CPI(M) should lead organised Left to confront RSS-BJP: Kumar

An organised Left led by the CPI (M) must be at the forefront to forge unity among secular forces to confront the RSS-BJP combine, actor-director Sashi Kumar said today.
Addressing a lecture - Media in Time of Intolerance - in commemoration of eminent writer from Kerala M N Vijayan, he said the CPI(M), a leading component of the organised Left, should lead the progressive thinking groups in other political parties "to confront the BJP and the RSS."
He alleged that the BJP was using religion as a tool for mass mobilisation but it lacked public intellectuals.
"The genesis of journalism is inalienably tied to development of public sphere... (And) the erosion of public sphere by the stark-right ideology is a big challenge," Kumar, also a journalist, said and urged citizens to demand reforms in the media.

"People and different organisation should initiate a movement for media reforms to make the media more inclusive and responsible," he said.