Mr. Prakash Karat, General Secretary Communist Party of India (Marxist), while addressing the National Integration Council meeting held in New Delhi on September 10, said hate speech and demonisation of minorities should be illegalised. The meeting was held after a gap of nearly three years since the last NIC meeting was held in October 2008. It discussed issues related to communalism, steps to curb communal violence, discrimination against minorities, handling of civil disturbances and the radicalization of youth on the basis of religion and caste.
Referring to the figures provided by the Union Home Ministry, Mr. Karat said: “Communalism has social, political and economic dimensions… One of the main indicators of the malaise is the number of communal incidents that are taking place. In 2009, there were 791 communal incidents reported, resulting in 119 deaths and injuries to 2342 persons. In 2010, there were 658 incidents resulting in 111 deaths and injuries to 1971… Though there is a slight reduction in the number of communal incidents in the last three years, there is no cause for satisfaction or complacency.”
On the ways to combat communalism, Mr. Karat said: “The espousal of communal ideology through the educational system and other State-supported institutions is a feature in some states. All such manifestations of anti-secular and communal ideology need to be curbed. Hate speech and demonisation of the minorities should be illegalised and action taken whenever required.
“In India, a major source of terrorism is religious extremism and communal hatred. It is not enough to say “terrorists have no religion” when we know that religious extremism and communalism are the breeding grounds for terrorism. There is a direct link between communalism and terrorism in India,” he added.
Elaborating his view on terrorism in India, he said: “In the recent years, we have seen religious extremism fuelling terrorist violence. This has been the motivation for some of the Muslim extremist groups. They continue to pose a threat as seen by the gruesome attacks recently like the blasts in Mumbai in July and the bomb blast at the Delhi High Court this week. It would be wrong to ascribe terrorism to any one community alone and make them a target of communal mobilisation. The investigations into the Malegaon, Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Sharief and the Samjhauta Express terrorist attacks have found them to be the handiwork of certain extreme Hindutva groups. The task of combating terrorism can be successfully taken forward only when communalism and religious extremism are firmly checked.”