The congress will have extensive discussions on “social issues” in the light of the Sachar Committee report suggesting empowerment of the community.
NEW DELHI: The Nandigram violence, mystery death of Rizwanur Rahman and controversial Bangla author Taslima Nasreen’s stay in Bengal have put the CPI(M) in a spot as far its Muslim constituency is concerned.
Worried over losing the community’s support, especially after the recent carnage in Muslim-dominated Nandigram, the five-day CPI(M) congress from March 29 at Coimbatore is expected to direct party-ruled states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura to take a slew of steps to woo the minority.
The congress will have extensive discussions on “social issues” in the light of the Sachar Committee report suggesting empowerment of the community.
Sources said apart from CPI(M)-ruled states, the Marxists will try to persuade non-BJP states, where it hopes to expand base, to take steps to improve the lot of Muslims.
Ironically, the Sachar report highlights the deplorable socio-economic plight of Muslims in West Bengal as well. Even since the committee submitted its report, the CPI(M) has been clamouring for its implementation.
Both in West Bengal and Kerala with sizeable Muslim population, the party has been trying its best to woo Muslims. In Bengal early this year, the comrades suffered a setback in the wake of the Singur and Nandigram flare-ups, with Muslim groups turning against the party cadre who tormented villagers protesting land acquisition.
The CPI(M) has since gone hyper on the Sachar Committee recommendations. It has set up an in-house committee headed by Lok Sabha MP Mohd Salim to fine-tune the strategy to empower Muslims.
Politburo member Brinda Karat and Salim slammed the Centre a few days ago saying it was not serious about implementing the Sachar report and whatever steps it had announced were “tokenism”.
But Nandigram-II this month, the alleged murder of Rizwanur at the behest of a businessman close to the West Bengal CPI(M) brass and the protest against Taslima Nasreen’s stay in Kolkata by Muslim groups have unnerved party bosses.
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