Psephologist and left-leaning political activist, Yogendra Yadav is once again landed in controversy after he delivered back-to-back controversial statements in Chennai and Kerala on Thursday, July 18 and July 20 respectively.
Addressing a gathering at the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai, Yadav argued that the democracy of the country could only be saved by launching “resistance movements” on the streets not inside the parliament.
In a video of the event which is also doing the rounds on the social media, Yadav could be heard saying “I reside my hopes in……My hopes are one in the opposition. The opposition has found its voice as was evident in the last parliamentary session. Second, in resistance movements, just watch the streets carefully.”
“Republics are saved never inside parliaments. Republics are always saved on the street so watch the streets carefully, the next few years. I expect resistance, and protest movements to gather courage because in many ways politics is like the stock market it’s all driven by sentiments, he added.”
Chilling!
Yogendra Yadav says he hopes for "resistance movements" in the streets in next few years
He says republics are saved not in parliament, but on streets
Anyone who understands far left rhetoric will realize exactly what he is saying pic.twitter.com/meZy0LCk34
— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) July 21, 2024
Yadav, a staunch opponent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), further alleged that the country was fast sliding towards becoming a Hindu Rashtra. “We were rapidly sliding towards becoming a fully blown de facto Hindu Rashtra, he remarked.”
He further said that, “We are poised at a very critical moment in the history of our country. We are in the no man’s land between the First and the Second Republic of India which makes the situation so critical and fraught with danger.”
“The battle to reclaim the Constitution and democracy should be combined with a social radical agenda. This moment in history offers one of the rare opportunities to combine the social and political agenda. The way to take on the BJP would be a social coalition at the bottom of the pyramid – a moment of sharp class politics in the country.”
Taking it further, Yadav also expressed disappointment over the media and the judiciary, I have mild hopes from the media and Judiciary, very limited hopes with media, my limited hope is while they would continue to be the spokespersons of the ruling party they may stop hounding the opposition which is what they specialized in the last 5 seven years.
If they were to stop just this little bit, I would see that as an important course correction and Judiciary occasionally we can find slightly better judgment on a few things just minor course correction I don’t expect any major change from Judiciary either where do, he added.”
Yadav also remarked that the message today to anyone who wants to stand up to this government is they are going down, inko to dekh lenge (We Will see them).
First Republic Over in 2019
This comes amidst Yadav in another gathering in Kozhikode of Kerala on Saturday, July 20 made another bizarre statement saying that the Republic of India which was inaugurated in India on January 26, 1950 was over in 2019 and the left can play a critical role in shaping the “Second Republic of India”.
Delivering a lecture in a programme “What it means to be left in India”, Yadav remarked that “the 2024 election has not taken us to a wonderful Second Republic. But, fortunately, it has saved us from the worst nightmare of what that Second Republic could have been. This is a critical moment to shape India, not just for the next five years, but for the next few decades. The Left can play a critical role in this moment, provided we redraw the boundaries of the community that goes by the name Left and reorient this community to the historic task that awaits us.”
Political bloc led by left should include those who participated in farmer protest, CAA-NRC agitations
He further emphasised that the Left should create a political bloc to reconstitute the said republic. “This camp will not just have communists and socialists. It must include all those working for the annihilation of caste, against the destruction of ecology, and all the defenders of the republic and the Constitution,” said Yadav.
“Traces of the Left were available in people’s movements, in the upsurge of the farmers, and in the extraordinary resistance put up by Muslim women against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. It was also available in the form of the constructive work being done for alternatives in environmental and ecological struggles happening all over the country,” he added.
Notably a number of such protests have halted regular operations in the national capital and routes approaching it during the months long agitations such as against the CAA and farm laws in the previous regime of the consecutives NDA governments. The protest which also turned violent on occasions leading to chaos and vandalism is defined by many as an attempt to destabilise the government through means of street power suitable to the far left ideology.
