People's Democracy

IN the present situation, the presidential election was a political contest and it would be possible to safeguard the country’s unity and integrity by strengthening the mass movements against the communal forces led by the BJP and NDA, said CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury.

Delivering the MH memorial lecture on the occasion of the first death anniversary of Comrade Moturu Hanumantha Rao (MH), former member of Polit Bureau of the CPI(M), at a largely attended meeting organised in Vijayawada on June 18, Sitaram made it clear that the Left parties had put up veteran freedom fighter and social worker, Dr. (Capt.) Lakshmi Sahgal as their candidate for the office of the president of India as part of this endeavour.

Paying rich tributes to Comrade MH, Sitaram said the line adopted by MH on ideological matters was like a compass to the present generation. Comrade MH very effectively faced various problems confronting the Party since the days of the Telangana armed struggle and upheld the spirit of the movement. As a powerful commentator and editor of communist newspapers, MH contributed to artistic and literary renaissance in order to advance the communist ideology, he said.

Sitaram criticised the BJP and NDA for trying to make the post of the president politically unimportant by selecting A P J Abdul Kalam as their candidate. Making it clear that the Left respects him as an eminent scientist, Sitaram asserted that the Left was opposing his candidature because it was proposed by the BJP, which has been following anti-people and communal policies. In the present situation when no single political party had majority in the parliament and when shifting of political loyalties was being encouraged, the decisions of the president would be very crucial and there should have been a consensus candidate, felt Sitaram.

When the opposition parties, including the Congress, told the prime minister that they wanted continuance of K R Narayanan as president for the second term, instead of conveying his decision on the issue to the opposition as promised, Vajpayee went to Narayanan and told him that he would not be supported for a second term. It was unheard of in the country’s history that a prime minister directly told the president on his face that he would not be supported for a second term, said Sitaram.

Explaining further the background of somersaults made by the BJP, he said that the candidature of Abdul Kalam was proposed by the BJP and NDA with a view to dividing the opposition. He held the BJP responsible for foiling all attempts for evolving a consensus on presidential candidate and cited how it changed its candidates four times in three days. Sitaram made it clear that only after this flip flop by the BJP, the Left had decided to put up its candidate.

Sitaram recollected that as early as March 2000 the editor of the official organ of the RSS, Panchajanya, had stated that the vision 2020 of Abdul Kalam was the RSS vision and that the minorities and Muslims need not be converted into Hindus but they should live like Kalam and only then they would be treated as patriots. Sitaram reminded the audience that Abdul Kalam did not utter a word condemning the Gujarat carnage. The RSS was trying to use Kalam to facilitate changing the constitution and incorporating its ideology into educational and economic fields, he said.

B V Raghavulu, CPI(M) state secretary, explained how MH played a crucial role in building the communist movement. Influenced by the experiences and tactics adopted by senior leaders like MH, leaders like him would endeavour to take the Party forward with its independent line, said Raghavulu.

Koratala Satyanarayana, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and chairman of Prajasakti Sahiti Samstha, who presided over the meeting, said MH was one of the builders of the communist movement in India. MH was not only an effective speaker, but also a good editor, and that was the reason why the Moturu memorial award for best journalist was sponsored with a sum of Rs 3.5 lakh provided by the members of the family of MH, said Koratala.

Sitaram Yechury presented the Moturu memorial award for the best journalist to the editor of Telugu daily Vaartha, K Ramachandramurthy. Thanking the members of the jury who selected him for the award and Prajasakti Sahithi Samstha for accepting their decision, Ramachandramurthy said MH, as a leader of the party and editor of Prajasakti and Janasakti weeklies and later of Visalandhra and Prajasakti dailies, discharged his responsibilities very competently and always gave utmost importance to democracy, freedom of the press and civil liberties. The chairman of the award jury, Potturi Venkateswara Rao, a veteran journalist, said MH was instrumental in shaping Prajasakti as a newspaper reflecting the voice of the people.

While V Srinivasa Rao, editor of Prajasakti, introduced the awardee, general manager V Krishnaiah proposed the vote of thanks. Daughters and sons-in-law of MH, Dr. Tanya, Usha, Rangarao and Sudhakar also participated in the programme.