news from the cpi(m)
Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s Intervention At the
National Integration Council Meeting
October 13, 2008, New Delhi
This meeting of the National Integration Council (NIC) has been convened
at a very critical moment in the life of our country. The orgy of
violence against the minority Christian community has continued for weeks
in Orissa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and many other parts of the country.
Reports of communal clashes are pouring in from various other parts of
the country. At the same time, the series of terrorist attacks in Delhi as
well as various state capitals poses a severe challenge to our country's
unity and integrity.
The NIC is meeting when such attacks against the minorities have continued
for several weeks. In fact the meeting should have been convened much
earlier. The Union Government has a responsibility towards maintaining the
unity and integrity of the country which has not been discharged in the
manner warranted by the deteriorating situation. The Union Government's
responsibility is particularly so on the issue of protecting the right to
life and the security of the tribals and the dalits in the country. The
Union Government has failed to intervene in this situation even after six
weeks of continuous attacks against the Christian minority in Orissa.
However, the agenda circulated for this meeting is a vast canvas covering
all aspects of potential conflict and tensions adversely affecting
national integration. In this short meeting, it is virtually impossible
to discuss all these issues, however important and relevant they may be.
On many of these issues like the question of social justice and the
struggles against the connected caste-based social oppression; regional
economic imbalances providing grist to the mill of regional chauvinism;
providing adequate facilities for improving the welfare of the religious
minorities as enunciated by the Sachhar Committee Report etc, the CPI(M)
has a definite point of view which has been articulated before the NIC and
publicly in the past.
The situation on all these counts has deteriorated particularly since the
pursuance of the trajectory of economic liberalization in the country.
With the practice of a planned economic development where major public
sector undertakings were located in economically backward regions being
abandoned, regional economic imbalances have widened feeding the
centrifugal forces of separatism in many parts of the country. State's
rights being adversely affected over the sharing of financial resources
under the liberalization regime undermining Centre-State relations
envisaged in our federal constitutional set up. With the economic divide
between the rich and poor widening and the consequent sharp rise in the
cost of education and the shrinkage of the employment pie, the scramble
between various social groups in our society has intensified adversely
affecting both social justice and national integration. The earlier
slogans of `sons of the soil' are finding newer expressions in the current
chauvinistic campaign in Maharashtra. The Union Government has failed to
translate many of the recommendations and suggestions for improving the
educational and social status of the minorities. While all these issues
must be discussed in right earnest urgently, given the present critical
situation, we would wish to confine ourselves to the two issues that we
have raised at the outset.
As the orgy of violence against the Christian minority continues unabated
in Orissa, Karnataka etc, come the gruesome reports of communal violence
in Assam. So far, over 50 lives have been lost and close to a lakh of
people have been forced to flee their homes. The clashes between the
ethnic Bodo tribals, the local people and the Muslims is a grave
development in a state which has repeatedly seen such ethnic and communal
clashes weakening the unity of our social fabric.
Horrific is the latest report of a six member Muslim family being burnt
alive in the Bhaisha town in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh. So far
ten lives have been consumed in the communal violence here. In the Dhule
district of Maharashtra, communal violence has taken a toll of many
innocent lives and large-scale destruction of houses and property. This
is the third case of communal violence in the state of Maharashtra within
a week. Rajasthan continues to be tense with communal clashes being
reported from Udaipur. Similar reports of growing communal polarization
come from various other parts of the country. The situation in J&K where
communal polarization was sharply roused continues to remain a source of
concern for the unity and integrity of India.
The National Commission for Minorities (NCM), in a severe indictment of
the Karnataka government, has said that the BJP-led state government was
"soft" on the Bajrang Dal ignoring ample warnings of impending violence
against the Christian minorities. It also notes that after widespread
outrage, the Karnataka police had arrested the Bajrang Dal state convenor.
He was, however, released soon on bail. On the contrary, many Christians
who are the victims, were arrested, refused bail and continue to languish
in jails.
Similar observations have been made by the NCM regarding Orissa. The RSS
and the Bajrang Dal have now threatened that only those dalit Christians
who covert to Hinduism can return to rebuild their destroyed homes in
Kandhmahal, Orissa.
The sudden spurt of terrorist attacks in various parts of the country is a
cause of utmost serious concern. It poses a serious danger to our internal
security and the integrity of India. Such terrorist attacks need to be
curbed by strengthening our security and intelligence gathering apparatus.
All measures required to this end must be taken urgently. The question of
modernization of the police and other security forces must no longer be
allowed to wait. It is the responsibility of the Union Government to
initiate the process of consultation with the state governments and
address this issue urgently. There is also an urgent need to take
stringent measures to ensure that terrorist and militant outfits do not
use facilities beyond our borders for the purposes of conducting their
anti-national activities.
However, at the same time, it is also being widely believed that one of
the contributors to the recent spate of terrorist attacks is the real and
perceived injustice felt by the religious minorities in the country. Such
sharpening of communal polarization for political gains only feeds,
unfortunately, the impermissible terroristic response. While terrorism
is simply unacceptable and must be combated, this needs to be done on the
basis of impeccable impartiality by the organs of the State. Terrorism
knows no religion. It is simply anti-national. The recent spate of
terrorist attacks in Muslim-dominated areas have raised genuine suspicions
of a Hindu hard line response to some Muslim terrorist actions. The
recent bomb attack in Malegaon where four Muslims were killed in a
locality crowded with people who had broken their ramzan fast buttress
such suspicions. When the media questioned the police whether Hindu hard
liners were suspected, Maharashtra's Additional Director General of
Police (law and order) said, "At this stage, we cannot rule out the
possibility".
Police investigations in the past few years have noted the involvement of
Bajrang Dal or other RSS organizations in various bomb blasts across the
country – in 2003, in Parbani, Jalna and Jalgaon districts of
Maharashtra; in 2005, in Mau district of Uttar Pradesh; in 2006, in
Nanded; in January 2008, at the RSS office in Tenkasi, Tirunelveli; in
August 2008, in Kanpur etc etc. Internal security of our country can be
strengthened only when all such cases are also probed impartially and
with the same degree of intensity. Given this, action against the Bajrang
Dal under the Unlawful Activities Act must be initiated.
As stated earlier, all efforts to combat terrorism and internal security
must be strengthened. Most importantly, however, these activities must be
conducted in a spirit of utmost impartiality. Organisations and
individuals found to indulge in such terror activities, irrespective of
their religious denomination must be dealt with the same yardstick. No
persecution of any community, as widely perceived by the Muslim minority,
in the name of combating terrorism, should be permitted.
The CPI(M) reiterates that the unity and integrity of the vast plurality
and rich diversity of India can be maintained only by strengthening the
bonds of commonality that run through this diversity. Any effort at
seeking to impose a uniformity – religious or linguistic or cultural etc –
upon this diversity is the surest recipe to promote disintegration. It is
the task of all political parties, social groups and civil society who
cherish the republican foundations of our secular, democratic modern India
to strengthen the collective social consciousness of our country, to
celebrate, not bemoan, India's diversity.
The CPI(M) has always opposed the gross misuse of Article 356 of our
Constitution. The CPI(M) has been seeking appropriate amendments to
Article 356 of the Constitution in order to incorporate safeguard to
prevent its misuse. However, in this connection, the NIC must be
appraised if Article 355 has been invoked by the Central government for
Orissa, Karnataka etc. If so, what has been the response of the state
governments? If not, why not?
May I conclude by offering the CPI(M)'s unstinted support to the all
important task, on the lines suggested above, to contain both communalism
and terrorism which promote the forces of disintegration of India.
(Sitaram Yechury attended the meeting on behalf of the Party)
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