People's Democracy

Campagin Against Communalism And Terrorism Evokes Good Response

THE Punjab state committee of CPI(M) launched a campaign against communalism and terrorism from October 30 to November 5, 2008 on the call of the Central Committee of CPI(M).There was very enthusiastic response to this campaign at Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar districts. It also got a good response in Patiala, Sangrur, Ropar and Amritsar districts. Mass rallies, dharnas and protest marches were organised in 30 places at tehsil and district headquarters all over the state and about 7,000 people participated in these programmes. Ten thousand pamphlets were published and distributed all over the state.

Charan Singh Virdi, acting state secretary of CPI(M), Raghunath Singh, Rachhpal Singh, Lehambar Singh Taggar, Gurmesh Singh, Bant Singh Namol, Gurmeet Singh Dhadda and Dhoop Chand Channo, all state secretariat members of CPI(M) and Ranvir Virk, Gurdial Dher, Ram Singh Noorpuri, Gurdarshan Singh Khaspur, Sukhwinder Singh Sekhon, Sher Singh, Harnek Alike, Vijay Misra, Albel Singh and Kuldeep Khungar all district secretaries of CPI(M) including other state committee members and other leaders participated in the campaign.

They said that communal forces have become very aggressive in the country. In the last two- three months, they created communal tensions and insecure environment for minorities. The leaders said that communal violence unleashed by Bajrang Dal in Orissa after the murder of a VHP leader Lakshmananand, shows that the Sangh Parivar is trying to use the incident to spread communal violence to achieve their agenda of Hindutva. Although the Maoists claimed responsibility of the murder, Bajrang Dal is targeting the Christians by accusing them of the murder. The leaders said that these force also tried to use the Amarnath Shrine Board land issue to disturb the communal harmony in Jammu and Kashmir.

The leaders also said that the UPA government has not fulfilled its responsibilities honestly to stop the activities of communal forces. They expressed their worries about the increasing activities of the terrorists that were seen in the serial bomb blasts at various places in the country in the last two-three months. The leaders demanded that the central government must seriously look into the causes behind the terrorist activities and take necessary steps to curb their activities.