The CPI (M) is working for the defeat of the BJP-AIADMK alliance in Tamil Nadu, its general secretary Sitaram Yechury told journalists in Coimbatore on Thursday.
Mr. Yechury charged the AIADMK government with actively supporting every single measure the BJP had taken in Parliament, including the farm bills and the industrial policy. Tamil Nadu had a legacy of fighting for the rights of the States and for the principle of federalism. But the AIADMK government supported every move of the BJP, he said.
“We are working for the defeat of the BJP-AIADMK alliance. We will co-operate with all the forces willing to achieve this objective,” he said. The party remained in the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance and seat-sharing talks were continuing. When a journalist suggested that there appeared to be no anti-incumbency in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, he said the ruling party would be defeated in Tamil Nadu, and in Kerala the incumbent government would retain power. Kerala had adopted its own farm laws, rejecting those of the Centre. In Tamil Nadu, on the contrary, the State government was supporting the laws passed by the Centre. “The AIADMK is seen completely as the secondary, junior partner of the BJP,” he said.
CPI (M) Polit Bureau member G. Ramakrishnan said that except one seat, the BJP-AIADMK alliance lost all others in the last Parliamentary elections. And, in the two years, there was more displeasure among the people, he said. Mr. Yechury said petroleum prices were being increased almost on a daily basis. This was a tax imposed on the people to meet the propaganda expenses of the Prime Minister and the BJP, he alleged.
The economic policies were destroying the country’s self-reliance, which was the basis of the Indian economy. Nearly 15 crore people lost their jobs or livelihood last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the billionaires were actually making bonanza profit. “All policies (of the Central government) are being directed towards further enriching the chosen cronies of the Prime Minister and everybody knows who they are,” he alleged.
Later, at a public meeting, Mr. Yechury said “This is a government for the rich of India”. There was a “mega loot” of financial assets by the Central Government. It wanted to privatise the Public Sector Undertakings, banks, etc. For more than three months, farmers are struggling against the three farm laws and wanted these repealed. Over 300 farmers had died. But this government was completely unresponsive to the demands, he said.
There should be political courage to implement the options that would revive the economy and the MSMEs, he said. “The entire country was proud of Tiruppur at one point of time, that the whole world was dominated by the fabric that was produced here,” Mr. Yechury said at a public meeting later in Tiruppur. He alleged that the garment industries in Tiruppur had been adversely affected in the past six years under the BJP-led Central government.
