Date:22/12/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/12/22/stories/2006122225270400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

CPI(M) condemns ABVP act

Staff Reporter

BANGALORE: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Committee has condemned the disruption caused by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishath (ABVP) activists at the ongoing 73rd Akhil Bharath Kannada Sahitya Sammelana in Shimoga.

The party wants the State Government to initiate strict action against those responsible for the incident.

The activists were protesting against the participation of Kalkuli Vitthal Hegde in a seminar.

In a statement here on Thursday, the CPI(M) State Committee members said the participants should have been allowed to speak at the seminar. Any difference of opinion could have been aired at a press conference.

The disruption was an act against individual freedom, they said.

The CPI(M) members said that the role of ABVP activists had given the impression that the literary meet was being turned into a BJP meeting.