The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is holding a ‘Muslim convention’ in the coastal city of Mangaluru in Karnataka between May 31 and June 1 this year, reported The News Minute. The event is organised by Karnataka (CPIM) State Committee member Muneer Katipalla.
The News Minute reported that about 2000 Muslim delegates will attend the convention. Katipalla, however, claimed that the event is not motivated by ‘identity politics’ but rather the combined ‘impact of Islamophobia and Hindutva.’
The CPIM leader also said that he received an overwhelming response in Sunni-dominated neighbourhoods. “Local mosque committees, units of the Sunni Students Federation (SSF), the Muslim Central Committee (MCC), which are liberal formations, have helped us at the panchayat and municipality level in the organising,” he remarked.
Muneer Katipalla also informed that the ‘Muslim convention’ received support in the Muslim-dominated Chokkabettu area, which happens to be the stronghold of Islamist outfit SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India). Earlier on May 5 this year, the Kerala High Court observed that the SDPI is an extremist organisation, which has not yet been banned in India.
The CPIM leader alleged that the convention is ‘about’ Muslims and not a ‘congregation’ of Muslims. “Yes, because the focus is on the problems being faced by the community, a large section of the gathering will be made up of Muslims,” he said.
“But there are others too. In our campaigning, we have also been visiting Hindus and other communities saying, ‘Attend this conference to discover how your issues and the issues of Muslims are the same in this post-pandemic apocalypse created by the BJP government,” Muneer Katipalla further stated.
CPIM the main left party that is ‘avowedly secular’ and claims to shun identity politics of the ‘RSS kind’ is planning a meet exclusively for Muslims in coastal Karnataka very shortly. 2000 Muslim delegates invited for the ‘dharam sansad’. How’s that for hypocrisy?
— Rahul Shivshankar (@RShivshankar) May 27, 2022
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is now facing criticism for planning a meeting exclusively for the Muslim community.
The CPI(M) seemed to tie itself up in knots while trying to justify its identity politics, though it has claimed to be “secular” in nature and often, boasts about its atheist credentials. It first seemed to say that their program was to counter Islamophobia and Hindutva, then they claimed that it was a congregation ABOUT Muslims and the problems they face, hence they had called Muslim delegates, further, after the criticism mounted, they claimed that they had approached Hindus too to attend the event.
It is evident that CPI (M) too is now using the Muslim persecution bogey, a mythical one, to demonise Hindus further. It does not take much to guess what the rhetoric would be when they clearly state that the conference is against “Islamophobia and Hindutva”.
“CPIM the main left party that is ‘avowedly secular’ and claims to shun identity politics of the ‘RSS kind’ is planning a meet exclusively for Muslims in coastal Karnataka very shortly. 2000 Muslim delegates invited for the ‘dharam sansad’. How’s that for hypocrisy?” tweeted Rahul Shivshankar of Times Now.
While defending the conference, Muneer Katipalla justified, “…Yes, it is a special conference where there is a special focus on Muslims. This is because of the extraordinary circumstances that have developed in the country since the BJP government came to power.”
