'We Have Not Commented On Post Election Support Issue'

Full transcript of the BBC Hindi special programme Aapki Baat BBC Ke Saath - with the politburomember and senior leader of the Communinst Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yechury. The topic of theprogramme was: With Congress as the main opponent in states of its influence, isn't the CPI (M) talk ofsupporting the Congress at the national level political opportunism?

Sitaram Yechury :  We have not said anything so far on whom we would support after theelections. Being journalists, you have the right to analyse the situation, but so far as the CPI(M) isconcerned, we have not commented on post election support issue.

Our priority at the moment is to keep the communal forces out of power in this general election.But what will happen after the elections and who would form the next government would depend on the directionof results. We would then think about the support and related issues.

BBC : You are talking about defeating communal forces, but your potential allies are not ready.The Samajwadi Party says it would not be a part of any front, similarly, the BSP is not showing interest. Onthe other hand, the ruling NDA appears a strong alliance at the moment. Can you match them?

Sitaram Yechury :   This is not the reality. Already as many as six of the NDA constituents havedeserted them so far. Ajit Singh walked out, so did Ram Vilas Paswan. Then look at the Tamil parties – DMK,MDMK, PMK. Many of the other parties are in a fix, whether to remain in the alliance or walk out of it.

The hype created after the BJP victory in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh is alsomisplaced, and BJP is trying to project this victory as if its wave is sweeping the country. But look at thesituation – these three states account for 72 Lok Sabha seats, out of which 52 are already with them, whichBJP had won in the 1999 elections.

In the undivided Bihar, out of 54 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP and its allies had won 41, similarlyin Orissa they had won won 19 out of 21. Similarly, in Andhra out of 42, BJP & TDP have 36.  

Many of the BJP allies are in a losing position in the coming elections. The hype created by BJPand its allies is imaginary and is quite far from reality. About the biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, let me tell you that a lot of water would have flown downGomti and Ganga, between now and the elections. New alliances and understandings would be in place for theelections, to surprise the BJP there also.

BBC listener : How would your party counter the ‘feel good’ factor thrown up by the BJP?

Sitaram Yechury : We need not counter such an imaginary campaign, it would be the people of India,who would give a befitting answer to those spending thousands of crores of rupees near the elections andcreating absurd slogans. Voters know how to take account for the five years misrule of a motley alliance,which failed on every single front, and is now trying to divert attention.

Let me remind the people of the country that it is the same BJP which came up with the slogan ofBHOOK, BHAY and BHRASHTACHAR, in the last elections. Do you hear about these any more? BJP knows that it cannot take the very names of such slogans now. Therefore they have got a newterm now, which would be replied by the people.

BBC listener from Pakistan :  Congress party is now far from even liberalism, what to talkof secularism. Congress leaders in the past have spewed venom against the Communist parties. Why are yousupporting them ?

Sitaram Yechury :   Let me make it clear that we are not extending support to anybody in the comingLok Sabha elections except the constituents of Left Front, and those regional parties, with whom we mightalign in the coming days.

Our understanding is that given the situation today, we have to preserve the unity of this greatnation. Ours is the nation, which not only has a wide religious diversity, but also linguistic, cultural andon the basis of states.

This diversity today is under threat from fundamentalist and divisive forces led by the BJP. Ourmain task is to defeat such forces in the coming elections, who pose a threat to the unity of India. Now whatwe are saying is that all those parties who accept what we are saying should come together - this doesnot mean we are supporting Party A or B, and all that.  

BBC : Even if the electorate of the country were to believe your viewpoint, you are saying thatyou would not have a pre-poll alliance with the Congress, on the other hand, Left Front is confined to a fewstates. Then where is the alternative to the BJP-led NDA?

Sitaram Yechury :  It is the election results that will provide the alternative to the rulingalliance of  today. It was a similar question which was being asked before the Lok Sabha elections of1996, and the world saw that an alternative emerged after the results were declared.  

It is true that today, there appears no visible front which stands in comparison to the NDA. But then, here you would have to keepin mind the situation in different states. We are a dominant forcein West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, and we are running the alliance governments in these states. Here tilldate, the BJP has not even been able to open its account to register its presence. 

In Bihar there is the Rashtriya Janata Dal led government, in UP, you have Mulayam Singh’sSamajwadi party led government.  In Tamil Nadu, a strong anti-BJP alliance has emerged in DMK leadership. Similarly, theNationalist Congress Party (NCP) has a strong presence, and is an alliance partner in the government. These states have a significant number of Lok Sabha seats, and the important thing is all of themare opposed to the BJP.

These are the parties, who would provide an alternative to the NDA, and would safeguard the unityof the country. This is our understanding of the alternative that is likely to emerge after the electionresults.

BBC : But Mr Yechury, your party has tried two alternatives in the past, once in 1989 and thenin 1996, both turned out to be failures. Why should the voter now trust you, as your party led front hasfailed  in providing a stable government twice ?

Sitaram Yechury : See the experience till today has been that such non-Congress, non-BJP governments either depended on the communal forces or the Congress. The Morarji government in 1997, and V PSingh government in 1989, both were dependant on communal forces, represented by Jan Sangh elements in ’77,and then supported by the BJP in ’89. It were, they who created instability on both the occasions.

On the  other hand in 1996, Deve Gowda and Gujral were dependant on the Congress forsupport, and this party was responsible for instability then. 

Today, the effort has to be in the direction of having an alliance government which does notrequire any outside support. If BJP could muster 28 parties and run a government for five years, why can’t asecular alliance do so? It is very much in the offing.

BBC : But NDA is an alliance that was formed before the elections, you are talking of analternate alliance that would emerge after the elections?

Sitaram Yechury : But there is a lot of difference in pre-poll and post-poll NDA. Just have a look, in1998, from Andhra the NDA ally before the elections was Lakshmi Parvati, but after the elections, it wasChandrababu Naidu, (who fought against them) but helped the NDA form the government.  

Similarly, before the elections, NDA was with Jayalalitha, but after the elections it was DMKwhich joined the government. The BJP to cling to power added allies;  if one deserted them, they went alongwith its opponent.

Therefore the question here is not whether the alliance is before or after the elections. What we are saying today is that an alliance of like-minded parties, opposed to communal forces ispossible, and this possibility would take a concrete shape as the elections draw near.

BBC listener from Darbhanga : Yours is the party of  socialist values, whereas the Congresstreads capitalist path, how could you go with it. Do you now accept Congress policies?

Sitaram Yechury : There is no question of CPI(M) supporting any party which adopts the policies ofthe ruling class of the country. Today the important question is : how to free the country from the clutches of the communalforces?  For this, the understanding and the effort of our party is to see that there is no split of thesecular vote and to ensure that the communal forces led by the BJP benefit in any way. This does not in any way mean, that we would have any front with the Congress.

BBC listener from Varanasi : Why do the opposition parties talk of unity only when the elections come. Why can’t they get together in parliament to check the wrong moves of the government ?

Sitaram Yechury :  See what we are saying today is the exactly the same what we have had been saying during the past five years. It only gets noticed near the elections as the media and other people takenotice now.

BBC listener from Surat (Gujarat) : Why has your party not been able to provide a politicalalternative to BJP and its allies, given the fact that Congress is a discredited party, what is the hope forthe people now?

Sitaram Yechury : You are right and it is exactly this what we have been striving for. Agovernment that combats communalism and works for the benefit of masses - this is the type of government thatwe have been able to provide to the people of West Bengal. We feel this is the alternative for the people ofcountry, but then you are right, this is not countrywide, and we are trying.

But in all this, we have to keep the reality of today in mind. The biggest challenge India facestoday is from the communal forces, and we say our main task today is free the country from the clutches ofsuch forces, and this we are going to do in the coming elections. Also, please do not forget that after the BJP and the Congress, our party the CPI(M) is the thirdlargest party in Lok Sabha.

BBC : BJP has made it clear that the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya is an unfinishedtask, and such statements have come directly from Prime Minister Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister Advani,what do you say to this development ?

Sitaram Yechury : We had never believed that the BJP has given up the Temple agenda. They have just beenlooking for an opportunity to get a majority on their own, so that they could make a law for the Templeconstruction without waiting for the court verdict.

BJP would play the communal card to arouse the passions of the people, and as the elections drawnear, they would more and more try to vigorously pursue this for votes, but it is clear that their campaigndoes not appeal to the common man anymore. 

BBC : What is you party stand on the foreign origin issue of Congress President, Sonia Gandhi ?

Sitaram Yechury : We are clear that this would be decided by the people of the country. Our standis clear, any citizen of the country can contest for any post, as allowed by the Constitution.

But what the declaration of the ruling NDA that they have declared their leader is objectionable.It is for the people of the country to elect the leader. They should remember that in the past, Indira Gandhi,and Atal Behari Vajpayee ji himself have lost despite being projected as the leaders by their parties. It is for the voters to decide, who would be the leader of the country