No CPM member would have accepted an invitation to an RSS meet, says CPM politburo member Md Salim
Former President Pranab Mukherjee will attend an RSS event at its Nagpur headquarters in a few days. Your reaction.
Apart from being former President, he is also a private citizen. It’s a matter of personal choice for him. But having said that, he had a long political life, he was a Prime Minister candidate, and he had been President, and therefore these questions.
All I can say is that in recent times, there have been efforts towards mainstreaming the RSS. This has become all the more evident since Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister – and the RSS is holding important positions even in government decisions and appointments.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had associated herself with the BJP-RSS to try to make them “acceptable” to the people of this state. To some extent she has succeeded. As far as political, economic issues are concerned, there is hardly any difference between Mr Mukherjee and Ms Banerjee. Only Mr Mukherjee can say what made him accept this invitation. What is important now is what he says there. The legacy of post Independence India has been to uphold harmony based on secular principles. It is to be seen whether he highlights that, and points out that the freedom, independence of that India is being scuttled on the basis of caste, creed, sex, language.
One just hopes that when he goes and speaks at the RSS meet, he will influence and impact the listeners rather than the RSS impacting him.
Wasn’t the CPM among the first to back him as Presidential candidate? Do you feel let down by this decision to address an RSS meet?
In 2012, given the circumstances, the CPM had backed Mr Mukherjee as a Presidential candidate. Around that time, the BJP was trying to gain power and control, come to power at the Centre, and it was very important who the Constitutional head would be. It has been clarified at various times that our party cannot follow the policy of equidistance from BJP and the Congress on all matters. Why should we regret backing Mr Mukherjee? Neither do we regret the decision nor is there a sense of achievement. Who knows what path a person will take in future? It is more important for us whether anyone from our party is going to attend an RSS meet. No CPM member can accept such an invitation or would have.
An anti-BJP alliance is being formed nationally in view of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. What is the CPM’s role in it?
We have taken a decision to avoid split of anti-BJP votes as much as possible, to oust the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections. In several byelections in the recent past, after Karnataka, and especially after the recent byelections in constituencies such as Kairana, some parties are forging alliances to fight the BJP.
But in West Bengal there is a contradiction as far as this forging of alliances is shaping up among anti-BJP forces. The CPM doesn’t seem to be taking any soft stand as far as the Trinamool Congress is concerned…
In Bengal, our stand is very clear. That the Trinamool Congress is not an anti-BJP party. The Sangh Parivar has long been in search of a way to play a role in Bengal and Mamata Banerjee has facilitated this. So at this point, the RSS is very happy. Bengal had always been very peaceful, but the Trinamool Congress united with the Maoists to come to power, and she [Ms Banerjee] has facilitated the BJP’s growth in the state.
This Mamata bashing, this anti-Mamata Banerjee stance seems to be a conscious position taken by your party. For years, the CPM workers have always learnt to hate Mamata, and therefore, any soft stand on her will further take away more of your core supporters and workers. There is already a huge exodus from CPM to BJP…
Our position is not against any individual. It is against a party and its policies. The Trinamool Congress has affiliated with right wing forces in order to be anti-Communist.
You were talking about the byelections nationally. In all byelections in West Bengal over the past couple of years, the Trinamool Congress and the BJP have both increased their votes. Only the CPM votes have gone down. What have you done to stop this?
Should we then ally with either the BJP or the Trinamool Congress? There has been a false consciousness created somehow in the minds of the people. That is not necessarily the reality. Our objective is to stop the communal polarisation, to stop these binaries – Hindu versus Muslims, this group versus that group. The Trinamool Congress is doing exactly what the BJP is doing. Its motive is to be “all-powerful”. TMC is not here to counter the BJP, but to facilitate it. It is using its administration, police and the entire system to scuttle our voice.
If your party has such a strong position against the Trinamool Congress and Mamata Banerjee, surely then the Trinamool Congress and the CPM is not coming together as anti-BJP forces in 2019?
This is a passing phase. Life will go beyond 2019.
I am glad you are so sure about that! But then, what will be CPM’s strategy to stop the BJP from coming back to power again?
Our position is to ensure as far as practicable, to avoid split of anti-BJP votes, and to unite people against the misdeeds of the BJP government on issues such as agrarian crisis, jobs, attack on education and so on. When the election comes, we will take our stand based on specific situations, and the CPM will work out its electoral tactics. In Bengal however, for us, fighting against the BJP cannot be successful without fighting against the Trinamool Congress.