Yechury calls for people's movement to save country

Hyderabad, Sep 22 (IANS) Alleging that the Narendra Modi government is destroying all four pillars of democracy, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday called for a people's movement to save the country.

He said the Ccentral government is targeting the leaders of opposition parties by misusing Central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Yechury was addressing 'maha dharna' organised by the opposition parties here to protest against the "anti-farmer" and "anti-people policies" of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) governments at the Centre and in Telangana, respectively.

The 'maha dharna', organised at Indira Park, was attended by leaders of the Left parties, the Congress, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Telagana Jana Samithi (TJS) and various people's organisations.

Yechury underlined the need for a mass movement on the lines of freedom struggle to save the country and the democracy. He said that patriotism demands that all those who love this country come together to save its Constitution and democracy.

Stating that 19 parties have come together at the national level to take on Modi government, he said the September 27 'Bharat Band'h and nation-wide protests from September 20 to 30 were part of the movement and called for intensifying the same in coming days.

Congress' Telangana chief A. Revanth Reddy attacked both the Central and the state governments for their "anti-people" policies. He alleged that both the governments were making life miserable for common man by imposing burdens in the form of taxes.

Senior Congress leader and former MP Madhu Yaskhi claimed that opposition parties have come together on a common platform and described this as a key development. He slammed Prime Minister Modi for undertaking foreign visits when the country was rocked by the Corona pandemic.

He hit out at Modi government for putting the public sector undertakings on sale and alleged that attempts were being made to hand them over to select businessmen.

Terming the TRS as the BJP's "B team", the Congress leader said unemployed in the state were committing suicides as the state government was not issuing job notification to fill vacancies in various departments.

CPI national Secretary K. Narayana alleged that Modi was shielding those who fled the country after looting lakhs of crores, while sending its critics to jail. He described 'maha dharna' as the first joint meeting of anti-Modi parties.

He said that the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant which has a value of Rs.3 lakh crore is being sold to private companies for Rs 30,000 crore.

TDP Politburo member R. Chandrasekhar Reddy criticised the Central government for bringing new agriculture laws without consulting the farmers. He said these laws would hand over control of agriculture sector to corporates.

Speakers at the 'maha dharna' called for making the September 27 Bharat Bandh against anti-people policies successful. They also raised the issue of rising petrol and diesel prices, Podu lands and land acquisition from farmers for Pharma companies.