The Hindu : `Majority fundamentalism is the problem'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 24, 2002

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National

`Majority fundamentalism is the problem'

By K.V. Prasad

HYDERABAD MARCH 23. The problem of fundamentalism and the need to tackle it in the wake of the situation in West Bengal has led the CPI(M) to articulate its standpoint on the issue.

"Minority fundamentalism is dangerous but it is majority fundamentalism that is creating problems,'' the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said at a meet-the-press programme organised by the Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists, here today.

Problems posed by fundamentalism and ways to tackle it became a contentious issue after the West Bengal Government sought to bring a bill to tackle organised crime which the CPI(M) felt should be kept in abeyance since it was being likened by the Bharatiya Janata Party to the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance.

Mr. Bhattacharjee today admitted that the much-needed law to tackle organised crime in the State had been put on hold due to POTO and underlined the differences between the two.

He said that unlike POTO, the proposed law to prevent organised crime would be applicable only in case of serious crimes such as hijacking, kidnapping and armed insurgency, and had adequate safeguards.

The State, he said, was facing problems from organisations such as ULFA, KLO and PWG. "We need laws to check them, but it is not POTO,'' he said.

The CPI(M) leader said the activities of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal members were comparable to those of organisations such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Just as a majority of Hindus were patriotic and not ``enemies of the country'' a majority of the Muslims were patriots and only a small section like the LeT were anti-national.

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