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Journalism of Courage
CPM GENERAL secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said Trinamool Congress’ apparent opposition to the BJP in West Bengal was merely superficial.
At an event to release the poster of the party’s Kolkata Plenum, Yechury said: “We do not know where Trinamool stands as far as the BJP is concerned. It is like match-fixing… TMC only appears to be opposed to the BJP to ensure its minority vote. They seem to be co-dependent and rely on each other.”
Yechury claimed that “protection of the democratic process” will be the Left Front’s primary issue in the run up to the state Assembly elections next year. “We have time and time again raised the issue of free and fair elections in Bengal with the Election Commission and will continue to do so,’’ he said, adding that the party will not discuss any electoral tactics till the end of this year.
Hinting that a certain amount of revamping and restructuring of the party was inevitable, the CPM leader said: “The erosion of the party in the state has stopped. Still, a certain number of people will have to be weeded out. But even when CPM was the ruling party in the state, West Bengal saw the highest number of disciplinary action and expulsion within the party.”
Speaking on the tea garden workers in North Bengal allegedly dying of starvation recently, Yechury blamed both the Centre and state for situation. “We have raised the issue in Parliament. The All India Tea Plantation Act is a central Act, and yet the Centre is doing nothing. Moreover, it is the state government’s responsibility to ensure that its people do not die from hunger, that their right to food and life is preserved,” he said.
“The disconnect between the people and the government is now complete. Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to be living in an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ world… Now, there is this new discovery of the Constitution… One week of Parliament has gone by without any kind of business being conducted,’’ he added.
Slamming the PM, Yechury said: “The Prime Minister keeps saying that the economy is doing well and growing at 7.4 per cent. We have said this earlier as well that growth rates are based on a dubious set of statistics. If the economy was really doing well, why isn’t a single corporate house happy… why haven’t their sales increased, why hasn’t employment grown?”
“If anything, employment rate has actually gone down. Price rise continues unabated and so have farmer suicides. In Bengal, there is news that tea garden workers have died from starvation,” he claimed.
On GST, Yechury said CPM has been pushing for a consensus on the issue. “We have said repeatedly that the states must be consulted and there should be a consensus. The BJP says that states are trying to stop the Bill. But once this is passed, states will have no right to raise revenue through sales tax,” he added.
Even earlier state governments had opposed this. Ironically, the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi was also opposed to this. The Planning Commission no longer exists and Niti Ayog has no authority. The Modi government has been unable to build consensus,” he claimed.
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