CHANDIGARH, JAN 13: The Punjab unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) today opposed organisation of the Khalsa tercentenary celebrations by the State Government and political parties, arguing that it should be left to religious organisations.Addressing a news conference here, State party secretary Joginder Dayal conceded it was a great event, but regretted that political parties were trying to get political mileage out of the celebrations and were exploiting it for self-glorification. ``The Khalsa was created to fight oppression and injustice and as such, projecting the secular content was much more than mere resorting to symbolism.''He said that ironically, the celebrations had divided the Akalis, the Congress and the clergy.He criticised the State Government for ignoring the crisis in the farm sector and devoting its energies to the tercentenary celebrations. The marginal farmers and farm workers, mainly in Malwa region, were facing semi-starvation conditions. Successive State Governments had failed to take remedial steps and the promises made to the peasantry had not been kept, even by the Akali Dal Government, he said.The CPI, he said, would launch a jail bharo campaign from February 15, to focus attention on the plight of farmers. The party would demand compensation to farmers for crop damage due to natural calamities, waiving of loans, substantial increase in prices of farm produce and other such reasons.He lambasted the attacks on Christians in Gujarat. He said his party was against forcible conversions, but felt that Christian missionaries were not resorting to forcible conversions, as ``only the rulers could do that''. He attributed the conversions mainly to the rigid caste system and called upon the Bharatiya Janata Party to end this menace. Ending the caste system, he added, needed an ideological and political fight and the BJP should come out openly against the caste system.Dayal came down heavily on the supporters of Shiv Sena for trying to escalate tensions with Pakistan and stressed the need for friendly relations with neighbours.Commenting on the factional fight in the Akali Dal, the CPI leader said it had paralysed the Badal Government. He alleged that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was using the bureaucracy for his political and personal interests. He said SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra, Akal Takht Jathedar Bhai Ranjit Singh and Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann represented the fundamentalist forces.
