CPI(M) on Thursday said the Bodh Gaya blasts and recent similar incidents were aimed at heightening communal polarisation and such efforts should be "resoundingly defeated". Targetting of the Bodhgaya shrine was "a horrific reminder of the fact that terrorist attacks rise proportionately with heightened communal polarisation," senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said.
There has been a "long lasting simmering dispute over the control of the Bodh Gaya temple between the Buddhists and the Hindus", he said. Referring to the probes in earlier terrorist attacks at Ajmer Sharief, Malegaon and Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad which showed that "certain Hindutva groups were responsible", he said, "What is required is a speedy and a thorough investigation to identify and punish the culprits."
"Terrorist attacks of all varieties, irrespective of their place of origin, are simply anti-national and, hence, unacceptable," Yechury said in an editorial in the latest issue of CPI(M) organ 'People's Democracy'. Demanding punishment to the guilty which "must serve as a deterrent for those seeking to sharpen communal hatred and polarisation", he said, "What is also clear is that our security apparatus needs to be beefed up urgently."
Seen in this context, Yechury said, "The apparent decision of BJP, functioning as the political arm of RSS, to return back to its basics in the run-up to the 2014 general elections, is ominous. This is bound to further sharpen communal polarisation. This lays a fertile ground for all sorts of terrorism to thrive."
He said the pursuit of such an agenda ran contrary to the unity and integrity of India and "cannot be allowed for the sake of the further consolidation of the modern Indian Republic. Thus, in the interests of India's future, it is imperative that such efforts to metamorphose the modern Indian Republic by the RSS-BJP must be resoundingly defeated".
Taking a dig at BJP for trying to "appropriate" some of the giants of the freedom struggle like Sardar Patel "in the pursuit of their objective", Yechury said, "It is necessary to recollect that it was this very Sardar Patel who banned the RSS following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi."
He quoted a government communique of February 4, 1948, drafted by Sardar Patel banning the RSS as saying, "The objectionable and harmful activities of the Sangh have, however, continued unabated and the cult of violence sponsored and inspired by the activities of the Sangh has claimed many victims. The latest and the most precious to fall was Gandhiji himself."
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