"The message from the people is clear that BJP has been pushed back": Sitaram Yechury
Jingoism does not work when people are living in misery, the Left parties said on Thursday reacting to the Assembly election results in Maharashtra and Haryana where the BJP's performance was much short of its target.
While the BJP did not appear to be headed for the emphatic win it was expecting in the states it had ruled for five years, the Congress took a back seat to its partner NCP in Maharashtra but was poised to substantially better its tally in Haryana, according to the trends.
"The results, not just in these two states but also in bypolls in Gujarat, Bihar and Kerala show that communal jingoism does not work at a time when the people are in misery over lack of jobs and economic slowdown. Their campaign in Maharashtra was that they will get 200 plus seats while in Haryana they were talking about 75 seats. The message from the people is clear that BJP has been pushed back," CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told PTI.
CPI general secretary D Raja said that the election results in the two states was a clear indication that this was the beginning of the "fall of the BJP".
"The people have given them a verdict that they cannot be taken for granted. They have told the BJP what the real issues are -- unemployment, fall of the rupee, rise in prices and livelihood issues -- not NRC or Article 370 on which the BJP's election campaign was based. This is the beginning of the fall of BJP. In the coming days they will be completely exposed," said Mr Raja.
Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation tweeted that the verdict on Thursday was an indication that unemployment and agrarian crisis were major issues.
"Regardless of the final shape of the governments in Haryana and Maharashtra, we can safely say that unemployment and agrarian crisis have proved to be far more potent than #370abrogation, Savarkar," he tweeted.
The Left parties also said that even the bypoll results suggested a downward spiral for the BJP.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)