'Weakened' Congress unable to challenge BJP, says Sitaram Yechury

Kochi (Kerala) [India], March 4 : CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday said that the "weakened" Congress is unable to challenge the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre which does not see the grand old party as a major threat.
Briefing mediapersons, Yechury said, "Any amount of flirting with soft Hinduwta, which will feed into the agent of the Hindutva forces and that is what Congress is doing. Congress is today only weakened. Many in the BJP and RSS do not see Congress as a major threat because, at any point of time, any of its leaders can leave the Congress and join the BJP. So weakened Congress is unable to take on this challenge."
On the Opposition's alliance, the CPIM leader said, "A stronger Left will be able to bring together all the secular forces. On many occasions in Kerala, Congress played in tandem with the BJP against the LDF government. This kind of compromising attitude cannot help in advancing and achieving the objective of removing the ruling BJP."
He said state-by-state analysis and alliance to formed accordingly will be the effective solution to defeat the ruling BJP at the Centre.
"The other response to combat that to majoritarian communalism or Hindutva communalism by mobilising minority fundamentalism, that also eventually feeds into the agenda of Hindutwa. We see that happening in various issues come up recently. What we required is that the minority, as well as all secular-minded people, come together within the secular democratic mainstream," he said.
The CPIM general secretary said BJP is on the backfoot in the assembly polls in five states.
"In this election, the BJP continued to be more on the backfoot. We never heard of an Indian Prime Minister is spending three times continuously in his constituency to make sure that in the assembly election the BJP wins," said Yechury.
The CPIM leader's remark comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled visit to Varanasi on Friday.
On the evacuation of Indians from conflict-torn Ukraine, Yechury said, "This is actually a war between Russia and the USA NATO. Ukraine is the theatre where this war is being played out. No patriot in our country will oppose the government's effort to bring back Indians. All of us will support it. This does not mean appreciation of the government's move. Why were the instructions not given to evacuate all Indians in Ukraine on the day when the government decided to evacuate the staff and the family of Indian diplomats in the Kyiv Embassy. Why did they wait for the outbreak of the war? Even at the outbreak of the war, they exaggerated the issues saying Indians should leave Kharkiv."