Yechury pitches Left as alternative

Twenty minutes on foot from a traffic diversion near Fort William, crowds thronged the Brigade Parade Grounds here on a quiet Kolkata Sunday to see the CPI(M)’s brass make a bid to showcase the party’s cadre strength, amid a palpable political decline.

All buses, packed with party workers, seemed to head to the rally from some kilometers away. Closer to the venue, hundreds walked with red flags, some even sporting red caps.

The grand rally to kick-start the party’s first Plenum since 1978 had one clear aim: to enthuse its workers before an all-important Assembly elections in West Bengal and arrest its decline in a State it ruled for 34 years.

Switching between Bengali and Hindi, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury attacked both the Narendra Modi government at the Center and the Mamata Banerjee government in the State, trying to project the Left as the best political alternative for an improved nation and State.

He launched a sharp attack on Mr. Modi, taking a dig at his foreign visits and accusing the government of disturbing harmony. “There is a joke that the Prime Minister was searching for a seatbelt as he sat in Parliament. He has been travelling so much,” Mr. Yechury said. Asserting that talks with Pakistan were necessary, he said a top-down approach to engagement would not work, especially when singer Ghulam Ali wasn’t allowed to perform in Mumbai.

Mr. Yechury accused the government of fanning communal ism, hitting out at the Sangh Parivar over BJP leader Ram Madhav’s “Akhand Bharat” comment and over the arrival of truckloads of bricks at Ayodhya for a Ram temple.

He showcased the Left as best suited to overcome today’s challenges, urging the party workers to reverse its decline. “Many enemies said they would destroy the red flag. Hitler, Indira Gandhi [during the Emergency] and the Trinamool Congress said they would destroy the red flag. Such a power that can destroy the red flag hasn’t been born,” he said to loud cheers from a large group of workers close to the stage.

Citing the axiom ‘What Kolkata thinks today India thinks tomorrow,’ Mr. Yechury said India and West Bengal could not be made “better” without strengthening the CPI(M). This comes a day after Mr. Yechury said the CPI(M) would discuss the possibilities of a wider alliance later, underlining that the Plenum was aimed at strengthening the party itself.