CPM to sharpen attack on Sangh Parivar

Kochi: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) which leads the Left Democratic Front in the state is likely to take the cue from the impressive results of the civic poll and sharpen its attack on the Sangh Parivar in the run-up to the Assembly elections scheduled for April-May next year.

"The biggest lesson of this election is this: we cannot afford to be seen lagging in our efforts to take the Sangh Parivar head on in the state," a senior CPM leader told Deccan Chronicle. "One of the reasons why we failed in Aruvikkara byelection was that we did not concentrate on this point."

The electoral reverses the United Democratic Front has suffered in the elections can be attributed to its refusal to oppose the Sangh Parivar the way it was supposed to, he said. "Kerala is in no mood to brook communalisation of politics, and no force can survive without opposing it."

The party's state secretariat is meeting on Monday and Tuesday after which its state committee will deliberate on the poll results for three days. With the election results reaffirming that its core vote base continues to be the majority community which refused to be swayed by the emergence of a new Hindutwa force under the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, the CPM is unlikely to give in to the demand of a section of the leaders that it align with the Indian Union Muslim League.

"There will be strong resistance from the party's state leadership as well as the central leadership to any such proposal," the CPM leader said. "It could be suicidal for the party. There will be some minor gains in some regions but the party knows that it will be wiped out in the others." The party no longer plays cagey when it is asked to define the Muslim League. "We have made it clear that it is a communal force. It's a minority communal force which the Sangh Parivar can use electorally. We are very much alive to that danger."

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