6 Dec 2011 March Against Communalism, For Secularism and Democracy in New Delhi

Press Release

To Mark 6 December,
CPI(ML) Holds March Against Communalism, For Secularism and Democracy

New Delhi, 6 December

On 6 December, marking the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, the CPI(ML) held a March Against Communalism, For Secularism and Democracy. Participants – including students, teachers, workers, women and intelligentsia – marched from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar, raising slogans and displaying placards and banners demanding action against the perpetrators of communal violence and fake encounters.
At Jantar Mantar, the march culminated in a public meeting. Addressing the public meeting, Kavita Krishnan, Central Committee member of CPI(ML), said the date 6 December stands out as a dark day for India’s democracy. On that day, in 1992, the Babri Masjid was demolished by the communal forces and BJP leaders in full public view – while the police and Central Government headed by the Congress stood as a mute spectator. Today, nearly two decades later, even after the Liberhans commission of enquiry held LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and many other BJP leaders guilty for the demolition, the UPA Government lacks the political will to take any action against them.

Girija Pathak of CPI(ML) said, “The Babri Masjid demolition was a result of an organized political campaign of communal hatred by the saffron forces. Today, that organized political campaign of communal violence and hatred continues in many forms. In Gujarat in 2002, the Modi Government sponsored riots that killed thousands of minorities. Senior police officers who gave evidence of CM Narendra Modi’s role in that violence have been victimized. The Modi Government has also been implicated in a series of fake encounters.” Pointing out the recent SIT finding that the ‘encounter’ of a 19-year-old girl, Ishrat Jahan, was a cold-blooded murder by police officers, Sandeep said it was ironic that the Central Government, headed by the Congress, was uniting with the Modi Government to brand Ishrat as a terrorist.

General Secretary of AISA Ravi Rai spoke of how nine innocent Muslim men were framed, jailed and tortured in the Malegaon blast case, before Swami Aseemanand’s confession proved that the Malegaon bomb blasts had been done by the saffron forces. Only recently, these men were granted bail, but there has been no move to compensate them or redress the injustice done to them. JNU unit President of AISA Akbar Chaudhary said that the Malegaon case is a reminder of how common it is for communally biased investigative and police agencies to frame innocent Muslim youth in terror cases. In Delhi, too, the Congress Government has refused to allow a judicial enquiry into the Batla House ‘encounter’ – though there are ample indications that the ‘encounter’ was fake.

Senior Journalist Anand Pradhan, Social activist Mehtab, AISA leader from Jamia Naseem and from DU, Anmol, and many other also addressed the gathering. They emphasised on the Congress party and UPA Government's betrayal to the cause of secularism and justice, repeatedly. The latest instance is the UPA Government’s vacillation on the question of passing the Communal Violence Bill, which is intended to fight the communal biases embedded in the police force. The BJP, he said, is trying to whip up a communal campaign against the Bill. And the Congress, instead of defending and enacting the Bill, is dragging its feet.

Prabhat Kumar and Rajaram, Central Committee members of CPI(ML) and Sanjay Sharma, Delhi State Secretary, CPI(ML) led the procession. The meeting ended with a call to the people of the country to reject and resist the communal forces, as well as communally biases in police and government, and expose the doublespeak of the Congress on the question of defending secularism and democracy.