BJP's 'Asli Azaadi' Claim Over Ram Temple Undermines Freedom Struggle: CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury
Joydeep Sarkar
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Kolkata: Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday, January 17, warned against religious polarisation in the country in the name of the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Addressing reporters after the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Jyoti Basu Centre for Social Studies and Research (JBCSSR) building to mark the 15th death anniversary of former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, Yechury criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party for portraying the ceremony as “asli azaadi” or real freedom.
“BJP claims that real freedom will be achieved on January 22. It undermines the freedom struggle, sacrifices of our freedom fighters, and the collective commitment of our founders to a secular, democratic India,” said Yechury.
Last month, Yechury became the first politician to turn down an invitation to attend the consecration ceremony at the under-construction Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22. The majority of the INDIA bloc members including Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, and Trinamool Congress have similarly declined.
On Tuesday, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee announced that on January 22, she would offer prayers at the famous Kali temple in Kalighat and lead an interfaith rally which would culminate in a gurdwara.
The CPI(M) labelled her decision as a case of "competitive communalism," with both Yechury and state secretary Mohammed Salim emphasising the need for political parties to refrain from indulging in politics based on religion.
“Every political party is entitled to conduct its campaign to safeguard communal harmony, but such initiatives should avoid fostering competitive communalism or causing political polarisation,” said Yechury.
West Bengal Left Front chairman Biman Basu, CPI(M) state secretary Salim, along with other state leaders participated in a seminar on the 'Challenge to Safeguard Secular Democratic Republic.' The discussion emphasised the imperative of preserving the secular, socialist, and democratic principles enshrined in the Constitution of India to combat the communal ideology of the BJP.
Translated from the Bengali original by Aparna Bhattacharya.
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