Sitaram Yechury, the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), was in Kannur on April 16, 2024 to campaign for the Left candidate from the constituency, M.V. Jayarajan. The Hindu caught up with him for a quick chat at the district office of the Communist Party of India [CPI(M)] at Parakkandy in the brief recess between campaign meetings in the blistering April sun.
Mr. Yechury said the INDIA bloc offers a strong, viable alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its declared objective of an understanding at the State level has been achieved in most States. However, the BJP and a major section of the media are propagating a narrative that is divorced from the narrative of the people at the grassroots, he said.
Mr. Yechury said the CPI(M) would do rather well in West Bengal and Tripura if free and fair elections are held. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recurrent campaign sojourns to the south smack of an act of desperation which would boomerang on his party. In Kerala, Mr. Modi is making reckless allegations and spreading falsehood against the CPI(M) despite the central agencies under him not being able to come up with anything to substantiate his claims, Mr. Yechury said.
