The CPI(M)’s Politburo has expressed “deep concern” at the VHP’s “Ram Raj Rath Yatra”, flagged off on Tuesday in Ayodhya.

A party statement said the yatra has an “incendiary potential” to sharpen communal polarisation in favour of the BJP. “There are grave implications of possibilities for stoking communal tensions, violence and mayhem,” it said.

The yatra seeks to retrace the supposed route of Rama to Sri Lanka. The organisers have declared that the main agenda of the yatra is to administer a pledge to the people for the construction of Ram temple at the disputed land in Ayodhya.

The CPI(M) statement said the yatra is taking place even though the Supreme Court is still hearing petitions on the dispute. “The route of the yatra proceeds through BJP ruled States of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, spending nearly a fortnight in Karnataka, where Assembly elections are due, then proceeding via Kerala to reach Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu,” it added.

The CPI(M) asked the Centre and State governments to strengthen the law and order apparatus to ensure that communal peace is not disturbed and individual right to life and liberty is not violated. “The Politburo calls upon all secular and peace-loving forces to expose the sinister designs of communal mobilisation by the RSS/BJP,” it added.

The draft political resolution of the CPI(M) released on Tuesday had analysed that the last four years have seen the unfolding of the blueprint of the RSS utilising state power to infiltrate Sangh personnel in key positions in various institutions of the State. “Most of the Governors of States appointed are BJP-RSS men, some of whom utilise their positions to advocate the communal agenda. Constitutional bodies are being subverted from within. BJP and RSS leaders openly express their desire to change the Constitution,” it said.

It added that while the Hindutva agenda is imposed from above by the Centre, at the ground level, the RSS-led Hindutva outfits have a free run. “With a view to target the Muslims, gau rakshak gangs set upon cattle traders or farmers and conduct lynch-mob attacks. There have been over thirty killings on the issue of cow slaughter or beef in the past three years in these fascistic-type attacks. The BJP-RSS state governments openly patronise and back cow vigilantes. Targeting Muslims for ‘love jihad’ and branding them as ‘anti-national’ are other instruments used by the Hindutva brigade to create communal polarisation,” it added.

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