KOCHI: Making clear the CPM’s stance on emerging national politics, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday, December 14, 2021, said the Congress cannot 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, has adopted a communal appeasement policy. Congress has the same stance on the economic policies as the BJP at the Centre. Such a Congress cannot become an alternative to the BJP,” Pinarayi said, inaugurating the CPM Ernakulam district conference at Kalamassery.
Stating that the country cannot 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.
People have lost trust in Congress: Pinarayi Vijayan
“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 the BJP camp one after the other. Former ministers, MLAs and MPs are leaving the Congress to join the BJP,” he said.
Pinarayi, a senior CPM politburo member, claimed that at the recent Congress rally in Jaipur, Rahul Gandhi made a speech putting forward an idea of ‘Hindu government’ at the Centre. “This is in continuation with the Congress’ soft Hindutva approach,” he said.
Pinarayi’s speech assumes significance in the wake of the recent statement by Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee that it would be easy to defeat the BJP if all regional parties come together. After meeting NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on December 1, she had also said there’s “no UPA”, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
Explaining that the Congress has lost the people’s trust due to its soft-Hindutva stance, Pinarayi said that in the Bihar elections, the party failed miserably in all 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 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.
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