Why Opposition Doesn't Need A 2019 Face, According To Sitaram Yechury

New Delhi: Newly elected CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has told NDTV that the opposition does not necessarily need a face to take on Prime Minister Modi in the 2019 general elections. Overcoming internal differences within his own party, Mr Yechury has got the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to agree to an "understanding" with the Congress.

He says when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was defeated in the 2004 general election, there was no pre-election front even then.

"We have decided that our primary objective is to oust this BJP-RSS government. Talks about various fronts, alliances, issues will naturally come up in the run-up to the elections, but please remember what has been our experience?" Mr Yechury said.

"In India, there is no national monolithic electoral formula. I remember in 1996 when the United Front formed the government. The United Front itself was formed after the elections. In 2004, when Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister, the UPA was formed after the elections. So there is no pre-election front," the CPM leader said.

When asked whether this was good enough to take on the might of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personality, Mr Yechury replied, "Will you tell me honestly whether in 2004 you thought that Manmohan Singh would be the PM? Did he not take on the mighty Vajpayee? Did anybody in the country think when in our younger days during fighting the Emergency that Moraji Desai would be the country's PM, defeating the mighty Indira Gandhi?"
 The CPM leader dismissed any talk of differences with Prakash Karat, who was dead against any kind of understanding or deal with the Congress.

"Inside the party we are used to a very vibrant inner party democracy. We often have contending views that come up -- they are discussed and then we come to a conclusion and that's exactly what happened at this party congress," Mr Yechury said, adding that "differences are thrashed out in the party fora. Once they are thrashed out in the party fora and we come to a definite conclusion, it is on the basis of that conclusion that the entire party moves as a single person".

Mr Yechury was also instrumental in spearheading the impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

"When the apprehensions raised by the four judges came up, it was clear that everything was not hunky dory in the highest judiciary... if the judiciary cannot settle it, then it's the collective responsibility of the executive and legislature to restore the dignity and integrity of the judiciary," he said.