CPM leaflet on extremism blamed for adding fuel to disrupted communal fabric

Thiruvananthapuram: Even before the receding of the communal fire revolving around Pala Bishop's controversial remarks targeting the Muslim community, the ruling CPM in Kerala has fired a salvo adding fuel to the already charged atmosphere by warning its cadres about some minority extremists' elements at work in professional colleges.

In a leaflet circulated among speakers at meetings of its branch and local-level committees, the CPM cautioned that Islamist extremist outfits that support Taliban are working to tempt young educated women to join extremism and fundamentalism. It also expressed apprehension about rising communal influence among Christians.

The leaflet also urged the student and the youth fronts to pay cautious and special attention to this issue.

Responding to Pala Bishop Kallarangatt's terms 'Narcotic and Love Jihad' targeting the Muslim community and its ripples in the state, CPM-party state secretary Vijayaraghavan said that communalism has many faces that will work in many forms and the CPM is committed to fighting increasing communalism.

The CPM note further said that the minorities felt insecurity due to the RSS activities and Muslim extremist outfits are trying to infiltrate community organisations to foment trouble that the discussions supporting the Taliban, contrary to the stand adopted by a majority of the Muslim communities, is a matter that should be taken seriously.

After the pamphlet distribution at the party meetings on Thursday, CPM leader and state cooperation minister V N Vasavan visited Catholic Bishop Joseph Kallarangatt who made the controversial statement akin to hate speech, a punishable crime under various sections of the law. However, he did not visit any representative of the Muslim community.

After the visit, Minister Vasavan described the Bishop as an innocuous person, a person who has in-depth knowledge of different religious scripts. He said the visit was with good intention, unlike Congress leaders who visited the Bishop with ulterior political motives.

Reacting to the CPM's note, the BJP and the Catholic Bishops Conference of India said that it vindicates what they have been saying for years.

While the Catholic Bishops Conference of India laity council secretary, Advocate V C Sebastian, said that the note justifies what Bishop Kallarangatt had stated about extremism, BJP state president K Surendran said the CPM leaflet attests what the BJP has been saying for at least a decade.

Surendran reiterated that it is a known fact that young women have been trapped in love jihad and used for extremism to which CPM was seen reluctant to openly admit.

Meanwhile, the BJP's former president C K Padmanabhan has a different view from the party president. Padmanabhan believes that fundamentalism and extremism should not be attached to any religion that Bishop's remarks should not be taken seriously.

The opposition leader in the Assembly and Congress leader V D Satheesan slammed the CPM for its leaflet and demanded the party should provide proof for the serious allegations in it. It is the responsibility of the ruling party to reveal such elements, he added.