Criticising the Congress party’s election strategy in Gujarat, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said the Congress in Gujarat did not seriously challenge Modi’s communal plank.

Commenting on the election results for the first time, Karat, writing in the forthcoming issue of People’s Democracy, the CPI(M) mouthpiece said: “The Gujarat election results underline the necessity for an uncompromising struggle against the Hindutva variety of communalism. Such a political platform has to be built up in the state and forces rallied around it. The Congress party, as the main opposition in Gujarat, has shirked doing so.”

But the Congress shot back at the criticism saying Karat “should have come and held meetings in Gujarat.”

“It could be his (Karat’s) opinion. But where was the CPI (M)’s Prakash Karat. He should have come and held meetings in Gujarat. He should have extended support,” AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh said.

Karat in his article further said that “on the contrary, the predominant attitude has been to avoid raising anti-communal issues on the plea that it will help the BJP to polarise the people. This is a short-sighted and harmful approach.”

Karat said that the “lesson from Gujarat is that deep-rooted communalism cannot be fought just by momentary electoral tactics, however well designed.”

“Success in the electoral battle requires taking the battle for secularism firmly forward with no quarter given to communal politics. This, in turn, requires the mobilisation of the working people through struggles. After all, they are the victims of the right-wing communal politics which serves the regime of big capital.

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