The CPI-M has accused the BJP of abandoning the slogan of 'sabka saath sabka vikas' and embracing "an open Hindutva communal-militaristic-chauvinist appeal" by fielding Pragya Singh Thakur in the Lok Sabha elections.
"This must alarm even those who still cling on to the belief that (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi stands for development," said an editorial in the CPI-M journal "People's Democracy". "There is no scope for illusions left."
The BJP's decision to field Pragya Thakur from Bhopal "is a declaration of its real platform for this election - an unapologetic hardline Hindutva with all its negative implications", it said.
Pragya Thakur is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. The chargesheet against her reveals that it was her motorcycle packed with explosives which was used to create the blast which killed six people.
"It is such a terror accused who has been made the BJP candidate in Bhopal," the editorial said. "Pragya Thakur, over the years, has made no secret of her rabid Hindutva and Muslim- hating views."
The CPI-M criticized Modi for defending her candidature.
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"Modi said that her candidature is an answer to those who 'defame the 5,000-year-old civilization that believes in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. They called them terrorists'. In an earlier speech Modi condemned those who talked of Hindu terror as insulting the Hindu community as a whole.
"The absurdity of this claim defies all reason. From Nathuram Godse to the Gujarat pogrom in 2012 to the killings of Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi and Lankesh - there is a long trail of Hindutva terror. Underlying these statements is the understanding that terrorists cannot be Hindus but only Muslims," the editorial said.
--IANS
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