NEW DELHI: Days after Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar snapped ties with Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance with Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress) in Bihar to join hands with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI(M)) on Tuesday said that it would work to fortify Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc.
“Despite the JD(U) deserting the INDIA bloc and collaborating with the BJP, the CPI(M) will make all efforts to further strengthen this formation and continue the activities to defeat the BJP in order to safeguard the secular democratic character of our Constitutional Republic,” read a statement issued by the party.
The CPI(M) further stated that the focus is to complete the ongoing state-level talks on seats sharing between its constituents at the earliest and then proceed to reach out to the people on the basis of core issues that are aimed at improving their livelihood and defending Constitutional values.
The statement was issued after a three-day meeting of its Central Committee in Thiruvananthapuram that ended on Tuesday.
Kumar took oath as Bihar chief minister for a record ninth time on Sunday, returning to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) just 18 months after he broke with it. The decision of the JD(U) chief is being touted as a big jolt to the grouping of opposition parties as it was Kumar, who had taken lead to unite parties and has been making efforts to build up a front to take on BJP collectively in the next Lok Sabha polls.
Criticizing the BJP further, the CPI(M) said that the Temple inauguration at Ayodhya had virtually sounded the death knell of secularism, defined as the separation of religion from the State, administration and politics.
This was an event directly aimed at political and electoral gains, it also said.
“This event also signals that the Places of Worship Act, 1991 which mandates that the status quo of all religious places except Ayodhya, will remain the same as it was on August 15, 1947 will now be put in cold storage,” the CPI(M) said in the statement.
The party said that given the widespread concerns over the functioning of the electronic voting machines (EVMs), it would campaign across the country that there should be the following re-sequencing of the electronic units in the polling booths – voting units, control units and VVPAT. “At least 50 per cent of VVPAT must be tallied with that recorded in the control unit,” it also stated.