People's Democracy

HUNDREDS of people from all walks of life participated, on July 4, in a protest march against communalism in Delhi, in response to the call of the National Platform of Mass Organisations (NPMO). The NPMO comprises the CITU, AITUC, AICCTU, NZIA, DSMRO, BEFI, JMS, NFIW, AIPWA, DYFI, AIYF, RYA, AISF, AISA, SFI and a number of other organisations.

On the day, activists of trade unions, women’s, students’ and youth organisations marched from Mandi House to the Parliament Street, raising slogans against communal organisations like the RSS and VHP and demanding dismissal of the Modi government of Gujarat.

Similar protest programmes were held in all major cities across the country as the culmination of a 15 days long nationwide campaign against communalism.

Addressing a public meeting held at the end of the march, leaders of different mass organisations lambasted the BJP-led NDA government for the divisive agenda which it has been pursuing over the years. Highlighting the abject condition of the minorities in Gujarat, who are being forced to live in relief camps even today due to the non-serious rehabilitation efforts of the government, all the speakers reiterated the demand for the removal of Narendra Modi government. The plan by the BJP to bring out a Gaurav Yatra in Gujarat also came under fire, as a means to sharpen the communal divide in the state and create further insecurity amongst the minorities. It was demanded that the Election Commission should not initiate the election process in the state before complete normality returns there.

Leaders of the NPMO’s constituents described the appointment of L K Advani as the deputy prime minister and Vinay Katiyar as the UP BJP chief, the recent overtures by the VHP defying the law of the land regarding the Ayodhya dispute, and the RSS decision favouring the division of J&K on communal lines as manifestations of the growing aggressiveness of the Sangh Parivar. They alleged that, having failed to deliver on all fronts, the BJP is falling back upon its hard line communal agenda to shore up its electoral fortunes. The allies of the BJP in the NDA like the Samata Party and Trinamul Congress as well as the TDP and BSP were also severely criticised for their crass opportunism in aiding and abetting the communal forces, just to share the spoils of power.

Attacking the anti-people economic policies, anti-democratic legislations like POTA and the jingoistic foreign policy being pursued by the NDA government, the speakers termed the intensification of RSS communal propaganda as a weapon to divide the people in order to weaken the growing resistance against the government’s policies. The NPMO leaders said the reluctance on part of the non-Left secular parties in effectively opposing the anti-worker policies of the government was responsible for the lack of opposition unity. The compromising position of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party on the presidential election also came under heavy criticism. Such compromises would only weaken opposition unity and lend credibility to the pseudo-nationalism of the communal forces, the leaders said.

The mass organisations’ leaders asked the people of the country to realise the growing danger of communalism and warned against the threat posed by the RSS-BJP to national unity. They said all the mass organisations of the NPMO would be intensifying their campaign against the BJP in the coming days and large protest actions would be taken up in near future. (INN)