New Delhi: Left parties on Thursday launched a scathing attack on BJP, days after its rout in Delhi, saying the electorate has "busted the myth" of invincibility of Narendra Modi and it was a "futile" exercise to say that the election was not a referendum on him.
Noting that the people have "bluntly" told the BJP government that it had only delivered to the corporates in their first nine months of rule, both CPI(M) and CPI said that with merely three MLAs in Delhi, BJP's situation is "worse" than Congress during the last Lok Sabha election and does not qualify to claim the post of Leader of Opposition (LoP).
"Delhi electorate has busted the myth of Modi invincibility. They did so resoundingly. With a mere three MLAs out of the 70, BJP now faces a similar situation in the Delhi Assembly as that of Congress in the Lok Sabha. In fact, worse.
"BJP does not qualify to claim the post of the official Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly," CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said in an editorial in the party organ 'People's Democracy'.
He said the election debacle has now forced the BJP leaders to say that the Delhi result is not a referendum on the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
"However, the fact remains that it was the RSS/BJP which projected and imposed such a contest on the Delhi electorate. The people of Delhi overwhelmingly rejected these and many other similar exhortations by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.
Yechury said the virtual sweep places a greater responsibility on AAP to deliver.
"Only time will tell how the AAP government will be able to enlist the central government's cooperation on all these matters," he said.
CPI, in its editorial in 'New Age', also attacked BJP saying the Delhiites have "clearly and bluntly told the rulers that in the first nine months it has only delivered to the corporate and foreign investors and did not bother to even remember the tall promises made on price rise, black money and corruption".
CPI said that another important plank of the BJP campaign
was to hasten the process of "communal polarization" as "Sakshi Maharajas and and Sadhvis" were deployed in full strength to rouse communal passion.
"Within two months, five churches were attacked. Attempts were made to put Dalits against Muslims in areas like Trilokpuri. In desperation, BJP tried even to cash in at the last moment a very unfortunate statement issued by the Imam of Jama Masjid.
"It is high time that the religious leaders realize that they should desist from indulging in politics. Secularism simply means separation of religion and politics. The two cannot go together. People of Delhi deserve all praise for rejecting all such disruptive and emotional moves. And this is the mood of the country," it said.
The party said that despite the attempts by the BJP propagandists to compare the results with 2013 Assembly election, it was a fact that BJP vote has come down by 14 per cent in comparison to the Lok Sabha tally.
"BJP has won all the seven Lok Sabha seats and had lead in 60 of the total 70 Assembly seats. This time BJP could win only three Assembly segments. Out of these three, one of Mustafabad was gained due to communal polarization," CPI said.
Noting that the people have rejected the policies of "Modi Sarkar", CPI said that since May last year, there had been over one-and-a-half a dozen bye-elections to Assemblies in states like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand and in many of these BJP lost its sitting seats.
