RSS supported outfits used Ram Navami processions in West Bengal to fuel violence: CPIM

The CPI(M) has alleged that RSS supported outfits used the Ram Navami processions in West Bengal to enter Muslim localities and create provocations resulting in violence, and blamed the state government for not being able to thwart the "gameplan of the Hindutva forces". The latest editorial of party mouthpiece, People's Democracy, also laid the blame for the spread of the violence on the TMC government in the state.

"It is evident that the RSS supported outfits have used the Ram Navami processions in West Bengal to enter Muslim localities and create provocations outside mosques by playing loud music, shouting incendiary slogans and brandishing swords and other weapons. As a result, violence erupted in Howrah and Dalkhola where one person was killed and several others injured.

"The Mamata Banerjee government has to be blamed squarely for not taking firm measures to curb the gameplan of the Hindutva forces. It is not that they were not forewarned," it said.


The party further said that both the BJP and the TMC are complicit in the efforts to create a communal divide as they are interested in perpetuating a binary politics in the state.

Talking about the violence in Bihar, the editorial said that the current violence on Ram Navami day shows that the RSS-BJP has drawn up a gameplan to create communal polarisation to consolidate its political position.

"The recent lynching of a Muslim youth in Saran on the charge of carrying beef was a warning signal. The state government and administration should have been alert to pre-empt any communal provocations. Unlike in West Bengal, the Mahagathbandhan has been firm in countering the communal ideology and forces and this must be manifested through firm administrative measures by the government," it said.

Describing the role of the Centre as "blatantly partisan", the party said that Home Minister Amit Shah did not speak to the chief ministers of the two states but to the governors about the communal situation.

"This is a signal that the Centre expects governors to play a role overriding the elected state governments. Moreover, on a visit to Bihar, Amit Shah declared that if the BJP comes to power in the state, there would be no communal riots. He also declared that they would hang rioters upside down - a message that rioters are Muslims and would be sternly dealt with," it said.

The editorial also said that religious festivals like Ram Navami, Ganesh Chaturthi and Hanuman Jayanti are all being "weaponised to target minorities" and create communal violence and polarisation.

"The democratic and secular forces and the non-BJP state governments, in particular, should devise a strategy to counter these aggressive communal mobilisations, both politically and administratively," it said.