Advani's yatra plan is a farce: CPI-M

Terming Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's proposed 'rath yatra' as a "farce", the Communist Party of India-Marxist has said the country can ill-afford the sharpening of communal polarisation under the "veil" of fighting corruption.

Noting that the latest yatra would be Advani's sixth since the "infamous 1992 yatra that left behind a mayhem of communal bloodshed", Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury said, "Notwithstanding the law of diminishing returns that has been operating exponentially with him, he has undauntedly announced yet another yatra."

Observing that the people would "see through the farce" of this yatra on corruption, he remarked, "The first time Advani went on a yatra, it was a tragedy. The second was a farce. This would be a farce of the sixth order."

"The country can ill-afford the sharpening of communal polarisation under the ostensible veil of fighting corruption", Yechury said in an editorial in the latest issue of CPI-M organ 'People's Democracy'.

He claimed Advani's yatra was bound to make the country recollect the series of scams that rocked the erstwhile National Democratic Alliance government like telecom scandal, sugar scam, UTI fiasco, Ketan Parekh stock market scam, scams in defence deals exposed by Tehelka, the coffin scam, the mega petro scam and land scam.

"Apart from these scams, this BJP government opened the Mauritius route for financial transactions that has led to large-scale money laundering and transfer of black money abroad," Yechury alleged.

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Advani and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-BJP were "hoping that by sharpening communal polarisation, the BJP can reap political dividends like after the 1992 yatra", which not only led to the demolition of Babri Masjid but "deeply poisoned our secular polity", the Marxist leader said.

But despite his "stellar contributions", Advani was "pipped to the post of prime minister" with BJP allies preferring Atal Bihari Vajpayee as opposed to the "communal stridency" of Advani, he said.

"Alas, a similar fate appears to befall Advani once again", Yechury said, adding that BJP Leaders of Opposition in both Houses of the Parliament were "serious contenders" for the Prime Ministerial position, besides Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Observing that the "internal bickering" in the BJP-RSS camp was its internal affair and it was up to them to decide who their Prime Ministerial aspirant would be, Yechury said there was no election in the offing, nor was there any indication of any groundswell of support for the BJP. "Yet, this crazy race."