Coming down heavily on the Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary M.V. Govindan on Saturday said the party now lacked strong leadership, policy or ideological clarity.
At a Face-to-Face programme organised by the Kollam Press Club, he said Rahul Gandhi had taken the stance of a backstabber by betraying the INDIA bloc and his question about Prime Minister Narendra Modi not jailing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was immature.
“Constitution, parliamentary system, secularism and federalism are the basic principles of our Constitutional values. The Sangh Parivar factions have been campaigning for many years that these are not needed and the Constitution should be based on Manusmriti. They don’t want the parliamentary system to continue like this, think secularism is hypocritical and that the federal system is not suitable for India,” he said.
“For the past ten years, the Narendra Modi government has been taking decisions in favour of the RSS stance. When we say Citizenship (Amendment) Act is a step towards a Hindu nation, the most fundamental question is whether we want a secular India or implement the fascist agenda of a Hindu nation. The Congress, which claims to be the main Opposition party, is taking no stance on this fundamental issue. Both Rahul Gandhi and their all-India president are silent,” he said.
Pointing out that Rahul Gandhi was contesting in Wayanad against a Left candidate and the AICC general secretary was doing the same in Alappuzha, he added that the party did not have the nerve to say in its manifesto that Article 370 would be restored or take a position on the Uniform Civil Code.
Alleging that central agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax department were functioning as political bullies, he said Mr. Modi and Mr. Gandhi had stooped to slander instead of talking politics.
“Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is a former ABVP worker. Congress made him Chief Minister, but the political degeneration of ABVP remains in him and that is why he called Pinarayi Vijayan a communal advocate,” he said.
Talking about the cyberattack against K.K. Shailaja, he said the Youth Congress now resorted to obscenity. “Since it has no politics, it is indulging in slander campaigns. It has the full support of Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan,” he added.
