Not the Congress, but the farmers’ movement led to BJP’s defeat in the rural areas of three states: CPIM peasant front leader Amra Ram

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Rajasthan got twice the number of votes it got in the 2013 Assembly elections. They bagged two seats and stood second in two other seats. This success is being attributed by the party to the huge success of the farmers’ movement.

The farmers’ protest rallies had stunned the entire nation – barefoot farmers moving through miles to knock on the doors of the country’s capital city Delhi and then again in Mumbai – had actually originated in Rajasthan. Amra Ram, state secretary of the Rajasthan CPI(M), the party’s central committee member who is currently vice president of the All India Kisan Sabha spoke to The Bengal Story on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s defeat in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and the coming Lok Sabha polls of 2019.

Q: The CPI(M) got a lot more votes this time Assembly polls in Rajasthan (compared to the last state election), and the fight against the BJP is gaining strength and momentum. Do you think the CPI(M) would have performed better in Rajasthan if you went for an electoral alliance with the Congress?

AR: There is no question of electoral alliance with the Congress. The Congress is BJP’s “B” team in Rajasthan. Many people are talking about the Congress’ victory in three states. But the truth behind the success is the farmers’ movement and rallies that had started in 2017 September and it has grown since then. We have been able to have its impact felt all over the country. It is due to the farmers’ movement that the BJP has lost in the rural regions of these three states. Was Rahul Gandhi able to defeat the BJP in any state before the farmers’ movement? Did the Congress win anywhere? The BJP’s defeat in these three states is in reality the success of the consistent movement of the All India Kisan Sabha.

 

Q: Why do you say that the Congress is BJP’s “B” team? Isn’t this the success of the Congress in these three states?

AR: That’s the truth in Rajasthan for sure. Here, those who were in the BJP got tickets from the Congress. There is no difference between the BJP and the Congress here. In Tripura, the entire Congress party has converted to BJP. The same has happened in Kerala – the Congress is converting to BJP on the Sabarimala issue. You will notice that in the coming Lok Sabha election, the majority of votes will go to the BJP in Kerala. It is due to the Congress rule that the BJP got 282 seats in 2014.

Would anyone have talked about waiving the farmers’ loans if we did not start the farmers’ movement? Had Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi ever talked about it earlier? Now, they are being compelled to. Rahul Gandhi has announced that if they form the government in Rajasthan, the waiver will be implemented within 10 days, and we will wait for exactly 10 days. If it is not done, the farmers in Rajasthan will do what is necessary against the Congress too.

Q: Does that mean the Kishan Sabha in Rajasthan will start a movement against the Congress if the farmers’ loans are not waived immediately? Or is there a possibility that the two CPI(M) candidates may support the Congress in the Rajasthan Assembly?

AR: There is no question of supporting the Congress. We have won by defeating the BJP and the Congress. We will take the role of the Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly. And if the Congress doesn’t fulfil its promise on the farm loan waiver, a movement will be started against the Congress as well.

Q: You are saying the Congress is BJP’s “team B”, but in West Bengal, the CPI(M) is going for alliance with the Congress…

AR: I don’t want to comment on what the others are doing. I am a central committee member of the party. I have commented on the party stand, on the stand of the Kisan Sabha. We have to get our demands fulfilled by staging movement against the Congress and the BJP. And even the Congress party knows that if we hadn’t staged this movement, the BJP wouldn’t have lost in these three states. The farmers in this country won’t let the Congress get away if they now start following the BJP’s path after winning the elections.