The Opposition is up in arms against the ruling BJP and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over ‘vote chori’ allegations. I.N.D.I.A. bloc is organising protests across the country, including a march by MPs to …

The Opposition is up in arms against the ruling BJP and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over ‘vote chori’ allegations. I.N.D.I.A. bloc is organising protests across the country, including a march by MPs to the Election Commission on October 6. CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby spoke to DH on bringing the Opposition together to fight the BJP.I.N.D.I.A bloc met in June and now on September 30. How different is the situation? We have been raising the malpractices being perpetrated by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to safeguard the interest of the ruling BJP. We met against the backdrop of the shocking disclosure about the sharp differences in the working of the Election Commission. Now, the union government and the BJP are on the back foot with the Jantar Mantar agitation and defeats in elections like in Bankipur. People could see that the decline of the BJP has started. It is not wishful thinking anymore. We had a good meeting where we worked out a plan of action.Did this lead to the disclosures on how the EC was functioning?I am sure important personalities in the EC were also factoring this when they shared sensitive information with the media. One more reason could be the authoritarian and unilateral manner in which Gyanesh Kumar was conducting himself and something which could not be tolerated by any self-respecting officer. It is Gyanesh Kumar’s servitude to the BJP that accentuated the situation in the EC. This is going to be a deciding moment.But, parties like DMK, AAP were not part of the meeting. How will it impact when Opposition unity is paramount?There are problems in some states. That cannot be wished away. We are seasoned politicians. We have experience in dealing with such issues. When we were forming the I.N.D.I.A bloc, we had similar issues. There was no meeting ground between some parties. So, we came out with a clear cut understanding wherever we can be together, we should be. It was accepted that in some states, all parties cannot be together. India is a country with enormous diversity and we could foresee that there will be problems in some states. So we were looking at contesting three-fourths of the 543 Lok Sabha seats together and mutual contest in the rest of the places due to unavoidable reasons. This tactic proved correct as the BJP could not muster 272-mark in Lok Sabha elections. The BJP is surviving on two crutches – JD(U) and TDP.You wrote to archrival Trinamool Congress’ Mamata Banerjee. What triggered this conversation?The disclosures on the EC was a very serious matter. The right to vote, a sacred right, was being taken away with calculated measures to help the BJP. We felt that this is a deciding moment and unless we make use of the situation properly, we would be missing a very important political moment. We know parties have diverse perspectives. We felt that if we do not flag the need for maximum broad unity now, it will be too late. At an available Polit Bureau meeting, we decided to reach out to every party other than the BJP and its allies. We wrote to everyone, including Mamata Banerjee. It may not be a political party in the conventional sense but we also wrote to the Cockroach Janta Party. We want to send a political message that this is not the time to stand separately. Non-BJP, non-NDA parties should come together. We know it is not an easy task to accomplish. It is not an easy task to accomplish.Was this sentiment reflected in the I.N.D.I.A meeting?We all agree that we need to stand together in the fight against the BJP. That is why when I said in the meeting that we should also involve civil society in the fight against the EC and the BJP. Kapil Sibal immediately supported me. Mamata Banerjee also agreed. We have to keep our communication channels open with all secular parties that are opposed to the BJP. Whether they all will join the I.N.D.I.A bloc? We have to work patiently. We should keep the communication channels open. Some parties have reservations due to a variety of reasons. But our efforts should be to accommodate maximum forces. This is the idea we presented. It is in this context that this letter (to Mamata and others) was sent on September 24.The CJP recently said that there is no point in participating in elections when parties suspect it is rigged. What is your view on boycotting elections?Our view is that we should participate in elections as also in the struggle for making elections democratic and non-manipulative. These two things should go parallel. There could be situations where you may have to boycott elections also. Now is not the time because people still have belief in polls.  We are flagging the point that the elections are held in an undemocratic and illegal manner, denying voting rights to lakhs of people. Therefore, we have to fight that. Of course, there are many people demanding that we should start boycotting. But we feel that the BJP would be very happy. It is an easy route for them to get two-third majority in Parliament. If we boycott polls, they get a free run. We had in 1972 boycotted West Bengal elections. Our state secretary Pramod Dasgupta had then said the election was totally rigged Siddharth Shankar Ray-led Congress. We did not participate in the counting process but eight or nine CPI(M) candidates also won. But none of our winners attended the Assembly.How do you see the role of the CJP, which is not a political party in a classical sense?It has made an important contribution by showing that new young political forces can emerge. We need to learn many things from them, the way they communicate and all that. At the same time, their political programme is not yet clear. They are only picking up some issues on which people can be mobilised. I cannot ask them what is your party programme, or write a party program like what CPI(M) did. They work in a different manner. Their party program is their action, the agitations they undertake. We have a very good coordination with them. We will explore possibilities of joint programmes. The CJP played an important role in NEET related agitation. Though SFI started it, the agitation got an extra traction when CJP came into the picture. How do you see the protests against CEC which started on October 2?This protest is to save democracy, the Constitution and the right to vote. Delhi Police, functioning directly under the union government, converted the entire city into a fortress and detained anyone approaching Jantar Mantar. They sought to curtail the democratic right to protest by denying permission for any sort of gathering. Despite all their efforts, hundreds of youth and students led by DYFI, SFI and various other student and youth organisations gathered at the site, braving police highhandedness and the barricades. 

Source: Deccan Herald