Bid to paint criticism of communalism as attack on faith will be exposed: CPM

Thiruvananthapuram: CPM state secretary M V Govindan here on Saturday said the party will continue to make all-out attempts to expose the attempts by communal and political forces to paint the criticism against communal forces as an attack on religious believers. In order to bring more public attention to the unfounded campaign by communal forces and political parties, CPM would observe Gandhi Jayanti on Jan 30 with elaborate programmes, he said. Addressing a news conference, Govindan said it was the Oomen Chandy-led govt that filed an affidavit in the high court, saying that Jamaat-e-Islami was a dangerous organization working with a target to establish a Muslim theocratic state. The affidavit said the organization was working against the principles of the Indian Constitution, adding that the govt would not hesitate to ban Jamaat if warranted. "IUML's P K Kunhalikutty was the second commandant in the Chandy govt and Ramesh Chennithala was the home minister. Current opposition leader V D Satheesan was an MLA then. Now, Congress and IUML sing paeans to Jamaat. They try to create an impression that criticism of Jamaat is criticism against the Muslim community," Govindan said. BJP and Sangh Parivar organizations were similarly trying to dub CPM's criticism of RSS as criticism against Hindu religious believers, Govindan said. "Society should understand that criticism against religious fundamentalists is not against religion," he said, adding that Mahatma Gandhi was a true believer and Nathuram Godse was a religious fanatic. "How can one argue that criticism against a religious fanatic is criticism against religion? CPM will continue to expose this contradiction and work among people to expose and oppose both minority and majority communal extremists," Govindan said. Meanwhile, Govindan refused to comment on senior party functionary A K Balan's statement that Jamaat would rule the state home department if UDF came to power. Govindan said he did not need to endorse or criticise what a senior leader like Balan said, especially since CPM always upheld an anti-communal stand. Earlier in the day, Balan said he would not heed Jamaat's demand for an apology. Govindan also said that there was no logic behind the argument that nobody should speak of the Marad riot, which claimed many lives during the UDF rule. "Why should there be no reference to Marad? Both RSS and Jamaat are poison. Their ideologies are dangerous to society," he said.