Mollah to float organisation for minorities, dalits

Veteran CPI(M) leader Abdur Rezzak Mollah today accused the party leadership of losing connect with the people, especially minorities and dalits and said he will float a new organisation for their uplift.
"The CPI(M) has lost its ability to fight for the minorities and dalits in the state. Earlier, late communist leaders used to lead simple life," Mollah told PTI here.
"But now the party is ruled by Brahmins, who by sitting in air-conditioned rooms decide the course of action and have no connect with the masses," he said, adding those who talk big and have been rejected by the people were calling the shots in the party.

He said on February 23 he would float a new organisation, Association for Dalits and Minorities, which would work for their uplift.
Mollah, a veteran CPI(M) MLA since 1972 and a prominent minority leader in Bengal, had recently dubbed the party's decision to nominate SFI General Secretary Ritabrata Banerjee as Left Front nominee for the Rajya Sabha polls as a 'wrong decision' taken by 'leaders in ivory towers'.
He had also attacked former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for his industrial policies and his inability to lead the party in time of crisis.

Asked what he would do if party decided to take action against him, Mollah said, "Let them do whatever they want to do. I will be happy if they take any action against me."

When contacted, several leaders of the CPI(M) state secretariat, the highest decision making body of the party state unit, refused to comment.
CPI(M) state committee leader Moinul Hasan, however, rubbished Mollah's allegations and termed it "baseless".
"I don't agree that there is no place for minorities in the party. It is a baseless statement," Hasan said.