CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury arrives at Agartala Airport to attend an anti-war convention at Agartala on Sunday, October 11, 2015. (Press Trust of India photo)
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre is trying to unite Hindus by fomenting hatred against religious minorities, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in Agartala today.
"As BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is a political arm of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), it is trying to unite Hindus in the country on the basis of hatred against religious minorities," said Mr Yechury while addressing a convention here on anti-communalism.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) member of the Rajya Sabha said the BJP, following the RSS ideology, was doing the dirtiest vote bank politics on communal line.
"This narrow-minded political tactics is aimed to divert the people from basic economic issues including soaring price rise. A distorted history is being depicted before the nation."
"Before coming to power, the BJP highlighted 'love jihad', after coming to power it raised 'ghar vapsi' (homecoming) issue and now they campaign for 'gau-raksha' (save cow) issue," the CPI-M leader said adding that these systematic plans would only weaken India's foundation of secularism.
During his speech, Mr Yechury said that in the past 17 months of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, "several thousand communal riots have taken place in different parts of the country".
Expressing concern over growing intolerance to the central government's policies, Mr Yechury said tolerance was "the need of the hour and it is indispensable to take everybody into consideration and develop the nation".
"The killings of writers such as Narendra Dabolkar, Govind Pansare and MM Kalburgi show that tolerance has decreased to its ugliest level. The BJP government has created a situation of writers versus rioters," he said.
Mr Yechury claimed that the present government at the Centre was trying to run the University Grants Commission and all prominent national institutions in line with the RSS ideology.
"Narendra Modi, during the 15 months of his prime ministership, has made 29 foreign trips. We asked the BJP leaders to first bring the PM to Parliament then bring back the black money to the country. The Prime Minister every so often keeps changing his dress; six times a day like the hero and heroine of Hindi movie," the CPI-M leader remarked.
He observed that when 55 per cent households in India have no latrines and 60 per cent have no electricity connections in their homes, the country's 100 billionaires have Rs 66 lakh crore-worth movable and immovable assets, comprising a reasonable portion of the country's gross domestic product.
Tripura Chief Minister and CPI-M politburo member Manik Sarkar and Lok Sabha member Sankar Prasad Datta also addressed the gathering.