Friday, June 10 2005 15:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Thiruvananthapuram: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president L K Advani's resignation over his speeches on Mohammed Ali Jinnah in Pakistan was just for public consumption as the BJP had always been the political arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which propagated the 'two-nation theory' and 'Hindu Rashtra,' Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said today (Jun 10, 2005).

The hard line agenda of the BJP and RSS were the same and there was no question of a moderate voice coming up from the BJP. "The agenda set by the RSS is the only agenda of the BJP. The core agenda of the RSS is a fascist Hindu Rashtra and the two-nation theory," he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

"Advani says Jinnah is secular, Veer Savarkar had propagated the two-nation theory 20 years before Jinnah came out with his views. He now terms the Leftist parties fighting communalism as pseudo-secularists," he said.

Yechury said that it appeared that for BJP, communalism was secularism and the fight against communalism was pseudo-secularism.

He said that the left parties would be forced to launch an agitation if the Centre did not withdraw its move to increase the price of petroleum products. "We have suggested that the burden of oil pool deficit should be borne by oil companies and not by the people," he said.

The CPM would exert pressure on the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government to stick to the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). The Leftists had already conveyed to the Government their views against the disinvestment of public sector BHEL using a clause in the CMP.

Yechury, who arrived in Thiruvananthapuram, to attend the CPM secretariat meeting and State committee meeting, said that his party would ask other left parties to put pressure on the UPA Government to implement the CMP in toto.

To a question, he said the CPM central committee held at Kolkata recently had put forth three conditions for allowing FDI in the Country. FDI should be in the productive sector, it should generate employment and should help technological upgradation, he said.

On disinvestment of BHEL, the left parties had asked the Government to convene a meeting of UPA partners and the Left to discuss the issue, he said.

Asked about the controversy over the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala not fielding a candidate against A K Antony in the recent Rajya Sabha by poll, he said it was for the LDF to discuss the issue. The party state committee, which began its three-day meeting today, would take up the matter, he said.

On the charge that the CPM was having assets worth Rs 4000 crore in the State, he said the party did not give much credence to such allegations. "Our party structure is strong in the State and we have offices here. It is not a new charge," he said.