One nation, one election’ is anti-democratic, says Sitaram Yechury

Yechury, in a free-wheeling discussion, spoke about various issues ranging from the INDIA front’s meeting, ‘one nation, one election’, BJP’s politics, violence in Manipur, labour reforms, communal politics of the RSS, Dalit movement and use of central agencies.

“The central government seems to be planning to implement ‘one nation, one election’ concept. Even though the programme of the special session of Parliament has not been announced yet, the appointment of the committee or the statements from the ruling side point it toward this direction. The concept is impractical in a country like India,” said Yechury.

He said that gone are the days when a single party could win majority in all the states of the country. “There could be bigger problems in case of hung verdict or one party failing to win the majority. A party may not remain in the pre-election front for five years as they can withdraw the support over government policies or other reasons. Will there be President’s rule or minority government will be allowed to rule in such cases?,” he said, adding that elected government should control power in a democracy. “A ruling party in Centre would destabilise the state government and can keep the control in their hands through President’s rule in such cases,” he said.

Discarding the argument that the step will minimise the election expenditure as well as code of conduct hampers developmental works, Yechury asked whether any party has heard what people have to say about this. “People in rural areas say that they get water, road, power whenever election is announced and they welcome elections. Citizens do get financial benefits due to elections,” he pointed out.

INDIA front limited to Lok Sabha polls

“We have begun well. All parties have resolved to defeat the BJP by joining hands. The INDIA front will be limited for Lok Sabha polls. We cannot guarantee that it will work in Assembly polls,” he said.

Yechury confirmed that the mention of phrase ‘as far as possible’ in the resolution passed by the INDIA front on Friday about contesting elections together was due to West Bengal and Kerala. “The battle in Kerala is between the Left front and the Congress. The BJP is nowhere. Therefore why should we give space to the BJP by contesting together? It is difficult for TMC and Left front to join hands in West Bengal. Therefore we mentioned as far as possible in the resolution,” he said.

Only 6% organised labour

Yechury said that his party strongly oppose the proposed labour reforms. “Barely 6% of the total workforce in the country fall under the organised labour category. Rest are unorganised. What about these workers? Workers in service sector or gig economy face harassment. The BJP fakes affection for workers when in opposition but implements anti-labour reforms after grabbing the power,” he said.