mr. Prasanth said projects worth ₹1,123 crore had been implemented in Vattiyurkavu constituency since he had been elected legislator 17 months ago. The government has initiated various infrastructure projects in each of the 24 wards in the segment.
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