“The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) has emerged stronger after Nitish Kumar’s exit contrary to the perception that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has taken away the steam from the opposition bloc by poaching its so-called architect”, the Communist Party of India (Marxist- Leninist)-Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said.
“The defection of the Bihar chief minister, who has been suffering from the crisis of credibility and wrath of people ever since 2020 assembly elections and for that matter Rashtriya Lok Dal leader, Jayant Choudhary in Uttar Pradesh crossover to the BJP, exposes the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s ‘desperation’ more than causing any damage to the INDIA parties”.
Dipnakar said, “Using excessive force to quell the farmers’ stir, booking the activists fighting on the streets for their demands and rights under the draconian laws, bulldozing the houses of the minorities in the BJP ruled states and creating a hype in the name of Ram temple at Ayodhya are all manifestations of the BJP’s nervousness in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls.”
Talking exclusively to this writer, the CPI-ML-Liberation leader said, “The exit of Nitish Kumar has created more space for sharing the seats among the Mahagathbandhan or Grand Alliance (GA) now known as INDIA partners—Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and the Left parties—which together did stupendously well in the 2020 assembly elections”. The CPI-Liberation is the third largest component of INDIA with 12 MLAs in the state. But the party had the highest strike rate in 2020 as it won 12 of the 17 seats it contested in its share.
Left to Right: Tejashwi Yadav, Dipankar Bhattacharya, Nitish Kumar and Salman Kurshid. Photo: Twitter/@Dipankar_cpiml.
Though the talks on sharing the seats among them are still underway, the CPI-ML-Liberation might be expecting, at least, five Lok Sabha seats in its share. “Despite losing ground in real terms, the Janata Dal (United) was adamant on getting 17 seats that it had got in its share while contesting with the BJP in 2019 polls. Now, the RJD, the largest party in the state, has ample seats to share with its alliance partners”, he said.
But the JDU with the BJP had performed well as it had won 16 of the 17 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. When asked about his claim of the JDU “losing ground in real terms”, Dipankar said, “The Left had not contested the 2019 polls in alliance with the RJD and the Congress. The CPI ML-Liberation along with the CPI and CPM (with two assembly seats each) joined the GA in 2020 polls. There was difference of only 12,000 votes between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the GA in 2020. The JDU slid to 42 MLAs and the BJP too fell behind the RJD; the BJP got 75 MLAs against the RJD’s 79. The BJP-JDU’s popularity has nose-dived further in the last four years.”
Electoral Bond ‘Scam’
“No matter whatever euphoria the BJP creates in the name of the Ram temple, or implicating the political opponents in false cases of corruption with the use of the central investigating agencies, the Supreme Court by declaring the electoral bonds as unconstitutional has exposed the biggest ever scam the Hindutva party was involved in”, he said.
Dipankar explained that the electoral bonds had enabled the BJP to execute a typical fascist like control over the election process in the manner Mussolini had done in Italy in the nexus with the corporate houses. “The electoral bonds had helped the BJP and the corporate houses to capture the economic resources of the country in nexus with each other by manipulating the laws”, he said, adding, “Even if the Modi government devices the dubious ways to stall or slow down the implementation of the verdict, it has potential to open the eyes of the people against the BJP’s fascist operations.”
When pointed out that the BJP had returned to power in 2019 with bigger margin by fueling Hindu-Muslim divide and creating frenzy in the name of religion, Dipankar said, “The BJP was in bad shape in 2019 also as the party had lost assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. But they created a false perception in the wake of the Pulwama tragedy that they could only save the country against terrorism and Pakistan. The opposition was in disarray and was incapable to harness at the weakness of the BJP in 2019.”
People’s pressure
“The farmers, farm labourers, unemployed youths, weaker sections and the minorities are up in arms against the Narendra Modi government,” Dipankar said, adding, “Modi finds it hard douse the flame of rebellion despite his control of the media and electoral machinery.
“The police subjecting the agitating farmers to untold atrocities and violence, putting barricades on the public roads to prevent the farmers from taking to the streets, blackmailing and buying the opposition leaders and parties are all the signs of the desperation of the Modi government”, he said, “There is palpable anger among the people.”
He described the newly struck Samajwadi Party-Congress deal on sharing of the Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh “more as a result of the people’s pressure”. “Despite their differences both the Samajwadi Party and the Congress eventually realised that they would betray the people’s cause if they didn’t put their act together. The INDIA parties should follow up on their alliance by joining the struggling people on the streets and protect them against the excesses of Hindutva”.
The CPI-ML-Liberation leadership played a big role in helping and getting the RJD leader, Tejashwi Yadav calibrate his campaign around, “padhai, kamai, dawai and sichai (education, employment, heath and irrigation)” against the BJP whipping up emotive issues in 2020 assembly polls. It’s the primary Left party of the state with the trained and committed cadres in the pockets of the Sahabad and Magadh regions in the south of the Ganga and Siwan, Champaran and Seemanchal (bordering) regions in the north of the Ganga.
The biggest attribute of the CPI-ML-Liberation cadres, who are mainly drawn from the marginalised and the poor classes besides the minorities is they are effectively immune from the “allurement” and excessive “greed for power” that the Sangh Parivar exploits to make inroads in other parties.
Nalin Verma is a senior journalist, author, media educator and independent researcher in folklore.
