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The editorial in the latest issue of People’s Democracy accuses the BJP of going back to its...

The editorial in the latest issue of People’s Democracy accuses the BJP of going back to its ‘communal politics’. It says “India’s social fabric is distinguished by its vast plurality and rich diversity. The interests of our country can be protected and strengthened only when this fact is not merely recognised but accepted. It is precisely this that the BJP refuses to accept. Further, the strength of any country, especially under a parliamentary democracy, lies in how well and competently are the interests of the minorities protected. The measure of the success of democracy is the rising index of the welfare of the minorities…

“The Sachar Committee findings have comprehensively nailed the lie of the BJP’s vicious campaign of ‘minority appeasement’. Thus, despite one of their important planks of communal polarisation being exposed, the BJP is now opposing any measure to improve the welfare of the minorities by advancing, once again, the very logic of minority appeasement…

“This must be seen as a part of the larger strategy being employed currently by the RSS/BJP and its affiliates, i.e., the return to the basics. The anointment of L.K. Advani as their future prime minister (presuming that they are ever able to win a general election), is central to this strategy. The effort is to recall the memory of the infamous ‘rath yatra’ led by Advani in the early ’90s preceding the demolition of the Babri Masjid, with the hope that this will help consolidate the Hindu vote bank. The BJP’s hardcore Hindutva campaign in the recent elections in Gujarat led by Narendra Modi and the venomous speeches of their leaders highlighting the three core issues of the Hindutva agenda — construction of the temple at Ayodhya; uniform civil code; and the abolition of Article 370 — in the Himachal Pradesh election campaign only confirms this.”

US and Iran

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The CPM continues to criticise the US for its Iran policy. An article ‘West Asia, the new US backyard’, says, “However, the issue for the US is not nuclear Iran; that is the pretext for war hysteria. The real issue is regime change in Iran. Therefore the sanctions have to be kept in place and military strikes threatened, if not executed. That is why Bush now insists that Iran pursuing ‘knowledge’ on nuclear issues is the threat! This is in an age where the knowledge to make the hydrogen bomb is available on the Internet. In any case, if Iran has to stop its quest for knowledge as Bush insists, what should it do, shut down its physics and mathematics departments? All connections to the Internet? At a more serious level, the attempt is to re-engineer the NPT arrangement and deny fuel enrichment technology to countries that the US does not like. The US vision is a new arrangement where fuel enrichment will be restricted to a small cartel created by the US and that will control the global nuclear energy sector. And in this, there is a rare unanimity in the US nuclear establishment, including those who are opposing military strikes on Iran.”

Organisation lessons

A nine-member study group headed by Zhang Guolong, Director General of Organisation Bureau, Organisation Department, CPC Central Committee, met with the CPM leadership at AKG Bhavan on December 17 and held lengthy discussions, reports People’s Democracy.

The CPM was represented in the discussions by Politburo member S. Ramachandran Pillai, central secretariat members Hari Singh Kang and V. Srinivasa Rao. “The delegation sought to understand from the CPI(M) leadership the methods of party building; the relations between the party, the government and the parliament; building a strong party membership; building of grass-roots organisations, organisational system and leading mechanisms of the party; implementation of policies of the party and relevant methods from organisational perspective”, says the report.