CPIM campaign to expose the communal agenda of RSS in Karnataka

Senior Party leader Com. Madhava addressing the workshop on communalism

The State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxists) Com G.V. Sriram Reddy, said at Mangalore on Tuesday that the Sangh Parivar is using the State’s coastal region, particularly Dakshina Kannada, as a “laboratory” for its communal experiments.

He was speaking at the inaugural session of a workshop on communalism held by the party.

Mr. Reddy said Dakshina Kannada and the coastal region had a tradition of fighting injustice but the communal forces were gaining strength in the region with guidance from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and supported by the chief of Pejawar math, who pretended to be a supporter of Dalit cause by undertaking padayatra.

After Dakshina Kannada, Kerala was the laboratory for the BJP to experiment its communal agenda. The CPI (M) was against all types of communalism, whether of majority or minority, and was against fundamentalism. Unlike the Congress, which pursues votes based on religion, there was no such worry for the CPI (M), which was very that it had nothing to do with religion, he said. The BJP government had impoverished the State and was “a government on a ventilator”, whose lifeline could be pulled anytime by the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa. He said the government was communal, impoverished, and was saffronising education.

He said that a majority communalism was an issue throughout the State. As an example, he spoke about the instance of violence in Hubli following the issue of cow slaughter. Police officers, who were supposed to protect the law, were seen apologising to the wrongdoers. It showed the extent to which the BJP had used the police.He said the seeds of communalism were sown when L.K. Advani became the Minister for Information and Broadcasting.It was after this that the ‘Ramayana’ teleserial was aired on TV and the Ramjanambhoomi issue came up, he alleged. 

Several communal events had taken place in Sindgi, Belgaum, where two people lost their lives, and in Koppal, Hubli and Chintamani, he alleged. He questioned the police for filing a B report against RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat for, what Mr. Reddy alleged, his provocative speech made in Uppinangady sometime ago.

In Udupi, in 2005, violence broke out against minorities but no one was sent to jail. Action was not taken against the wrongdoers in the homestay attack case, he alleged. In Bangalore, garbage had not been collected for so many days and the issue had been highlighted in the U.S. media. If a government could not clear garbage in a city, it could not do much elsewhere, he said. So much communal incidents were taking place in Dakshina Kannada but the government had done nothing to prevent such incidents. The situation had arisen in the State because of the BJP government, he said. 

K.R. Sriyan, CPI(M) Dakshina Kannada District Secretariat Member, said on the one hand, there was majority communalism, on the other hand, there was minority communalism.

The CPI(M) will launch State-wide protests against made snana at Kukke Subrahmanya Temple and against pankthi bedha (serving meals separately to Brahmins), which is supported by the BJP government, in December, said State Secretary of the party G.V. Sriram Reddy. He said a vehicle procession would be taken out from the Temple Town to Mangalore. Another vehicle procession to protest against pankthi bedha from Byndoor would end at Udupi temple. A politcal ‘jaatha’ will be held against BJP on November 20 at Basavakalyan, Ramdurg and Belgaum. — Special Correspondent

Speaking at a media meet on Monday, Oct 29, CPI(M) State Secretariat Member and Raita Sangha leader Maruti Manpade levelled a serious charge that the BJP, which was currently undergoing a turmoil, had been planning a series of communal disturbances in the state to strengthen its vote-bank in preparation of the assembly polls.

He cited the recent instances of the RSS workers obstructing Bakrid celebrations in 15 places in the state and  attack on a church in Davanagere. Similarly, RSS workers stole the Ganesh idol to implicate people of another faith, but fortunately for the people of the state, the conspiracy was busted by the police in time. The RSS workers had since been arrested, he said.

He also said that on Oct 26, the police had taken strict action against trouble-makers in old Hubli area. But when the RSS workers sat in dharna in front of the police station, the police commissioner himself went to Keshav Kunj, the RSS office, to apologize to the organization's leaders. It was just like a surrender by the police to the RSS, he said.

Manpade further said this incident, which had taken place in the chief minister's home district, wherein an IPS officer went to apologize to the RSS leaders in their own office, was highly condemnable. The governor of the state should intervene in the matter and seek an explanation from the police commissioner, he added.

Another leader of the party, V G K Nair, said that these disturbances were also being engineered to divert the people's attention away from the Haveri convention being organized by former chief minister Yeddyurappa.

To create an awareness among the people about the failure of both Union and state governments and their anti-people policies, two jathas would set out from Ramadurg in Belgaum (on Nov 18) and Basavakalyan (on Nov 19) to Bangalore, scheduled to reach Bangalore on Dec 3. Party's national secretary general Prakash Karat would take part in it, said Nair. 
(Courtesy :the Hindu)