Cong, Left should keep away from communal forces: Setalvad

The latest political trend, where mainstream parties were striking "questionable" alliances with communal forces for the sake of electoral benefits, would severely affect the stability of the country in the long run, noted Human Rights activist Teesta Setalvad said here on Saturday.

"It is astonishing to see major political parties freely joining hands with extremist groups to gain electoral mileage thereby threatening the very democratic set-up of the nation," she said at programme organised by the Calicut Press Club.

Accusing the Left parties in Kerala for aligning with "extremist" outfits like the PDP and the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Congress for accepting support of another "fundamentalist" group NDF, now rechristened as Popular Front of India, the Human Rights activist asked, "How the Marxists are now going to defend their ideologies?"

The Left democratic forces in the country were always known for initiating mass movements supporting social cause and by willing to join hands with PDP and Jamaat-e-Islami, they were degrading from their high standards of principle, she said.

"It is quite unfortunate to see LDF calling Jamaat-e-Islami a cultural organisation when the latter itself is not prepared to declare so," Setalvad said.

The "communal" BJP would benefit the most during the polls due to the "pro-communal" stand being adopted by both the Congress and the Left, she added.

Not willing to agree with the Left's claims that it was only taking the PDP's support and had not accepted it into its fold, Setalvad asked "why did the Left's realisation (to seek PDP's support) came just two or three weeks before the polls?".

Referring to the violent incidents that shook states like Gujarat and Orissa, she said "history has taught us this is not the way to go about in a democratic set-up. The unfortunate compromises for short-term benefits will lead to irreparable damages in the long-term".

Since both the UPA and NDA were already tried at the Centre, Setalvad said `a healthy Third Front will be very good for the country'. But, she said the Third Front in existence had no principles and was formed only for political gains.

Blaming Varun Gandhi for his reported provocative speech, she said the BJP had been engaging in such acts since long. `The Ram temple issue has been raised by it during every election since 1990s', she said.

The electorate would do well to take note of the sudden shifts in stand of every political party, she said, adding the nation was heading for more dangers as the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls, though quite unpredictable, was unlikely to result in the formation of a Government that would fight to wipe out communal forces.