The victory of the BJP in the Gujarat assembly elections has led to a renewed offensive by the RSS front organisations in competitive Hindutva politics. During the NDA regime, the country had witnessed the highly communal activities of the RSS front organisations like the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini etc. Once again the leaders of these organisations backed by the RSS are seeking to bring back the Ayodhya issue to the political agenda. The nefarious communal design of these forces has to be strongly resisted. In various parts of the country particularly in the states where the BJP is in government, communal forces are seeking to develop and intensify their agenda.
These forces are helped by the utter failure of the Congress governments to take action against such forces including within the state police. The role of the state police under the Congress rule in both Rajasthan and more recently in Dhule in Maharashtra have shown the deep penetration of communal attitudes. It is shameful that the Congress has utterly failed to take stringent action against the policemen responsible.
It is the hate propaganda of the RSS and its many fronts that are responsible for the rise of Hindutva terror groups, many of which had used BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh as a base for training. The utter hypocrisy of the RSS combine’s claims to be a patriotic force against terrorism is thoroughly exposed by the fact that many RSS pracharaks are accused in the cases of bomb explosions in Malegaon, Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Sharif and the Samjhauta train blasts in which hundreds of innocent people were killed.
At the same time justice continues to be denied to the the victims of the Gujarat genocide. Many of the guilty continue to occupy high office. Despite evidence of his complicity in the Gulbarg Society massacre, Narendra Modi is yet to be named as an accused.
There has been an increase on attacks on the rights of minorities as well as communal incidents targeting minority communities in States under BJP rule as in the Mangalore region of Karnataka.
In states like Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Karnataka (until recently in Himachal Pradesh), public money is being channeled to NGOs sponsored by the RSS, to help them to spread their communal agenda. In Madhya Pradesh, valuable land has been given to such communal outfits. In addition, secular welfare schemes like mid-day meal schemes or anganwadi centres are sought to be communalized through the introduction of Hindu rituals and recitation of mantras within the functioning of the scheme. The study of the Bhagwat Gita has been made compulsory in Madhya Pradesh. In the name of cultural and social programmes young children are made to participate in programmes like Guru Dakshina, thread ceremonies etc., all associated with brahamanical rituals. These create problems for children of the oppressed castes. In particular RSS sponsored NGOs are helped to introduce such Hinduised rituals in adivasi areas to weaken adivasi cultures and diverse forms of worship of their own deities linked to nature.
The civil and police administration are being communalized and brought under RSS control in order to achieve these aims. Making it legal for Government servants to attend RSS shakhas is actually an encouragement to them to do so.
The gross injustice meted to scores of young Muslims who have been wrongly charged in cases related to terror attacks in different parts of the country and kept behind bars for years together combined with the refusal of the government to provide them any compensation or rehabilitation on their acquittal is leading to justified resentment as also strengthens extremist elements within the community.
Communal tension and violence still remains one of most potent weapons of political mobilization. In states like UP, Maharashtra, Oodisha, Telangan region in AP, Rajasthan and Assam, Hindutwa forces have gone in an overdrive of lighting communal fires, hoping to reap increase in electoral-political support for BJP at time of next elections. Figures speak for themselves:
The country witnessed 560 incidents of violence in 2012 till October end, which claimed 89 lives, while in 2011, 580 incidents took place that left 91 people dead.
The CPI(M) is committed to fight the communal forces. Whenver and wherever it has been in government, the CPI(M) has taken stern action against these forces. It is due to this that West Bengal, in particular, had been free of communal tensions all these years. Today Tripura is a symbol of communal harmony and tribal-non-tribal unity because of the policies of the Left Front government. Similarly, in Kerala, when the LDF was in power it fought against these forces. We appeal to the people of India to join in this struggle for strengthening secularism and maintaining communal harmony.