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CPI(M) condemns Adilabad killings

KOLKATA: The CPI(M) central committee on Sunday strongly condemned the killing of six members of a Muslim family, including three children and a woman, who were burnt alive at Bhaisha in Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh.

“This killing of a Muslim family is the latest act of violence in the town which has altogether seen 10 people dead in the last 48 hours,” a statement issued here said.

“The RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] and the communal elements provoked the trouble while a Dusshera procession was being taken out. It is surprising that the attack on the house [of the family that was set ablaze] has taken place even after curfew was imposed. The central committee demands that the Andhra Pradesh government take immediate steps for the protection of the minorities and to provide adequate compensation to those affected by communal violence in Adilabad district,” it added.

The forging of a third alternative opposed to both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance at the national level will be discussed, among other matters, at the three-day meeting of the central committee, which began here.

The issue of a third force comprising the Left and like-minded parties gains significance in view of the coming Lok Sabha elections. The political situation in the country will be reviewed and programmes to be taken up by the CPI(M) in its preparations for the polls will figure in the course of the deliberations, it is learnt.

Also to come under the scanner will be the negative implications on the country’s sovereignty of the recently signed India-United States nuclear deal that, the party leadership believes, has bound the nation in a manner tantamount to its surrender of interests to the U.S. Ways to organise a concerted political struggle against the signing of the 123 Agreement anchored in the Hyde Act are also expected to figure in the discussions.

The CPI(M) leadership has been critical of the recent incidents of atrocities against minorities instigated by the Sangh Parivar in certain parts of the country, including in Orissa and Karnataka.

A strategy to counter the forces out to disrupt the development process which are responsible for the shifting of Tata Motors’ Nano project from Singur will be discussed at the meeting, it is further learnt. The CPI(M) has already announced a State-wide campaign in response to the Opposition’s disruptive tactics to derail development.

The effects of the upheavals in the global financial system on the national economy are also likely to be discussed.

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