Communal situation in West Bengal 'very dangerous': Yechury

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday said the communal situation in West Bengal is "very dangerous" and the harmony of the state is threatened because of it.

"The situation in (West) Bengal is very dangerous... the minority communalism and majority communalism are feeding each other in the state," Yechury told reporters here, adding that the four decades of communal harmony is threatened in the state at the moment.

He spoke of an imminent clash between "Islamic fundamentalism" and "Hindutva forces" active in eastern India and neighbouring Bangladesh, which he said will have "destructive effect in the country".

"You must remember, there is a very strong Islamic fundamentalist force in Bangladesh next door" and a communal flare-up here may "threaten the syncretic culture of Bengal", he said.

"This will have an immediate impact in the northeast, in the east, and will have very bad fallout in the rest of India," Yechury added.

The comments of the CPI-M leader come in the wake of communal violence that rocked the North 24 Parganas's Basirhat in West Bengal earlier this month.

--IANS

vn/rn