KOCHI: Making clear the CPM's stance on emerging national politics, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said the Congress can't be an alternative to the BJP at the centre, and made a clarion call for forging a national alliance of secular, like-minded regional parties across the country to fight the saffron party.
"Congress, which is claiming to be a secular party, is adopting a communal appeasement policy. Congress's have a similar stance on the economic policies adopted by the BJP at the centre. Such a Congress can't become an alternative to the BJP," Pinarayi said, inaugurating the CPM Ernakulam district conference at Kalamassery.
Stating that the country can't afford to have another term by the BJP at the centre, Pinarayi said only those parties which adopt an uncompromising stance against communal polarisation and Hindutva forces can emerge as an alternative to the BJP. "If you want to protect the secular fabric of the country we should be able to take an uncompromising stand on communalism. But, Congress has not been able to do that for the last several years. Due to the policies adopted by the party, we are seeing Congress leaders joining one after the other to the BJP camp. There are MLAs, MPs and former ministers leaving the Congress party to join the BJP," he said.
Pinarayi, a senior CPM politburo member, claimed that at the recent Congress rally in Jaipur Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made a speech putting forward an idea of 'Hindu government' at the centre'. "This is in continuation of the Congress's soft Hindutva approach," he said.
Pinarayi Vijayan's speech assumes significance in the wake of the recent statement made by Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that it would be easy to defeat the BJP if all the regional parties come together. After meeting NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on December 1 she also said there's "no UPA", the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
Explaining that Congress has lost its trust with the people due to its soft-Hindutva stance, Pinarayi pointed out that in the Bihar election Congress failed miserably in all the seats allotted by the Mahagathbandhan alliance. "What it shows is that the people have lost their trust in the Congress," he said.
At the national level, BJP should be removed from power, and a secular front should emerge as an alternative, he said. "To achieve this objective, all the secular parties and forces should come together. This is the important responsibility put in our (CPM) hands by national politics. Our state (Kerala) has a huge contribution to make in this regard," the Chief Minister said.
The three-day CPM Ernakulam district conference will conclude on Thursday.