Opinion Patna Opposition meet: Parties that break ranks will not be forgiven by people

Against this background, the meeting of opposition parties in Patna on June 23 becomes historic. The parties have come to this point after a lot of soul-searching. This meeting is a turning point in Indian politics. People who cherish secular democratic values look upon this meeting with great expectations.

Parties big and small, old or new, regional or national, are being put to the test. These are days of turmoil and strife in various parts of India. Manipur bears testimony to this. The lives of the common people have no value or dignity. The train mishap in Odisha underlined the government’s lack of preparedness and misplaced priorities. It is obsessed with luxury trains for the rich and the rights of the people matter little. Their trains, bogeys, rail lines and signal system are neglected.

The ruling forces use expertise in propaganda to hide colossal failures. Big structures are being built in the name of gods and national leaders. The new Parliament building and how it was inaugurated show that democratic principles and secular values have been thrown to the wind. The Prime Minister had no time to utter a single word of comfort or assurance for the women wrestlers who held the Indian flag in the international arena. Nor does he speak on the plight of the people of Manipur. The government designed the timing and conduct of the G-20 in such a way that it would allow PM Modi to canvass for the crucial 2024 elections in the garb of the international conclave. Such is the BJP’s obsession with elections.

The Patna meeting will naturally make the communal right-reactionary forces panic. It is true and natural that the participants at the meeting hold different views on several issues. Their class approaches and ideological and political positions also vary. In a large and diverse country like India, this is understandable. The political parties that have come forward to share such a broad platform are quite aware of the socio-political realities of the country. These parties have differences on various national issues, some of them fight each other in the states. Having accepted these facts, the wide spectrum of parties looks at the biggest challenge faced by the country. It is the attack on the unity of the country unleashed by the forces of hatred and nurtured by the ideology of religious-racial supremacy. The foundations of the Constitution – secularism, democracy, federalism and allegiance to socialist goals – are under threat from the philosophy of the RSS. Opposition parties are aware that the Modi government must be defeated.

In pursuance of this patriotic task, Patna is only the beginning. Numerous suggestions and ideas are likely to emerge from that meeting. All the parties would understand the positions of each other from this exercise. There are questions about a common minimum programme and leadership. The answers will be evolved but not in the Patna session. Often, such issues are worked out only in a post-poll scenario.

As the time for the 2024 decisive battle approaches, each party has to move responsibly as we are all ultimately accountable to the people and their democratic aspirations. This is not the time to fence-sit. Parties that breach opposition unity will be questioned by the people. The lines of revolutionary Guatemalan poet Otto Rene Castillo are worth remembering. He wrote “One day/the apolitical intellectuals/of our land/will be interrogated/by the poorest of people. They will be asked what they did/while their country/was extinguished…”

The writer is leader of the CPI Parliamentary Group & Secretary,  National Council