Congress Never an Alternative, Only Left: Yechury

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 15 (IANS) Lashing out at both the BJP and the Congress, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Monday the only alternative for India was a Left and secular democratic front and it has to begin from Kerala.

Yechury said this at a mammoth party gathering at the conclusion of the month-long state-wide yatra of politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan at the Shangumugham beach.

Kerala goes to the polls soon to elect a new assembly.

"The Congress can never be an alternative to the BJP. In fact, the Congress has facilitated the arrival of the BJP and they are helping each other. It's only we, the Left, who can be a credible alternative to revive the country and bring it back to the forefront of economic development," said Yechury.

Hitting out at the BJP, he said the country under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has failed in all sectors of economic development, and the rich were getting richer and the poor getting poorer.

"In order to wriggle out of this bad economic situation, today, they (BJP) are engaged in communal polarisation and this is leading to unrest in the country. Yesterday (Sunday), even I was threatened and so was our office in Delhi.

"Today (Monday), we saw RSS activists arriving in a court in Delhi wearing lawyer's robes and attacking students.

"They (BJP) see the Left as the biggest impediment and hence they are attacking us and also the JNU campus. But we are not going to be cowed down by these, as we know how to defend not only ourselves but also our country," he said.

Hitting out at the Oommen Chandy government, Yechury said the Congress-led UDF government in the state was competing with the erstwhile UPA government of Manmohan Singh on how to be corrupt.

"Every day, there are new scams breaking out under the Chandy government. So now the challenge before us and the people of Kerala is to see that like what they did in 1957, a new path has to be laid for the revival of the country," said Yechury.

For that, he said Kerala should elect the Left Democratic Front to power in the upcoming assembly elections, which can show the path to the rest of the country.