Taking a serious note of tagging the people from the North East states of India as ‘immigrants’ in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Vision Document, Communist Party of India (CPI) Manipur State Council has reacted by terming the party as ‘communal force’.
The page 14 of the 20-page long Vision Document of BJP that had been launched recently in connection with the Delhi Assembly election reads ‘North Eastern Immigrants to be protected, Special Cells in all Police Stations and special 24 hour helpline numbers to be setup for the protection of the North Eastern People living in Delhi. To safeguard the Students of N.E. Origin, special guardianships will be arranged with local families for them.’
Speaking to Imphal Times, Dr Moirangthem Nara Singh, Secretary of CPI state Council said that this is a poisonous statement and manifestation of their inner feeling- Hindutva.
Various ethnic groups of people are living in the northeastern part of the county. The BJP has a hidden agenda to covert these small communities into Hinduism, and branding of north east people as non-Indians is the indication of their hidden agenda, Nara added.
“Considering the people of northeast as outsiders is very dangerous this will arrive at a grave situation. And BJP should immediately stop issuing of such statement here after,” the communist leader demanded.
Refuting BJP’s clarification of the controversial word as ‘typical mistake’, he said that this is not a typo; how a typist could write without instruction from the party authority? This could undermine the ‘Unity and Diversity’ of India.
Regarding BJP’s announcement to set up special cells in all police stations and special 24 hour helpline numbers for the protection of north east people living in the national capital, Nara said that all these are double standards of the party and a show to pacify the anguish of the people from the region.
When asked about the party’s stand on communalism, he said “We (CPI) are already fighting against the communalism of the saffron party, it is the party that called Nathuram Godse as patriot, who killed Mahatama Gandhi- father of the nation.
