KANNUR: Hitting out at the BJP and RSS, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Sunday said the Left was determined to defeat the challenge posed by their alleged Hindutva communal agenda and for that it has reached out to all secular forces to come together, but some parties like the Congress have not responded to the invite.
Yechury further said that the Congress not only refrained from responding, it also threatened disciplinary action against its leaders who wanted to participate in the discussions, organised as part of the 23rd CPI(M) party congress in Kannur, on defending the country's secular, democratic and federal character.
He alleged that the BJP and RSS were attempting to destroy the nation's federal structure through "diktats" or "decrees" like mandatory use of Hindi for official correspondence and for compulsorily teaching the language in the schools in north eastern states.
The veteran left leader stressed on the need to unify all the secular forces and also significantly increase the strength of the CPI(M) and enhance its political intervention capacity in order to effectively meet the challenge posed by the BJP and its government at the Centre.
The central government was "pursuing unbridled neoliberal economic policies, looting the country's national assets legalising political corruption and establishing an increasingly growing authoritarian order in the state which attacks the democratic rights and civil liberties, of all the people, guaranteed under the Constitution", the CPI(M) general secretary said.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the 23rd CPI(M) party congress, Yechury said, "We have appealed to all secular forces to come together to meet this challenge. But it is upto these secular forces whether they are willing to rise to the occasion."
"When we want all secular forces to come together, you have parties like the Congress -- whom we invited, but they do not respond. Not only do they not respond, if any of their leaders want to join (the discussions), they are threatened with disciplinary action. So, we tell the Congress that if it is a secular force as it claims to be, then it has to decide where it stands."
He said if they cannot look beyond their political differences and come together for the benefit of the nation, then their credentials (of being a secular force) "are suspect".
Yechury further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the Left has become a marginal force which is only there in one corner of India -- Kerala.
"At the same time, he says that though it is a marginal force, it is a force, it has an ideology which has to be combated and defeated. He recognises that this ideology is something which will continue to seek the overthrow of this exploitation in our society and the exploitative order. So they recognise our strength and therefore, treat us as a principle enemy to attack us, to intimidate us, to instill fear but that won't deter us," he said.
Recalling history, Yechury said during the second world war, it was the communist red flag of Russia which announced to the world that fascism had been defeated.
"Therefore, any hope that people nurture today that this a force that can be destroyed or that if its weakened it will vanish, we must remind them that history is testament to the fact that there is not a power on earth that can either destroy or even dilute the power of the red flag," he added.
He claimed that CPI(M) was "the most consistent force, the most determined force that can take on the challenge of Hindutva communalism in our country".