Cartoonist E.P. Unny presenting a citation to political activist Yogendra Yadav in Kozhikode on Saturday. Writer N.S. Madhavan is seen. | Photo Credit: K. Ragesh

Political activist and psephologist Yogendra Yadav has said that the Left can play a critical role in creating what he called a ‘Second Republic of India’.

He was delivering a lecture on ‘What it means to be the Left in India’ after accepting an award in memory of journalist-writer-filmmaker ‘Chintha’ Raveendran in Kozhikode on July 20 (Saturday).

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Left has critical role in creating a ‘Second Republic of India’, says Yogendra Yadav

Published - July 20, 2024 08:03 pm IST - Kozhikode

THE HINDU BUREAU

Cartoonist E.P. Unny presenting a citation to political activist Yogendra Yadav in Kozhikode on Saturday. Writer N.S. Madhavan is seen. | Photo Credit: K. Ragesh

Political activist and psephologist Yogendra Yadav has said that the Left can play a critical role in creating what he called a ‘Second Republic of India’.

He was delivering a lecture on ‘What it means to be the Left in India’ after accepting an award in memory of journalist-writer-filmmaker ‘Chintha’ Raveendran in Kozhikode on July 20 (Saturday).

Mr. Yadav claimed that the Republic of India, which was inaugurated on January 26, 1950, was over in 2019. The Second Republic was yet to be born, and the citizens were in ‘no man’s land’. “The 2024 election has not taken us to a wonderful Second Republic. But, fortunately, it has saved us from the worst nightmare of what that Second Republic could have been. This is a critical moment to shape India, not just for the next five years, but for the next few decades. The Left can play a critical role in this moment, provided we redraw the boundaries of the community that goes by the name Left and reorient this community to the historic task that awaits us,” he said.

Mr. Yadav said that if being on the Left was about offering resistance to dominance, it should oppose the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s political ideology, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personality, and the BJP’s politics. “The politics of radical democratic republicanism has to be the politics of the Left today. Republicanism is about creating a community of equal citizens. Those who do not believe in democratic means cannot be part of today’s understanding of what is Left and radical,” he said.

The Left should create a political bloc to reconstitute a new republic. “This camp will not just have communists and socialists. It must include all those working for the annihilation of caste, against the destruction of ecology, and all the defenders of the republic and the Constitution,” said Mr. Yadav. Traces of the Left were available in people’s movements, in the upsurge of the farmers, and in the extraordinary resistance put up by Muslim women against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. It was also available in the form of the constructive work being done for alternatives in environmental and ecological struggles happening all over the country.

Mr. Yadav said the Left should utilise the internal resource of Marxism, not of Leninism, the neighbourly resources of democratic socialist tradition, the tradition of Phule and Ambedkar, the tradition of the Indian women’s movement and the Indian feminist thought, and the external resources of Gandhi and the Constitution of India for its work. The event was organised by the ‘Chintha’ Ravi Foundation, and writer N.S. Madhavan and cartoonist E.P. Unny, among others, were present.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/left-has-critical-role-in-creating-a-second-republic-of-india-says-yogendra-yadav/article68426071.ece