Sonia's veiled attack on BJP

NEW DELHI: With communal violence in Orissa as also Amarnath land row apparently in her mind, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has made a veiled attack on BJP for using religion for political purposes and said this went against the Constitution.
          
"The use of religion for political purposes, often blatantly encouraged by established political parties, goes against the basic principles of our Constitution," she said in a letter to Congressmen without naming any political party.
    
The use of religion for political purposes stands opposed to India's own tradition of cultual plurality, she said in the latest issue of Congress publication "Sandesh".
        
"The problems of poverty, illiteracy and discrimination affect members of every community and need to be addressed by all political parties. None must be allowed to play politics with poverty or religion," she said.
       
Gandhi said any attempt to disrupt communal harmony in any part of the country and create hatred and distrust between communities must be resisted by everyone.
    
"This now constitutes the biggest threat to national unity. Communal harmony is also necessary if we are to deny terrorists their aim of creating disharmony to destabilise the country", she said.