People's Democracy

Strengthen Secularism And Democracy: Basu

SPEAKING before a mammoth gathering at Rajabazaar in central-east Kolkata, former chief minister of Bengal and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Jyoti Basu said that the people must strive and send as many Left members of parliament as possible to Lok Sabha in these elections.  That way, secularism and democracy would be greatly augmented in the country and the possibility of a defeat for the BJP and its running mates would be ensured.

Basu’s meeting was very well attended by men and women from sections of the society with members of the various communities which inhabit the Rajabazaar-Gas Street-Dinendra Street area being well represented.  The large stage, the tall dais, and the entire arena were decorated with Red Flags and sprawling red banners, which flew and fluttered in the cool afternoon breeze.

The issue before the electorate, said Basu was this: would the nation continue to groan under the rule of a barbaric, anti-people, communal, and counter democratic regime or would it cast the votes in a manner that would make the emergence of a secular alternative a viable proposition.  The answer must be found in the election of more Left MP’s to the Lok Sabha that would be constituted once the electoral process was over, Jyoti Basu pointed out.

“Over the past five years,” declared Basu, “the BJP-led union government has proved a crass failure in politics, economy, and culture with communalism coming to the fore and openly as the time has gone by, the BJP leadership being willing lackeys of the RSS clique that pull the strings from behind the scene.  The issue at hand was that not merely must be BJP be voted out of office but it must be ensured that an alternate emerges to it.”

Jyoti Basu recalled that some years ago, when Atal Behari Vajpayee had come to Kolkata, he had queried Basu as to why the latter kept calling the BJP a barbaric and an uncivil outfit.  Basu said that he had made it quite clear that organising such evil deeds as the pulling down of the Babri Masjid and by allowing communalism to prevail as much as it could, the BJP itself had invited such invectives quite justifiably. Vajpayee, Basu recalled, had chosen to maintain a stoic silence in response.

Basu also assailed the BJP and its allies for the Gujarat killings and castigated Vajpayee for his duplicity when he had said post-Gujarat that he (Vajpayee was no longer able to show his face to the public.  “How could he show his face, then, after the Babari Masjid incident?” was Basu’s rhetorical question.  Basu criticised the BJP governance for making India a lowly placed sidekick of the US imperialists.

Basu appealed to the people, in conclusion, to ensure that the tradition that Bengal could establish by voting in the Left in the Lok Sabha, Assembly, Panchayat, and municipal elections in large measure should never be deviated from this time in the Lok Sabha polls: the importance of the Left has increased crucially this time around, Basu reminded the gathering.  (B Prasant)