Opinion Dividing Sangh
CPMs Peoples Democracy accuses the Sangh Parivar of sharpening the communal divide for electoral gains.
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In the context of the Muzaffarnagar clashes,the CPMs Peoples Democracy accuses the Sangh Parivar of sharpening the communal divide for electoral gains. Sitaram Yechury writes that the violence served as the perfect backdrop for the BJP to anoint the Gujarat chief minister as its prime ministerial candidate. Even the remotest of doubts regarding the RSS/ BJPs intentions of using the sharpening of communal polarisation as its prime electoral card are set at rest by the proud assertions of VHP leader Ashok Singhal. He is reported in the media to have said that like the minorities were taught a lesson in Gujarat in 2002,they have once again been taught a proper lesson in western UP for indulging in what the communal forces call love jihad… This term refers to the alleged planned programme of Muslim youth enticing Hindu girls. The Jat panchayat at Muzaffarnagar that served as the spring board for these communal disturbances had given a call for protecting our daughters and daughters-in-law, he says.
Yechury also argues that the RSSs project of establishing an intolerant Hindu Rashtra was defeated during the freedom struggle,as independent India established itself as a modern secular democratic republic. This,however,has never prevented the RSS from continuing to pursue its efforts to metamorphose the modern Indian republic into its vision of a Hindu Rashtra. He also draws a parallel between the situation in India with the period leading to the emergence of fascism in Germany.
ONION FUMES
The CPIs New Age focuses on the increasing prices of onion and once again blames the economic liberalisation pursued by both the NDA and UPA governments for the overall price rise. The NDA amended the Essential Commodities Act to allow unrestricted hoarding of commodities,which it claims helped middlemen and hoarders to manipulate prices. They keep the prices at low level while procuring goods from the farmer and later hike it up to earn a super profit. The game got further complicated and unbearable when the UPA government allowed the corporate sector to enter the retail market. The government used the card of restriction or easing of the export and import to facilitate the loot of farmers and consumers both by the corporate entrants in the retail market, it says.
The editorial argues that instead of taking concrete measures,the Congress and BJP are indulging in a blamegame. While the Congress claims that there is short supply of onions in the national capital due to hoarding in the BJP-ruled state of Madhya Pradesh,the BJP is charging the Sheila Dikshit government with laxity in tackling the issue.
LEFT TO ITSELF
The CPI(ML) too considers Narendra Modis anointment,arguing that the BJP wanted to reduce the contest to a personality-based one,much like the US presidential election. It is clear that the BJP has little to distinguish itself from the Congress in terms of either policies or performance. But in general public perception,Modi easily scores over the likes of Manmohan Singh or Rahul Gandhi in a personality-based contest. And the non-BJP,non-Congress camp remains rather faceless as it cannot possibly project a commonly accepted face despite the presence of several powerful regional leaders, an editorial in ML Update says.
The editorial criticises not just Modi and the Sangh Parivar,but also argues that the Indian state itself has been pathologically weak in dealing with rabid communal violence: From the managers of the November 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom to the architects of the Babri Masjid demolition and the accompanying communal bloodbath and the cold-blooded executioners of the genocide and fake encounters in Gujarat,the state has failed to punish any major communal killer.
It also has a word of advice for the Left: Instead of pursuing the bankrupt idea of collaborating with the Congress and the likes of Nitish Kumar in the name of fighting against the danger of a rising Modi,the Left must intensify its own battle against the BJP-led campaign of communal venom and corporate appeasement, it concludes.
Compiled by Manoj C.G.
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