'Opposition Has United Against Modi Government,' New CPI(M) Chief Sitaram Yechury Tells NDTV

A day after taking over as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury spelled out his agenda in an interview to NDTV, admitting that this was a "difficult period" for the party as it looked to revive itself.

"It will take a lot of effort because I am sure all of us realise that the CPM has got its lowest ever electoral presence - both in Parliament and assembly - in our history. In terms of party organisation and struggles as well there have been setbacks, so, I mean, we need to revamp our party organisation in order to meet these challenges, and that's why we have decided to hold an organisation plenum in six months and that should be of a lot of help in meeting these tasks," Mr Yechury said.

The CPM General Secretary also said that it would be a "long haul" for the party to rebuild itself in West Bengal.

Asked about Opposition unity in Parliament, where he has played a key role as opposition leader, Mr Yechury said the Opposition was uniting against the Narendra Modi government.

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"If there is anybody who should be given the credit for bringing the opposition together, it is this Modi government. The way they are going about bringing their policies, it is bringing all the opposition parties together against this brazen attack on livelihood of masses of our people, against the manner in which Parliamentary procedures, democratic norms and procedures are being tweaked," he said.

Mr Yechury further attacked the government by saying, "They are being manipulated in order to serve certain purposes which is a very dangerous authoritarian trend and against these issues Opposition parties coming together will be a tendency that will grow stronger and I am sure in this session you'll find stronger expressions of it, which is good for the country."

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Asked on the speculation that the government may call for a joint session of Parliament to see the Land Acquisition bill through, Mr Yechury said, it would not be easy for them to "bulldoze their views".

He supported Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's attack on the government, saying his phrase of a "suit boot ki sarkar" showed the differences between India and Bharat.

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Asked if the CPM would work more with the Congress, he said, "Yes. I mean not reach out to the Congress but outside the Parliament is where our target area would be because remember it is the strength of our independence and our strength in terms of effectively developing people's movements and forcing the agenda onto the government which is in the interest of the people, it is on that our parliamentary presence also be based on therefore for both Parliament as well as outside of Parliament. We'll have to increase our interventions, increase our strength".