Vijayaraghavan stirs up yet another row

Remarks on minority, majority communalism

February 18, 2021 07:35 pm | Updated 11:40 pm IST - Kozhikode

The Vikasana Munnetta Yatra led by the Left Democratic Front convener and Communist Party of India (Marxist) acting secretary A. Vijayaraghavan being accorded a reception when it reached Kallachi near Nadapuram in Kozhikode on Thursday.

The Vikasana Munnetta Yatra led by the Left Democratic Front convener and Communist Party of India (Marxist) acting secretary A. Vijayaraghavan being accorded a reception when it reached Kallachi near Nadapuram in Kozhikode on Thursday.

Left Democratic Front (LDF) convener and Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] acting State secretary A. Vijayaraghavan has whipped up a storm yet again with a comment that minority communalism is the most extremist form of communalism.

Mr. Vijayaraghavan made the statement while being accorded a reception when the northern leg of the Vikasana Munnetta Yatra he is leading entered Kozhikode district at Mukkom on Wednesday evening. But he had also maintained that the solution to minority communalism was not supporting majority communalism.

On Thursday, however he retracted his statement saying that he had commented that majority communalism was more dangerous than minority communalism. He also averred that majority communalism was more dangerous as it had an influence of power. He also blamed a section of the media for twisting his words.

Last month, the CPI(M) State secretariat had asked Mr. Vijayaraghavan to exercise caution after his alleged communal remark referring to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the Panakkad family in Malappuram kicked up a controversy.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala termed the comment of Mr. Vijayaraghavan as the language of the RSS. What BJP State president K. Surendran said in the morning, Mr. Vijayaraghavan repeated in the afternoon, he said.

Reacting to the statement, IUML State general secretary K.P.A. Majeed said the LDF convener’s statements pointed to the CPI(M)’s communal agenda while party general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty said the concealed communalism of the CPI(M) was coming out publicly over and over again.

At the same time, Mr. Surendran said that Mr. Vijayaraghavan had been always deceiving the poor sections of the Hindu community through his statements. He had to withdraw his statement when he criticised the Panakkad Thangals. Now his statement on minority communalism did not last even for 24 hours, Mr. Surendran added.

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