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Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan’s Statewide campaign tour, Janakiya Prathirodha Yatra, which will kick off from Kasaragod on Monday, will likely lay the ground for the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
The yatra seeks to engage with sections outside the traditional Left Democratic Front (LDF) fold who feel threatened by the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and increasingly view the CPI(M) as a fail-safe bulwark against waxing Hindu-nationalist majoritarian politics.
Not surprisingly, Mr. Govindan, in an interview with a television channel on the eve of the campaign, reiterated the CPI(M)‘s appeal to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and other secular democratic forces to forge a broad agreement with the Left to frustrate the BJP’s chances to return to power at the Centre.
First as State secretary
The yatra is Mr. Govindan’s first Statewide campaign as party secretary. It will likely push him into the centre stage of State politics.
The CPI(M) is focussed on highlighting the Centre’s alleged attempt to derail Kerala’s development by “squeezing” its finances. The party also hopes to find a common cause with anti-BJP regional parties to oppose the Centre’s “infringements” on federalism and alleged attempts to whittle away at the Constitution’s secular and democratic foundations.
On LDF ‘success stories’
The yatra will also dwell on the LDF government’s development and social security “successes”, despite heavy financial headwinds and political odds to offer a compelling contrast to the Centre’s “pro-corporate and anti-poor” policies.
The yatra also begins at a turbulent time for the LDF. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition and the BJP, outraged by the social security cess on fuel, are on the warpath against the government. They have also sought to highlight the increase in electricity and water charges and claimed it would exacerbate the cost of living crisis.
The Enforcement Directorate’s anti-money laundering investigation into the LIFE Mission corruption case has come in handy for the Congress and the BJP to assail the government.
Both Opposition parties have also leaned on contentious subjects such as political killings and the “criminalisation of democratic dissent” to galvanise public opinion against the government and take the sheen out of the CPI(M) campaign.
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