Alleging that the Sangh Parivar is behind the recent attempt to set its State office in Bengaluru on fire, Communist Party of India (CPI) national general secretary D. Raja on Friday demanded the State Home Department to immediately initiate suitable action against those involved.
The CPI State headquarters situated at Vyalikaval in the city was attacked on Wednesday by a group of men who set fire to six bikes parked on the office premises. Two of the bikes were completely gutted, while the others were partially damaged. Party posters stocked in the godown too were also reduced to ashes.
Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Raja said, “We strongly believe that the Sangh Parivar is behind this mischief. We have registered an FIR. Although the police have the CCTV camera footage of the area surrounding the office, they are yet to identify and nail the culprits.”
Pointing out that a year ago the CPI office at Bantwal in Dakshina Kannada was also set on fire by Sangh Parivar members, he said, “They have now repeated the offence against the CPI in the wake of our peaceful and persistent agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).”
He demanded that Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa should bring the vandals to the book. “The BJP and the RSS cannot terrorise the CPI by attacking its office. We were part of the Indian freedom movement and have done supreme sacrifice. If we can defeat the British Raj, we can defeat the BJP Raj too. It is only a matter of time,” he said.
“The BJP has started paying the price for its divisive politics: the party could not form government in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah should read the writing on the wall. People will not tolerate subversion of the Constitution and communal politics,” he said.
Nationwide campaign
Mr. Raja said the Left parties were compelled to take up a weeklong nationwide campaign against the Centre as the Constitution, democracy, and unity and integrity of the country were under attack. The Left parties on Thursday announced that they would carry out the campaign from January 1.
The CPI leader said his party had also decided to extend its solidarity and support to the trade unions and farmers’ organisations, which have given a call for a countrywide strike and ‘gramin bandh’ on January 8.
The objective behind the campaign is to expose the wrongdoings of the government on the issue of the CAA, the NRC, and the National Population Register.
The campaign also aims to oppose the retrograde and anti-people economic policies of the Modi government, he added.
