Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation: Karnataka, the gateway to South India, rejects BJP!

[Editor's note: Clifton D’Rozario, a labour lawyer and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation leader in Karnataka state, will be speaking at Ecosocialism 2023 over July 1–2 in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. For more information about the conference, visit ecosocialism.org.au.]

First published at CPIML Liberation.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (CPIML) congratulates the people of Karnataka for delivering a decisive defeat to the anti-people and divisive BJP [the ruling party of PM Narendra Modi] and the machinations of the Sangh Parivar [translates as “Family of the RSS”, a Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist paramilitary organisation]. This victory should be the precursor to defeat the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

The mandate of the people of Karnataka against the BJP’s campaign of bluster and divisiveness is their voice against the unprecedented corruption of the BJP government, rising prices and cost of living, crumbling infrastructure, anti-farmers and anti-worker laws, skyrocketing unemployment, a crippled state economy, violence against women and their autonomy, increasing caste atrocities, communal disharmony and religious hatred & bigotry.

The telling defeat suffered by the BJP, despite the deployment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who held massive roadshows and public meetings across the state, is a sign that Brand Modi is not indestructible. The toothless Election Commission, which failed to act against hate speeches and violations of the model code of conduct, including the silence period, showed the undermining of the democratic processes in the state.

This election saw the defeat of several ministers from the incumbent BJP government, including Health Minister [Keshava] Sudhakar, which is a telling indictment of the gross mismanagement of the BJP government during the COVID-19 crisis in the state. Minister for Education BC Nagesh, who enforced unjust Hijab ban and humiliated Muslim women students and deprived them of an education, has also lost. The defeat of CT Ravi, National Secretary of the BJP, emphasises the rejection of its vicious communal agenda.

Despite the immense work done by the CPIML in KR Pura and Kanakagiri constituencies, the party did not perform as expected, and will undertake the necessary review and rectification. CPIML will continue to raise the voice of the people on the streets against the fascist assault of the BJP, and to ensure that the incoming government obeys the mandate of the people and delivers on its electoral promises.  

CPIML thanks the people of Karnataka for fulfilling our slogan of “Defeat BJP, Save Karnataka” and for voting for us in two constituencies. CPIML also salutes Bahutva Karnataka, Eddelu Karnataka and other civil society organisations and individuals who have tirelessly worked during these past few months, exposing the anti-people policies of the BJP through numerous sector-specific Report Cards, which has helped in its defeat.

We now look up to the people of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan, and Telangana, where Assembly elections are due in the coming months, to return similar mandates rejecting the anti-people and hate politics of the BJP, and vote to save democracy and the Indian Constitution.