Communal forces trying to undermine secular fabric: Karat

 

Communal forces were trying to undermine the secular fabric of the country with an eye on the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and the recent spurt in communal violence in different places was a reflection of this, CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat today said.

"Today, we face major challenges from the forces which want to undermine democratic secular fabric of society. Such forces are getting more aggressive," he said releasing CPI(M) magazine "Mukhyadhara' (Main Stream), meant exclusively for minority communities, here.

Referring to the Muzaffarnagar violence, he said it was not isolated. Before that a series of communal incidents occurred in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan and now in Bihar.

"In all these places creating communal polarisation is the game plan of Hindutva forces keeping in mind the coming Lok Sabha elections," he said adding secular democratic forces should come together to rebuff the challenges posed by communal forces.

He also said such incidents were taking place at a time when BJP was projecting Gujarat Chief minister Narendra Modi as its prime ministerial candidate "at the behest of the RSS."

Lashing out at the Congress-led UPA Government, he accused it of not implementing recommendations of the Rajinder Sachar Committee which highlighted the plight of Muslims and their backwardness in areas such as education and employment.

Also, the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission report suggesting 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education to the Muslim community had not been implemented yet, he said.

He also claimed there was bias in tackling the problem of terrorism.

"We have to fight extremism and also isolate the forces that disturbs unity of the people... Unfortunately in the name of curbing terrorist activities hundreds of Muslim youths have been wrongly detained," he added.

In his keynote address, state CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said that the communal forces would strive to isolate the Muslim community from the main stream.

Referring to the demand for reducing the marriage age of Muslim girls, he claimed majority of the community was against it.