The Left parties slam Prime Minister Narendra Modi after BJP-led NDA's defeat in the Bihar Assembly elections. (Press Trust of India file photo)
The Left parties today said the Bihar mandate underscored Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "personal defeat" and reflected inception of "good days" for people who rejected RSS-BJP's "communal politics" for "secular and democratic" values.
It said the rejection was handed first in Delhi now Bihar.
Congratulating JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad following the Grand Alliance's victory in the Assembly polls, the Left parties stressed, the struggle for "better India" intensifies from here on.
On the performance of Left Front, CPI maintained the results were "not encouraging".
The CPI (ML), however, expressed satisfaction that amid the faceoff between the NDA and JD(U)-RJD-Congress combine, it managed to win two seats and was in close contest in two more constituencies where counting was still on.
"This is defeat of not only the BJP, but personal defeat of Modi and his policies. The... anti-intolerance campaign also could not bring any result," CPI national secretary Atul Anjan said.
His party colleague and Rajya Sabha member, D Raja, echoed similar views and termed JD(U)-RJD-Congress Grand Alliance' victory as "decisive".
CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury observed the verdict ensured beginning of "good days" for people as they rejected alleged communal polarisation by RSS-BJP and its "so-called" development agenda.
"People's acche din have begun, first Delhi, yesterday Kerala and today Bihar.
The subtext of the verdict is very clear that is people have rejected the communal polarisation that was going on by the RSS and BJP and rejected the claims of so-called development agenda of the government," Mr Yechury said
"Congratulations to Lalu ji, Nitish ji, people of Bihar & India. The bitterness the BJP tried to inject was defeated.
First Delhi, then Kerala and now Bihar, People making their own Achhe Din.
"Nitish ji, Congratulations, well done. Now, for bigger battles. Lalu ji, Congratulations. Ek behtar Bharat ke liye, ab sangharsh tez hoga," he said in series of tweets.
In a statement issued later, the CPI (M) congratulated people of Bihar for giving a "resounding" defeat to BJP alliance by rejecting the rank communal campaign conducted by the BJP, led by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo with "divisive" issues like cow and beef and the bogey of reservations for minorities.
It averred the victory of the Grand Alliance is a "clear indication" that the BJP-RSS brand of politics is getting increasingly "exposed".
CPI (ML) politburo member Kavita Krishnan expressed satisfaction over her party's performance saying the results turned out to be what her party had hoped for, "crushing" defeat for the BJP and "increased tally" for the Left.
"This is exactly what we had hoped for. We are very satisfied with the result. The message from the results is the divisive and communal politics has been given a complete rebuff by all sections of Bihar voters. We will now play the role of a progressive opposition in the Assembly," she added.
Mr Anjan said the parties received "good" number of votes, however, the results were "disappointing".
"We received good number of votes. However, the results are not encouraging for us," he said.
Mr Raja seconded him saying the Front's performance was a "matter of concern" and there was a need to "rework" their strategy to strengthen itself in the Hindi region.
Meanwhile, Mr Anjan expressed concerns that foreign investment to the state is likely to suffer following the results.
He also urged national "forces of unity" to join hands and take up issues pertaining downtrodden during the upcoming Parliament session.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) emerged victorious defeating Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and BJP in the Kerala civic polls, results for which were declared yesterday.
According to the results of the two-phased polls to the three-tier civic bodies held on November 2 and 5, LDF took control of four of the six city corporations, as many as 45 of the 86 municipalities and was way ahead in gram panchayats bagging 545 of the 941 at stake.