The four Left parties will hold a joint public meeting in Lucknow on Wednesday, the first in a series they have planned ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The rally will be addressed by general secretaries of CPI(M) Sitaram Yechury, CPI D Raja, CPI(ML) Dipankar Bhattacharya and All India Forward Bloc G. Devarajan. The Leftist leaders will present the Left’s agenda at this meeting.
The Left joint rally comes as the INDIA bloc is still recovering from the embarrassment of having to cancel its first rally, which the coordination committee of the bloc, had announced for September 13 in Delhi. Sources said indecision about the venue for the first rally continues. All eyes are on the Congress to take a lead, but the party is tied down with assembly elections in five states pushing the possible date past December 3rd, when results are scheduled to be announced.
“We are here to give the call for BJP’s defeat and INDIA’s victory. The corporate-communal nexus of the ruling party has to be exposed. This public meeting, is not merely an electoral exercise, it is to put forth the Left’s agenda and stand on several people’s issues,” Mr. Yechury said.
At a time when attacks on media and the opposition are growing, Mr. Raja said, it is crucial for all secular-democratic forces to unite. The Lucknow rally, he said, is a step in that direction.
The rally has been in the works for the last two-months and the demand came from the party’s state units. The four left parties are uniting on a public platform in the state, after a long while. “If you have to vote out the BJP from Delhi in the 2024 general elections, the political climate of Uttar Pradesh has to change. With this public meeting, the Left is making its contribution towards that end,” the CPI(ML) leader said
The All-India Forward Bloc registered a modest victory in urban local bodies elections winning 11 seats in May this year. Party General Secretary G. Devarajan described UP as a “Hindutva laboratory”. “This rally is not about electoral profit or loss. The RSS has been using UP as their laboratory and only the Left can effectively counter their propaganda,” he said.
