Blunder: Letter to BS on CPI (M) rules out electoral tie-up with Congress

Despite its assessment that the BJP epitomises "communal fascism" and tries to create an "authoritarian state", it was unfortunate that CPI(M) did not make "the lesser of two evils" the right choice

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) “tactical” decision to avoid an electoral tie-up with the Congress wasn’t something expected of a pre-eminently secular party in the present political situation. It represented a setback in the collective efforts needed to be made by all Opposition parties to achieve the object of unseating the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power to save the country from virulent nationalism. Despite its assessment that the BJP epitomises “communal fascism” and tries to create an “authoritarian state”, it was unfortunate that the CPI(M) did not make “the lesser of two evils” the right choice to align with. Clearly, the decision to maintain equidistance from the BJP and the Congress was not a tactical master-stroke, but a historical blunder.
 

The BJP and Congress cannot be said to be much of a muchness just because the latter is now practising “soft Hindutva” as “smart secularism” to beat the BJP at its own game. The CPI(M) line nixing the plan mooted by none other than general secretary Sitaram Yechury himself for an electoral alliance or understanding with the Congress will weaken Opposition unity and work to the BJP’s advantage. As Somnath Chatterjee hyperbolically puts it, “in a sense, Karat’s win is Modi’s win”. Admittedly, the CPI(M) is not strong enough to play a decisive role in national politics, but it is still capable of mobilising secular forces in the political battle against communal forces, given its unflinching commitment to secularism.
 

The principal Left party should understand that it is a national party to give the reasoning that it is the Congress and not the BJP that it has to take on as its adversary in its few strongholds, especially Kerala. As a “progressive” and “revolutionary” party, it should also eschew religious and caste considerations while shaping party policies and forging electoral alliances. Hopefully, the party congress in Hyderabad will undo the “historical mistake” made in Kolkata and decide to toe the Yechury line to protect secularism, the talisman that keeps us all united as a nation.
 

G David Milton, Maruthancode

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