'Corporate-communal force alliance threat to democracy'

Several academics, artists and members of the intelligentsia today appealed to political formations and the people to "foil the bid of the corporate- communal alliance" led by BJP to come to power by voting against them.
"Never before in post-independence India have political forces, which are a front for an organisation committed to creating a Hindu Rashtra, made as strong a bid for power as in the coming elections. And they enjoy the backing of the most powerful corporate houses in the country," they said in a signed statement here.
"These forces are led by a person who presided over a pogramme against Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 and has never expressed any contrition over his role in that ghastly incident," the signatories said.

They noted that the prospect of "this alliance of corporate capital and communal forces coming to power constitutes a palpable threat to the future of our secular democracy."
They urged all responsible individuals and political formations to ponder over the situation and urgently take whatever steps necessary for defending secular democracy.
"We appeal to the electorate to foil this corporate-communal alliance's bid for power by voting against the BJP-led NDA."
The over 60 signatories include film directors Kumar Shahani and Saeed Mirza, artists Arpana Caur and Vivan Sundaram, theatre personalities M K Raina, Anuradha Kapur and Badri Raina and noted academics Irfan Habib, Prabhat Patnaik, Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Jayati Ghosh, Harbans Mukhia, C P Chandrasekhar, Shakti Kak, Ashley Tellis, Anil Sadgopal, D N Jha and K M Shrimali.