Bhubaneswar: Veteran leftist leader Prakash Karat Thursday said the democracy and Constitution in India could be better protected and strengthened with unity among secular forces.
Karat, a former general secretary of the CPI (M), said this while addressing the memorial lecture titled “Sitaram Yechury: In Defence of Secularism, Democracy and People’s India.”
“All democratic forces should carry forward the struggles to defend the Republic, protect the Constitution, and uphold secularism, democracy, and the progress of India’s people,” he said.
Karat said Yechury defended the rights of ordinary people against communal and authoritarian forces.
“Yechury’s dedication to the values of secularism, democracy, and people’s liberation was unparalleled,” he said.
Karat recalled that throughout Yechury’s political journey, he upheld the basic principles of the Indian Constitution and fought resolutely against forces that sought to undermine them.
“Yechury uncompromisingly fought against communalism, which he identified as the greatest threat to national unity and democratic life,” Karat said.
Karat noted that Yechury consistently encouraged the unity of people beyond the barriers of caste, religion, language, and region, and warned society against the politics of hatred that divides.
The CPI(M) leader pointed out that Yechury firmly believed in democracy as a means of empowering the people, safeguarding civil liberties, and ensuring the participation of all sections, workers, peasants, women, youth, Dalits, Adivasis, and minorities.
“Yechury fought against every authoritarian tendency, from the days of the Emergency until his last days,” he said.
He was a sharp critic of the neoliberal economic policies that have deepened inequality, enriched a handful of the wealthy, and harmed the vast majority, Karat said.
Yechury always placed social justice, equitable development, welfare of the poor, and a people-oriented vision of India at the centre of his politics, Karat said.
While summarising his life and work, Karat emphasised that Yechury’s ideas remain highly relevant today, at a time when secularism and democracy are “under grave threat”.
Several other Left leaders of Odisha also shared their views on Yechury’s legacy and on the challenges confronting Indian democracy presently.
PTI
