04-10-2006, 02:16 AM
<b>CPI caution on BJP yatras</b>
Special Correspondent
`Bid to ensure their political survival'
The BJP is undergoing a deep ideological, political and organisational crisis, says CPI leader
D. Raja
CHENNAI: D. Raja, national secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), on Saturday cautioned the people against the Bharat Suraksha Yatra undertaken by Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh and his predecessor, L.K. Advani, as they were aimed at "creating communal tension."
Mr. Raja told reporters here that the BJP had been undergoing a deep ideological, political and organisational crisis during the last two years, particularly in the wake of the Lok Sabha elections. In order to ensure its political survival its leaders had launched these yatras, he said.
After the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power at the Centre, issues of communal politics were relegated to the background and those concerning the people such as allowing foreign direct investment into the country and disinvestment of successful, profit-making public sector undertakings started occupying centre-stage.
But the BJP wanted to project issues of "religious fundamentalism" such as Hindutva and Hindurashtra as the party had become "desperate" after it could not get support from the people, Mr. Raja said. The CPI welcomed the Centre's move to provide 27 per cent reservation for the Other Backward Classes in Central Institutions including the Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management.
Nepal movement
He also urged the UPA Government not to take any step that would legitimise the "undemocratic and anti-people" measures of King Gyanendra in Nepal.
Describing the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko as a "prisoner of circumstances," Mr. Raja said it was unfortunate that the leader who had been till recently claiming that he was responsible for the Central initiative to implement the multi-crore Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project was not in a position to speak about the scheme because of his party's ties with the AIADMK.
Special Correspondent
`Bid to ensure their political survival'
The BJP is undergoing a deep ideological, political and organisational crisis, says CPI leader
D. Raja
CHENNAI: D. Raja, national secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), on Saturday cautioned the people against the Bharat Suraksha Yatra undertaken by Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh and his predecessor, L.K. Advani, as they were aimed at "creating communal tension."
Mr. Raja told reporters here that the BJP had been undergoing a deep ideological, political and organisational crisis during the last two years, particularly in the wake of the Lok Sabha elections. In order to ensure its political survival its leaders had launched these yatras, he said.
After the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power at the Centre, issues of communal politics were relegated to the background and those concerning the people such as allowing foreign direct investment into the country and disinvestment of successful, profit-making public sector undertakings started occupying centre-stage.
But the BJP wanted to project issues of "religious fundamentalism" such as Hindutva and Hindurashtra as the party had become "desperate" after it could not get support from the people, Mr. Raja said. The CPI welcomed the Centre's move to provide 27 per cent reservation for the Other Backward Classes in Central Institutions including the Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management.
Nepal movement
He also urged the UPA Government not to take any step that would legitimise the "undemocratic and anti-people" measures of King Gyanendra in Nepal.
Describing the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko as a "prisoner of circumstances," Mr. Raja said it was unfortunate that the leader who had been till recently claiming that he was responsible for the Central initiative to implement the multi-crore Sethusamudram Ship Channel Project was not in a position to speak about the scheme because of his party's ties with the AIADMK.