Left has to fight RSS on the ground: Karat

The CPI(M) today said that Left parties had to work on the ground politically, ideologically and organisationally to counter the RSS and mere editorials would not serve the purpose.
Prakash Karat, the party's general secretary, said, "The RSS does not fight election, but they put people in the BJP who fight the elections. But they (RSS) do active work on the ground through its social, meditational, cultural and religious acts."
Speaking at a function here to mark the 100th birth anniversary of party leader M Basabpunnaiah, Karat said that fighting the organisation through editorials was not enough.
"We have to counter them on the ground politically, ideologically and organisationally to achieve that," he said.

Turning his focus on the BJP's anticipated rise in West Bengal, he asserted that the Left in West Bengal cannot afford to be complacent in view of the party's concerted efforts to make inroads.
In such circumstances they have to fight both BJP and Trinamool Congress, both of which, he claimed, were playing communal politics.

He claimed that BJP president Amit Shah, who arrived in Kolkata today to attend party programmes, "has been asked by RSS to concentrate on three or four states where the saffron party is weak. These are West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the divided Andhra Pradesh."

"This is the challenge being faced by the Left democratic parties. We have a party in power at the Centre which is using communal forces to divide the people," Karat stated.
Claiming that the Left parties had the wherewithal to go to the people and raise issues like change in labour laws, squeeze on livelihood and diesel price rise affecting them, Karat said that at the national level, Left parties would have to be brought together on a common minimum agenda, despite differences on some issues, to fight the BJP.
"The central trade unions had already agreed to fight together against proposed changes in labour laws," he said.

In the 100 days that the BJP-led NDA has been in power "we have got some indication of its direction. There will be more FDI, disinvestment and private funding in specialised sectors."
"The combination of corporate power and Hindutva has been seen in the last Lok Sabha elections to ensure the BJP's victory. This is what marks the transition of power from UPA to NDA. This is a dangerous trend and a threat to democratic and secular fabric of our country," he observed.