Bihar Win Not Endorsement for Modi Govt's Handling of COVID-19: Yechury

New Delhi: Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for linking the Bihar poll victory to his government's handling of the pandemic and the economy, the CPI(M) on Thursday said the NDA had managed to get only 0.03% more votes than the Mahagathbandhan, of which the Left parties were a part.

Modi in his address at the BJP headquarters on Wednesday has said that his government has undertaken several reforms and launched development as well as welfare initiatives for the people during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many big countries had also got bogged down by the virus spread.

“Every single speech of Modi in Bihar was aimed at sharpening communal polarisation. No reference to the people's miseries due to his pandemic mishandling & lockdown. Now claiming people's endorsement! Deceitful propaganda & spin shall not work," Yechury tweeted late Wednesday night. 

In the recently concluded Bihar polls, the Left parties -- CPI, CPIM and CPI(ML) -- bagged 16 of the 29 seats they fought. The CPI(ML) bagged the lion’s share by bagging 12 seats out of 16.

Left Parties Hail Bihar Electorate

Meanwhile, In a press statement on Thursday, the three parties  --  Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)  -- hailed the Bihar electorate for their support to the Mahagathbandhan that put up a “spirited contest” in the election against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party- Janata Dal (United) and its government. 

“The response of the youth and the people to the issues concerning people’s livelihood and employment was heartening,” the Left parties noted, while pointing out that the difference in vote share of both the alliances is “very, very small.”

The BJP-led alliance lost 12% from the vote it polled in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, they said.

The three parties, in a joint statement, also said while the BJP and Prime Minister Modi raised the communal agenda to a “very high pitch and sought to communally polarise” the electorate, the Mahagathbandhan’s focus on the economic distress caused by the lockdown and the “utter failure” of BJP and its allies in containing the pandemic and galloping unemployment went down well with the people.  

Counting Irregularities 

The three Left parties also mentioned “certain clear irregularities” during the last stages of the counting that “need to be seriously addressed” by the Election Commission.

“Along with other partners of the Mahagathbandhan, the Left parties will take up these matters with the Election Commission of India,” they said.

“The Left parties’ presence in the Assembly will be utilized to advance the cause of the toiling people, raising crucial issues like jobs and on social/economic injustices,” said the statement endorsed by Sitaram Yechury (CPI(M)), D Raja (CPI) and Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI (ML)).