The Sangh Parivar is calculatedly unleashing communal violence on the pretext of religious processions like Ram Navami and Chaiti Durga. The processions organised on these occasions by the Sangh are armed to the teeth, and their purpose, far from being prayerful or spiritual, is to enter Muslim localities and even mosques, shout abusive communal slogans branding Muslims as ‘Pakistani’, and unleash violence.
In West Bengal, the Ram Navami processions (which had never been a traditional festival of the State) unleashed horrific violence. Police officers who tried to control the violence were badly injured by the Sanghi terrorists who even resorted to bombs. While BJP MP Babul Supriyo tried to stoke the fires of violence by calling to ‘skin alive’ Muslims, it was left to the grief-stricken Imam Imadadul Rashidi whose 16-year-old son Sibtullah had been beaten to death by a mob, to call for peace and sanity and appeal against revenge.
In Bihar, also, communal mobs unleashed violence in several places, attacking Muslim settlements, homes, and even mosques and madarsas. The violence is obviously planned by a desperate BJP which hopes to shift the agenda in upcoming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls from unemployment and corruption scandals to communal sentiment instead.
Bajrang Dal made Hanuman Jayanti a pretext for processions of men armed with swords, raising violent slogans against Muslims, in various parts of Delhi and NOIDA.
CPI(ML) appeals to India’s people to remain vigilant and resist attempts to turn festivals into excuses for communal violence.
Attempt To Incite Communal Frenzy In Araria A Deliberate Conspiracy
CPI (ML) Bihar State Secretary Kunal said on 18 March 2018 that the attempt to incite communal frenzy in Araria was done under a planned and deliberate conspiracy. First of all, central Minister Giriraj Singh made an extremely communal statement after the Araria Lok Sabha by-election. His statement following the BJP’s by-election loss that Araria will become a ‘hub of terrorism’ is extremely condemnable. The atmosphere of communal harmony in Araria was vitiated by such irresponsible statements by people occupying important posts.
Next, a video was propagated where pro-Pakistan slogans were audible. In a manner similar to the JNU episode, the video was made to go viral without any verification, and Bajrang Dal and other Hindutva organizations used it to incite communal frenzy. Subsequently, Alt News after primary investigation has termed the video a fake.
A CPI (ML) fact-finding team enquiring into the matter has said that the entire case looks deliberately planned. We demand that the video should be fully and thoroughly investigated so that the truth should come out. In this situation the Party appeals to the people of Bihar and Araria to maintain peace and harmony and not to be influenced by rumours.
The CPI (ML) enquiry team was comprised of Araria District Secretary Nawal Kishore, AISA Bihar State President Mukhtar, and Qazim Irfani. The team stated that communal forces are continuously trying to vitiate the atmosphere in the city with communal hatred and poison.
