CPI (M) politburo member Brinda Karat on Monday said the Sangh Parivar is bent on disrupting this country's unity, diversity and Constitution.
"Those bent upon destroying these core strengths of India should be defeated by the people," stressed Brinda while addressing a 'Harmony Convention' organised by Dakshina Kannada unit of CPI(M) at Town Hall in Mangaluru on Monday.
Commenting on the hijab ban, Brinda said she was ashamed that girls who are breaking barriers to get educated are being asked to remove their headscarves.
She declared that the High Court's order on banning hijab was 'unfortunate' and said the Supreme Court should redress the issue.
She felt that the entire controversy over the hijab was manufactured by the ruling BJP, in order to divert people's attention from its 'failures'.
Condemning Udupi MLA Raghupathi Bhat for making provocative statements over hijab, she asked what action did the government or High Court had initiated against the MLA.
Karat said that girls and their parents should decide and no one should force a girl to wear a veil.
“But, there are some forces within the Muslim community that pressurise girls to wear a scarf. PFI, SDPI forces threaten to boycott them if they do not wear hijab,” she charged.
On the anti-conversion bill, Brinda said if B R Ambedkar was alive today, he would have been jailed by this law.
CPI (M) leader K Neela said the issue of headscarf was an issue of snatching away women's decision of choice.
DYFI state president Muneer Katipalla said that the number of communal incidents in the coastal region had increased.
"Most worrying is the civil society's silence over the increasing communal violence," he added.
'The film Kasmir Files does not show reality'
Former MP Brinda Karat later told reporters that the movie ‘The Kashmir Files’ does not reveal the reality of Kashmiriyat.
“Making it a communal issue will not help Kashmiris or anyone. There is no doubt that the chapter of history is a dark chapter. It’s not Kashmiri Pandits alone who suffered at that time. Many Muslims including a former speaker and MLAs were shot dead for fighting terrorists. Thus, to show one side in a way which creates hatred against a whole community does not serve any purpose,” she said.