Bharat Jodo Yatra is a new freedom struggle, says Maha economist

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 13: The Congress party's Bharat Jodo Yatra is a "new freedom movement or a second freedom struggle" to unite the people against the BJP's alleged "polarising strategy", a noted economist and former member of Maharashtra State Planning Board professor H M Desarda, said here on Tuesday.

The professor, who has joined the yatra from Kanyakumari to support it on behalf of the civil society, said political parties and mass movements opposed to BJP's alleged "polarising strategy" should unite.

Speaking at a press conference here, he claimed that the yatra has been jointly organised by the Congress and civil society organisations to oppose the allegedly bankrupt policies of the Central government.

"The yatra should unite the common people to counter the forces of fascism and the status quo. The need of the hour is to unite 90 per cent of the people who are unorganised farmers, self-employed daily wage earners and construction and domestic workers. "... It is a new freedom movement, a second freedom struggle," he added.

Highlighting the problems he has seen in the country, the professor claimed that the growth and governance model in the country and many States was still "feudal, colonial, pseudo-socialist and parasitic".

He further contended that even after 75 years of independence, though the colonial rulers have left, "their bankrupt policies are still being perpetrated" and as a result, more than a billion people in the country are in deep distress which has allegedly worsened during the Narendra Modi government's rule. Therefore, the character of the Congress party has to undergo a radical change, it should become the Nationalist Movement that it was during Mahatma Gandhi's time, he said.