Spreading Religious Hatred Now No More Confined To Fringes: CPI(M)

Spreading religious hatred is now no more confined to the fringes, the CPI(M) has said referring to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's comments about there being "many Hussain Obamas in India."
    
The latest edition of party mouthpiece People's Democracy said it was a deliberate ploy of the RSS and BJP to communally polarise the society and reap political dividends.
    
"When people like Himanta Biswas Sharma, the chief minister of Assam say they would 'prioritise taking care' of the 'many Hussain Obamas in India', the distinction between 'fringe' and 'centre' ceases to exist. He makes it amply clear that Muslims are no more considered equals, but are only second-class citizens.
    
"Whether it is Hindu festivals or Muslim festivals, the attacks carried out by the Hindutva forces are intended to deliver a chilling message to the minorities -- 'you have got no rights and to survive, you have to act according to our dictates. Nothing is going to protect you'. It is a deliberate ploy of the RSS-BJP to communally polarise the society and reap political dividends," it said.
    
The editorial also said as elections approach, such activities gather more pace. Using State power, they are spreading their ideological influence among various sections of bureaucracy and officials and making them pliant to their cause, it said. 
    
"The prime minister's utterances on democracy and tolerance to cater to an international audience, cannot mask these attacks on minorities. The defence of democracy and secularism requires that every attack on minorities must be opposed and resisted.
    
"The Left and democratic forces must incessantly work for a popular mobilisation against the violent cruelties of the fascistic Hindutva forces," it said.