16 Left parties to observe Dec 6 as communal harmony day in Bengal

Sixteen Left parties Sunday decided to observe Dec 6 - the day when the 16th century Babri mosque was destroyed in 1992 - as communal harmony and unity day across West Bengal by bringing out rallies and holding street corners.

Making the announcement after a meeting of the Left parties, Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary Biman Bose told mediapersons that the programme would cover all the 20 districts.

The central rally for Kolkata and its adjoining districts would start from the historic Mahajati Sadan auditorium in central Kolkata and end before the Rabindra Sadan cultural complex in South Kolkata.

"Both Rabindranath Tagore and Subhas Chandra Bose - who always championed communal harmony - were associated with the establishment of Mhajati Sadan. Rabindra Sadan is named after Tagore. So we have decided upon this route to express our resolve to follow their ideal," said Bose.

He said the Left parties would carry out a mass campaign trough squads and street corners Dec 1-13 on the issue to remind the people of the "dastardly attack on the mosque by activists of the Sangh parivar including the RSS and the BJP".

Accusing the Bharatiya Janaata Party of trying to foment a communal division, he said the Trinamool was following the same path in West Bengal.

The 16 parties which attended the meeting included 10 partners of the opposition Left Front -- CPI-M, Communist Party of India, Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Marxist Forward Bloc, Democratic Socialist Party, Biplobi Bangla Congress, Bolshevik Party and Workers Party.

The other parties present were the Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist, Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist, Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (Santosh Rana), Communist Revolutionary League of India, Communist Party of Bharat and Party for Democratic Socialism.