THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Notwithstanding the growing demand to ban communal outfits in the wake of the recent political killings in Palakkad, the CPM on Tuesday said it is not in favour of such a move. Banning an outfit would not kill the underlying ideology, said CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
“A ban on terror outfits is impractical. These outfits toe certain ideologies and if banned, they would crop up under another name. SDPI has seen such transformation. Society should isolate such outfits,” he said.
On BJP’s demand to ban SDPI, Kodiyeri said, “In such a case, should RSS not be the first outfit to be banned? They carried out worse terror acts, like the demolition of Babri Masjid and assassination of Mahatma Gandhi,” Kodiyeri said while briefing reporters on the CPM state committee meet decisions on Tuesday.
“Such outfits should be politically exposed. The threat they pose can be addressed only through secular campaigns,” he said. Kodiyeri also accused the RSS and SDPI of trying to gain mileage through the murders. “Both majority and minority communal forces are indulging in blame game. The Sangh Parivar created a sense of insecurity among minorities and SDPI is trying to cash in on this. However, this will only help strengthen majority communalism,” he said.
He rejected criticisms against the state government for intelligence failure. “These were planned killings. So there’s no point in alleging security lapse,” he said. Kodiyeri alleged that UDF failed to condemn the killings in Palakkad. He said RSS and SDPI were trying to create communal tension through polarisation. “The Sangh Parivar has been unleashing violence against Muslims across the country. These are not isolated incidents. RSS plans to create communal tensions ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. CPM will organise mass campaigns against communal forces across the state on April 25 and 26. Procession and public meetings will be held,” he said.