VHP Yatra Will Raise Communal Tensions

Date: 
Wednesday, January 23, 2002

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

VHP Yatra Will Raise Communal Tensions

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad yatra of sadhus from Ayodhya to Delhi is designed to vitiate the atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh by conducting a virulent communal campaign. The yatra's demand is for going ahead with the construction of the Ram temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya. The BJP, while formally not being part of the VHP campaign is fully supporting it. The BJP has allowed its leaders to participate in the programme.

The speeches made in Ayodhya, Lucknow and Kanpur were full of inflammatory rhetoric against the minorities. At the time of the assembly election campaign, the BJP is playing a dangerous game by conniving at such a yatra.

The role of the state government was evident in the way its top officials rushed to Ayodhya to meet the demand of one of the VHP leaders, Paramahans, who refused to participate in the yatra till the security restrictions in Ayodhya were relaxed. The administration complied, to enable him to participate in the yatra.

The role of the BJP leadership and the Central Government in this matter has to be strongly condemned. The responsibility for heightening communal tensions in Uttar Pradesh will rest with them.