Worried over the "propaganda" that the Congress is soft on minority communalism in the country, senior leader Jairam Ramesh has said the party "cannot be selective" on the issue and suggested it should target Popular Front of India type of communalism also.
PFI or Jamaat-e-Islami type of communalism was as dangerous to India as "RSS type of communalism," he said, while echoing senior party leader and former Defence Minister A K Antony who had earlier said "we cannot be seen to be insensitive to the sentiments of the majority community."
Citing the Delhi Assembly election results and how the BJP utilised the Shaheen Bagh's anti-CAA protest to "polarise" votes, Ramesh said, "In the short run BJP has not won but the result is a disaster for the Congress party also."
Speaking on minority communalism, he said: "We have to be very clear. We should not be pandering to any religious sentiment of anybody and that is real secularism."
Reiterating that the Congress has to fight "RSS type of communalism, BJP type of communalism as also PFI and Jamaat-e-Islami type of communalism," Ramesh said "we cannot be selective, we have to be upfront, bold and say minority communalism is as dangerous to India as (much as) majority communalism is."
"This is what Jawaharlal Nehru did. He took an uncompromising stand against all forms of communalism."