CPM district secretary's statement invites flak

Thiruvananthapuram: CPM district secretary P. Mohanan's statement, in which he alleged a nexus existing between Maoists and Islamists, has invited flak from various quarters including its ally, CPI.

CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran told media persons that he did not trust the communist leaders who blindly follow police versions. He said that his party is unaware of any information on what Mohanan had said.

"CPI and CPM are against UAPA at the national level. Both the parties had also already acknowledged that it was Muslim youths who are more victimised by UAPA charges than any others," the CPI leader said.

The opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala urged the government to make its stand clear on the alleged nexus between the groups. He said that it was unbecoming of a responsible person to make a statement that links terrorism with religion.

In a statement, Jamaat-e-Islami Kozhikode district committee also criticised the CPM leader's statement and said that it was part of a ploy to make a hubbub around the controversial arrests of two youths under UAPA charges.

Muslim League, SKSSF, Solidarity Youth Movement and other prominent organisations also took strong objection to the CPM leader's statement.

Muslim League state general secretary KPA Majeed said that the CPM is deceiving themselves shrouding the issue in a smokescreen. He said that the CPM is trying to divert the issue as it regrets its own act in imposing UAPA charges against its own party workers.

SDPI and Popular Front of India (PFI), whom Moahanan on Wednesday named as the parties he had in mind when he made the statement, had already observed that the CPM leader was paving the path for Hindutva forces to play up the issue.  PFI also portrayed the CPM stance in Kerala as a replica of the sangh parivar propaganda, also citing that Maoism in India had taken its origin from the very ideology represented by the left parties in the country.  And if their followers have joined Maoism, it is Communists's responsibility to resist that.

Mohanan's statements had come in the wake of widespread outcry against application of UAPA on two alleged Maoists, Thaha Fasal and Alan Suhaib, both of whom were CPM activists, and the criticism of the same across the socio-political spectrum including the Congress Party,  CPM's ally CPI,  SDPI, PFI,  Jamat-e-Islamic and Solidarity Youth Movement.