The Hindu

Mangalore, Oct 26: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has said that the State Government was under the grip of mine, real estate, liquor, and education mafias. It has accused the ruling party of setting a bad precedent by engineering political defections.

The speakers at the two-day meeting of the party’s State committee here charged the Government with resorting to political vendetta. It was preoccupied with transfers of officials, snatching of lands from farmers to create “land bank” and supporting attacks on religious minorities. The CPI (M) decided to observe November 1 as “Sauharda Karnataka Rajyotsava” to foster communal harmony in the State.

The CPI(M) State secretariat member and general secretary of the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) V.G.K. Nair said that people were losing faith in the Government because of misrule. Secessionist forces were gaining strength, he said, releasing a statement comprising excerpts of the deliberations.

The statement said that the “Operation Kamala” (lotus) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was a mockery of democracy. The ruling party was engineering defections even at gram panchayats’ level. After pulling seven legislators from rival parties into its fold, the BJP had now set its eye on former Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah, it said.

The ruling party was criticised for transferring more than 1,000 police officials. Transfers could not take place without the concurrence of Chief Minister under the new dispensation. Transfers involved transaction of crores of rupees, even as some officials confided privately that this was the most corrupt Government, the statement said.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa had taken the oath of office in the name of farmers but their lands were being acquired to create “land bank” for industrialists, ignoring opposition from people. The Government was considering amending the laws relating to land tax which could only lead to displacement of farmers.

The Government had resorted to politics of revenge by arresting former Minister Diwakas Babu and ordering a probe into the activities of former Deputy Chief Minister M.P. Prakash.

Alleging that Home Minister V.S. Acharya was behind the attacks on Christian prayer halls, the leaders of CPI(M) said that police had acted like Bajarang Dal activists and damaged furniture and fixtures in prayer halls. The Chief Minister failed to visit prayer halls during his two visits to the city. He defended the rioters by saying that forcible conversions were the cause for the attacks.

Nair said that the party would organise jathas from Karwar, Bababudangiri and Basavakalyan in Bidar district and to Bangalore on December 22 to foster communal harmony. A meeting would be held in Mangalore on November 7 in this regard, he said.