CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday alleged that BJP’s claim of extending NRC across the country after Assam is part of its communal agenda. He further alleged that BJP and RSS were trying to establish a “reign of terror” and destroy the secular fabric of the country, by trying to implement the NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).
“The BJP government at the Centre is claiming to extend the NRC across the country. It is part of their communal agenda and is solely aimed at polarisation,” said Yechury. He was speaking at a conference in Kolkata held to commemorate the 100 years of undivided Communist Party of India (CPI).
Yechury also accused the Centre of targeting a certain section of the people to further their strategy of polarisation.
Pointing out that the BJP government has left out Muslims from the religious communities who are eligible for citizenship in the proposed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019, Yechury said that it was a “total violation of the Constitution.”
He also said that the BJP, in a bid to uphold its ideology of Hindu Nationalism, was trying to replace the features of Indian nationalism which is rooted in the freedom struggle.
“The communal forces are becoming more and more active and are trying to incite communal tension across the country,” said Yechury.
Earlier in the day, the first half of the two-day-long CPM state committee meeting was held in the city.
CPM sources revealed that during the meeting, the issue of how to strengthen the party’s rickety organisation in the state came up. The state leadership also discussed how to counter the twin challenge of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and a resurgent BJP.
They also said that the question of reviving the CPM’s alliance with Congress in Bengal is expected to come up in the meeting.