14 political parties sign convention against communalism

Maintaining that secular and democratic forces should unite to counter communal forces, 14 political parties, including the Samajwadi Party and the Left, Wednesday resolved to fight communalism and preserve communal amity in the country.

The parties, gathered at the Talkatora stadium, signed a draft resolution in this regard titled Convention For Peoples Unity and Against Communalism.

The resolution said: "At present, the communal forces are once again seeking to raise communal issues and create communal tensions. In the light of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, the communal campaign has been intensified. This has resulted in outbreak of communal incidents in various parts of the country. The riots in Muzaffarnagar are the most glaring example."

It called upon "the secular and democratic forces to strengthen their effort among the people and mobilise them for rebuffing communal forces, preserve communal amity, defend our composite culture and strengthen the unity of the people".

Maintaining that the unity of the country is "under threat of communal forces", the convention said it is "necessary for the secular and democratic forces to unitedly counter the communal forces of all varieties and maintain peoples' unity".