Post LS poll setback BJP trying to gain strength by polarisation Dipankar Bhattacharya

New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) After the setback in the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP is now using communal polarisation to gain strength again, but the INDIA bloc will perform well in elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, as well as in polls to be held in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, CPI(ML) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya has said.
    In an interview with the PTI, the CPI(ML) Liberation General Secretary said that although the BJP won a majority seat in Jharkhand in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, there is a strong atmosphere against the party in the state now.
    "We hope that in Jharkhand, in the assembly elections, we will get a very clear message against the BJP. We fought the Lok Sabha elections as the INDIA bloc, and I believe we will also fight the Jharkhand elections as the INDIA bloc," Bhattacharya said.
    In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won eight out of 14 seats in the state, while the JMM won three, and the Congress two. One seat went to the AJSU.
    "The Marxist Co-ordination Committee merged with the CPI(ML). It will strengthen the party in the areas of northern Chhotanagpur like Bokaro, Giridih, Hazaribagh, where the BJP was gaining some ground," he said.
    The Marxists Coordination Committee (MCC), a regional Left party founded by AK Roy and other leaders in 1972, formally merged with the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation earlier this month.
    The CPI(ML) Liberation, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) are part of the ruling alliance led by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in the state.
    "Altogether, we will try -- the JMM, Congress, Left and RJD, all partners of the INDIA bloc -- to hold talks and move ahead in a coordinated manner," he said.
    In the 2019 Assembly election, the JMM had contested 43 of the 81 seats and won 30, the Congress contested 31 and won 16. RJD and CPI(ML) have one MLA each.
    The NDA on the other hand has 30 seats in the assembly of which the BJP has 24.
    Bhattacharya also talked about other election-going states.
    "We have hope... What we saw in the Lok Sabha polls in all these states, in Haryana, it was 50:50; in Maharashtra, the INDIA alliance was ahead; in Jammu and Kashmir, elections are being held after a long time'. In the name of abrogating Article 370, they took away the statehood... There is an atmosphere against the BJP there," he said.
    He said the BJP faced a setback in the Lok sabha elections when it failed to reach the majority mark of 272, and is now trying to get votes through hatred and communal polarisation.
    "There was a setback. But the BJP is trying to gain strength again by spreading hatred and communal polarisation," he said.
    Asked about the proposal of 'one nation, one election', Bhattacharya said it is a threat to the federal structure of the country.
    "Though they have been running the agenda of 'One Nation One Election' for a long time, when the Kovind committee asked us for our opinion, we said that it is an attack on the federal structure and democracy," he said.
    Bhattacharya called it a step towards transforming the country into an "autocracy".
    "They are trying to make the whole country unitary, and to turn Parliamentary democracy into a Presidential form. I think that 'One Nation, One Election' is a step in that direction. This is the first step to transform the country into an autocracy from a democracy," he said.
    "Whenever this issue comes up in Parliament it will be opposed, because they do not have a full majority. They may try to break away MPs to get the numbers, but I do not think the country will allow it," he said.
    On the path ahead for the Left, for which the death of CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has come as a massive setback, Bhattacharya expressed hope that the coordination between the Left parties will only grow, as would their role in the INDIA bloc.
    "The INDIA bloc is important for the country at present, and at the same time coordination among the Left parties is also important," he said. "We hope the Left unity will increase, and the role of the Left parties in the INDIA bloc will also increase. It will strengthen the bloc".
    He added that the death of Sitaram Yechury was a setback for the CPI(M), the largest and the only among the Left parties to have a national party status, and the entire Left movement. "It is a big loss, but we will try to fill the void." he said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)