Expressing fear that the May 8 elections to Tamil Nadu Assembly will go the Bihar way if there was disunity among the members of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Democratic Progressive Alliance, Communist Party of India - Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat, on Friday night, urged the alliance partners to fight the polls unitedly to defeat the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The Bharatiya Janata Party-Janata Dal United alliance could come to power in Bihar because there was no unity among the 'secular parties', he said.
"Similarly only if DPA partners remained united, the people will give overwhelming support to the alliance," he said at a meeting organised to introduce the DPA candidates in the city.
Urging people to elect CPI(M) candidates, he said only this party would ensure that the new government rectified the 'wrongs' of the AIADMK government.
Welcoming the DMK's election promise to give two acres of land each to landless farmers, he said if CPI(M) could win power in West Bengal for the seventh consecutive time, it was only due to land reforms introduced by it. It distributed lands to 50 lakh landless farmers and protected the tenants, he said. "There is no other magic or fraud in our victory," he said.
Karat said the election process, which began in Tamil Nadu two years back with the Lok Sabha polls, was not yet over. It would be completed only if 'the autocratic and oppressive' AIADMK was ousted from power.
Underlining the significance of Friday as the birthday of one of the authors of the country's Constitution, B R Ambedkar, he said the cornerstone of Indian democracy was parliamentary democracy.
"There is no way parliamentary democracy can function in the state if AIADMK is re-elected. To protect parliamentary democray is one reason enough to remove the AIADMK," he said.
The five-year AIADMK rule could be judged by the large scale migration of rural labourers from the state to far away places like Himachal Pradesh, Karat said.
Commenting on the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's exit, he said the arrest of its leader Vaiko under POTA, which CPI(M) had opposed from the beginning, had not only affected him (Vaiko) physically but also mentally. "He is not even able to think and reason out," he quipped.
The AIADMK government had been 'so oppressive and undemocratic' that it dismissed about two lakh employees in one stroke, he said, referring to the action against the government employees and teachers when they went on a strike in 2002.
Karat said the CPI(M) would ensure that all pro-people measures were implemented and expenditure on health, education and social sector was increased, "Unlike in the past when people thought about religion, now the problems of the people have been brought to the fore," he said.
Criticising BJP leaders L K Advani and Rajnath singh for their rath yatra and 'communal politics', he denied their charge that Congress and Left were 'appeasing minorities'. "We dont appease anyone. We only address the problems of the people," he said "That is why BJP has been isolated. It will be further isolated after the elections to the five states."
Complete coverage: Assembly Polls 2006