The Left today asked all secular parties, opposed to Congress and BJP, to join hands on the basis of a policy platform that provides an alternative to the ‘neo-liberal’ economic policies pursued by the two major parties.
“We will declare our (alternative) policy direction on July one. We will appeal to all secular opposition parties to join us. We want all secular non-Congress, non-BJP parties to support it,” senior CPI(M) Sitaram Yechury told reporters here.
Asked whether the Left would take the initiative to forge a front of such parties, he said, “Fronts will not come out of the atmosphere. There have to be alternative policies on the basis of which parties will gather together.”
He said the Left parties were discussing the alternative policy platform and would declare it at their National Political Convention here on July one.
The regional parties too were under pressure from their support base to look for such alternative policies, he said. “Without the Left, there can’t be alternative policies.”
Observing that people were “looking for relief from the burdens that are continuously invading their already low levels of livelihood,” Yechury said the neo-liberal policy followed by Congress and supported by BJP has to be replaced by “a pro-people alternative policy trajectory.”
Besides protesting corruption and “sops” being given to big businesses, the issues likely to be highlighted by the Left include price rise, food security and public distribution system, land acquisition, proper implementation of MNREGA, Forest Rights Act, right to education, health and employment, attacks on women and social oppression.