Claiming that the attacks against Dalits had gone up by 17 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol. Thirumavalavan on Wednesday said that it is the duty of secularists to identify the alliance between religious and casteist forces.
Speaking at a function to mark his 54th birthday, he said, “Secularism is not just about fighting against majoritarian Hindutva forces. Secularism is also about opposing casteist forces. At a time when there is a threat to secularism enshrined in the Indian Constitution, there is a need for secular, anti-caste and anti-fascist forces to get together and fight against Hindutva groups.”
Pointing out the differences between the Hindutva politics of the 1990s and how it has evolved, the party's general secretary, D. Ravi Kumar, said, “Unlike the 90s when Hindutva ideology, driven by the upper caste, was against reservations for backward classes, today’s Hindutva has accommodated the numerically strong backward castes and has transformed into a violent force.”
CPI(M)’s State Secretary G. Ramakrishnan said the RSS had a history of collaborating with the British during the freedom struggle. “Now, an RSS pracharak is the PM of India? How will they act? Akhlaq was killed because of the hate politics of Sangh Parivar,” he added.
Speaking about the failure in the State elections, MDMK chief Vaiko said that they had lost only the battle and not the war.
