May 3, 2009

THE LEFT POSSESSES THE HIGHEST ACCOUNTABILITY ON THE ISSUE OF SECULARISM


MURSHIDABAD,2nd MAY: The last Lok Sabha elections of 2004 saw 54 of the 61 Left MPs win their seats by defeating Congress candidates. Yet, to keep away from office the communal BJP, the Left chose to provide support to the Congress-led UPA government from outside based on a Common Minimum Programme. Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau member of the CPI (M) said this on 2 May at Beldanga in Murshidabad.

CRITICAL
Critical of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had said earlier that the left had put up a Third Front to facilitate the chances of the BJP, Sitaram Yechury said that it had always been the left that had consistently fought the BJP-RSS combine throughout the country. That the Left supported the UPA government is a strong proof of the left’s secular credentials.

Sitaram Yechury said that the Left has pressurised the UPA government into declaring as a policy the 100 days’ work project. The Left had also compelled the UPA government to pass a legislation securing the rights of the adivasis. The Congress had not taken these steps for the 50 years they had been in the union government. This is an example of the kind of political perspective the Congress possesses.

LEFT PRESSURE
In fact, the Congress has never initiated any steps that would benefit the masses, the poorest of the poor. The amount of pro-people measures that the Congress would undertake during the time the UPA was in office was solely due to pressure from the Left. The Congress subsequently entered into a nuclear treaty with the US despite the Left having warned against such steps. By toying with the sovereignty of the nation the Congress had affronted the masse who would surely reject Congress through the electoral process throughout the country.

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