Banning organisation not the solution, need to isolate them politically: Sitaram Yechury

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday said banning organisations like the Popular Front of India (PFI) was not a solution and the better option was to isolate them politically and take firm administrative action against their criminal activities.

Hitting back at BJP chief J P Nadda for alleging that Kerala, ruled by his party-led LDF being a "hotspot of terrorism", Yechury asked the former to tell the RSS to stop "retaliatory killings" and allow the state administration to take action against extremist organisations.

The communist veteran also said if Nadda wants to prevent Kerala from becoming a hotspot of terrorism and fringe elements, then "sharpening communal polarisation, spreading hate and terror and bulldozer politics" was not the answer.

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He also said making allegations was easy, but proof has to be shown to substantiate the same if they want the state administration to act. Yechury, speaking to reporters, said the tactics of bulldozer politics and communal polarisation only serve to create an atmosphere for the growth of extremist organisations and their activities.

"The BJP president says Kerala is a hotspot of terrorism. If he wants to stop this kind of terrorism, he must tell the RSS to stop its retaliatory killings. Let the state administration take action. State administration will take firm action against extremist organisations, be it Popular Front of India (PFI) or anybody else."

"The politics of sharpening communal polarisation, of spreading hatred and terror and bulldozer politics was not the answer to strengthening secular democratic foundations of India. It only serves to create an atmosphere for growth of extremist organisations and their activities," he said.

The solution he offered was not a ban, but "politically isolating" such organisations and administratively taking very firm action against their criminal or illegal activities. "A ban is not a solution to tackle this problem.

We have seen what our own experience and India's experience has been. RSS was banned thrice after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination. Has anything stopped? The polarisation campaigns of hate and terror, anti-minoritism, genocide of minorities, all these continue," he alleged.

"We have also seen a ban on CPI (Maoist). Even today the security forces are at loggerheads with them and the two continue to battle each other in certain parts of the country. We have to politically isolate such forces which spread extremism and terror tactics and administratively take firm action against their criminal activities. That is the manner in which this has to be tackled," he said.

The Centre on Wednesday banned PFI, alleged to be involved in several violent and terror incidents and having "links" with global terror groups like ISIS, along with its several associates for five years following the second round of crackdown against its leaders. Yechury also said the growth of extremism based on religious polarisation has to end along with the "patronage" that nurtures it.

"That is why we are calling upon all organisations to desist from sharpening communal polarisation and spreading hate and hate campaigns and we are committed to politically isolating such forces," he added.

Yechury said the Kerala CPI(M) leaders were not against ban on PFI, they were only saying that if PFI was being banned, so should RSS. "Same logic should apply to everybody," he said. He said the fact of the matter was that bans have not really worked in the past.

"The same people can work with a different name or a different organisation. We have seen that happen. You banned SIMI. Have they not started another one," he asked.