Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 2 (IANS): CPI National Secretariat member and MP Benoy Viswam on Sunday said that the legacy of the Congress cannot be wiped out and its continued existence was very important in the democratic process of India.

At a seminar here on Sunday, the CPI leader said that while Sangh Parivar was tightening its grip on all institutions of the country, the Congress must survive in the country for the democracy to continue in the nation.

He said that the Left parties do not have the strength to step into the vacuum of Congress and that the legacy of leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru must continue in the country.

Lashing out against the BJP and RSS for trying to convert India into a monolithic entity by forgetting its unity in diversity principle that was the basis of India as a nation, Viswam said that the people of the country are concerned at the RSS and BJP creating a separate version of India and trying to exclude the minorities and the backward classes and Dalits from the idea of India.

The CPI leader, who was a former Kerala Minister, also said that the Congress must make a strong comeback. He, however, said that this was his opinion and that the political and ideological differences of the CPI with the Congress continue.