Kolkata: Claiming that an attempt is being made to polarise the country in the name of the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday said political parties should not indulge in politics based on religion.
Yechury, who came to the city to attend a function on the occasion of the 15th death anniversary of Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu, told reporters that every party should work towards protecting communal harmony and tenets of the Constitution.
The consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya is scheduled for January 22. On that very day, the Trinamool Congress will hold an amity rally with leaders of various faiths.
TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Tuesday that she would lead the rally in Kolkata after offering puja at the Kali temple at Kaliaghat and then offering prayers at a gurudwara.
Asked to comment on the TMC’s programme, Yechury said, “Every party has the right to undertake its own campaign for protecting communal harmony. But by the name of such a campaign, there should not be any competitive communalism. There should not be any political polarisation.”
Political parties need to protect secularism and give everyone the right to carry out his or her religious practices without interference, the CPI(M) leader said.
While delivering a speech earlier, he came down heavily on the Narendra Modi government alleging that it uses central agencies such as ED and CBI to harass political opponents.
“In West Bengal, ED is working under the high court’s order, but elsewhere in states like Tamil Nadu, the central agencies are working under Modi and Amit Shah’s order,” Yechury said.
He alleged that like the BJP, the TMC is also unleashing attacks on its political opponents as they have no respect for democratic values.
As part of the INDIA bloc, the Left wants to remove the BJP from power at the Centre, but it does not find much difference between the saffron camp and the TMC as both indulge in the politics of religion, he said.
In his speech, Yechury recalled how Jyoti Basu had stood for democratic, secular and socialist values, and prevented a communal flare up in West Bengal after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.
The BJP government at the Centre wants to change a secular democratic republic to a fascist Hindu Rashtra, the CPI(M) leader claimed.
“They (BJP) are saying the dream of ‘Asli Azadi’ (real freedom) will be realised on January 22. That negates the freedom struggle, the sacrifice of our patriots, that nullifies the collective decision of our national leaders to make India a secular, democratic country,” he said.
“Left patriarchs like Jyoti Basu had also dreamt that by embracing the path of secularism and democracy, gradually we will lead to a socialist country. But the idea of a Hindu Rashtra is the concept of the BJP-RSS. The call to consecrate Ram Temple on January 22 is the first step. We are at the crossroads to decide which way the country should take in the coming days,” he added.
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