CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said when the people of the country were raising issues over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guarantee of implementing various schemes, Mr. Modi was raising the issue of people eating non-vegetarian food during festival season.
Addressing a public meeting held in support of party candidate for Madurai Lok Sabha constituency Su. Venkatesan here on Saturday, Mr. Yechury said 79% of Indians ate non-vegetarian food. Was it an issue for the PM? What was the meaning of this? Polarising the people. Vegetarian and non-vegetarian; Hindus vs non-Hindus. That was all he was doing.
India was facing a serious challenge to its foundational pillars — secular democracy, economic sovereignty, federalism and social justice. Secular democratic India was facing an existential threat. In the States ruled by the BJP, new laws had been enacted with the objective of sharpening of communal polarisation in the name of love jihad, cow protection, etc..
Democracy was being destroyed by draconian laws enacted by the Modi government. Democratic rights and civil liberty guaranteed by the Constitution were trampled upon by these laws, the CPI(M) leader said.
There was complete loot of India’s national assets. There was privatisation of natural assets. A few cronies of the PM benefited from the corporate-Hindutva nexus. While the Union government gave concessions to corporates and waived their loans, farmers’ loans were not waived.
Citing the electoral bonds issue, Mr. Yechury said political corruption was legalised through various means. The Supreme Court should monitor the probe into the issue, he said.
The BJP wanted not federalism and diversity, but a unitary form of government. States like Tamil Nadu and Kerala had to approach the SC for financial relief. The BJP was destroying the Centre-State relationship. It wanted to create an authoritarian Hindutva rashtra, he said.
Women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were facing issues. Tribals were evicted from forest lands in the name of privatisation, and atrocities against Dalits were increasing.
He said MPs were suspended from Parliament for speaking against the Modi government. Unemployment rate had reached a peak now.
Keeladi artefacts dated back to pre-Sangam period, but the Centre did not allot funds for its excavation. The BJP did not want anything to pre-date what the [Aryan] Hindu culture represented.
Tamil Nadu Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services Palanivel Thiaga Rajan also spoke.
