MA Baby draws Argentina World Cup parallel, says LDF will bounce back to win third term

CPM General Secretary M A Baby on Monday said the recent losses suffered by the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala’s local body elections were only temporary and expressed confidence that the front would secure a third consecutive term in the upcoming Assembly polls.

He referred to senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s recent statement predicting the return of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government in the state.
Drawing a comparison with football, Baby said, "in the last world cup, Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia in the first match. But, Argentina did not lose any other match afterwards and they won the championship. So, our setback in the local body elections is going to be similar".

He said LDF’s return to power was “vouchsafed” by Aiyar and added, "A Congress leader from Delhi coming and stating this, which is generally the thinking of the people," suggesting that the remark reflected public sentiment.

Aiyar had earlier stood by his observation that the LDF would retain power, despite criticism from the Congress national leadership. In the December local body elections, the BJP wrested control of Thiruvananthapuram, while the Congress-led UDF put up an impressive performance, dealing a blow to the LDF.

Turning to national issues, Baby criticised the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre over trade agreements and related matters. Questioning the Centre’s autonomy in energy decisions, he asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi could “stand up and say that from where India should buy crude oil would be decided by India.”

He alleged that the country’s sovereignty was being steadily undermined. Referring to the global oil trade, Baby claimed that US President Donald Trump had restricted India from purchasing oil from certain nations and later suggested sourcing crude from Venezuela.

The CPM leader also said the party had decided to organise joint agitations with other groups against the Centre’s seed bill, higher education legislation and other policies. Commenting on the Union Home Ministry’s directive that all six stanzas of the National Song “Vande Mataram” be sung at official events, he alleged that it was intended at “sowing the seeds of division” among sections of society.

"Ours is a secular Constitution. The order is a vandalism of the Constitutional arrangement," he charged. Baby further announced that the CPM would hold a ‘Delhi March’ on March 24 in the national capital to protest against the labour codes, the replacement of MGNREGA, trade agreements and what the party termed as “anti-people policies” of the NDA government.

"We are planning a Delhi march in the month of March. In north Indian states, we are going to hold state-level programmes and 'Jathas' (processions), mobilising various sections of people... raising livelihood issues, we are going to march to Delhi," he said.

He also expressed hope that Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy would decide against implementing the labour codes introduced by the Centre and suggested that he advise his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah to follow suit.
(With PTI Inputs)