The Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya is scheduled for January 22. On the same day, the ruling Trinamool Congress plans to organise a rally in Kolkata which will have people from all walks of life plus religious leaders from all faiths, and cover different shrines, before culminating in Park Circus Maidan.
Yechury made the remarks during his visit to the state capital to lay the foundation stone of the Jyoti Basu Centre for Social Studies and Research at New Town in Kolkata. Wednesday also marked the 15th death anniversary of Marxist patriarch and former Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu. “Every party has the right to undertake its campaign for protecting communal harmony. But by the name of such a campaign, there should not be any competitive communalism. There should not be any political polarisation,” he said.
“Our Constitution guarantees the right to practise and propagate religious beliefs. There has to be a principle that the state shall not profess a religion; not that if you go to one temple, I will go to another,” Yechury said.
The CPI(M) had earlier announced that the foundation stone would be laid by Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar. However, as he couldn’t come, he sent a message. In his message, Kumar wrote: “I regret that I will not be able to attend in person on the 357th Prakash Parva of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Maharaj due to pre-scheduled participation in the events taking place at Patna, his birthplace,” he further wrote.
Citing the common past of West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand, he said: “We have a common heritage. The efforts made by Jyoti Babu as the Chief Minister of Bengal for the development of villages and the upliftment of the poor will be remembered forever. Under his leadership, the Panchayati Raj and Municipalities Act implemented in Bengal became a model for the country. Jyoti Da will always remain a source of inspiration for political-social workers like us.”
However, there was speculation over the reasons behind Kumar’s absence in the rally. A senior JD (U) leader said, “One possible reason behind Nitish Kumar cancelling his Kolkata trip could be that he does not want to further antagonise West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee by attending a CPI(M) function.”
Another JD (U) leader claimed that the Bihar CM had been staying away from any function of the INDIA bloc till there was a cumulative decision to hold any joint rally. “Our leader would not do anything that may cause further strain in the INDIA bloc. We are anyway not too happy with the Congress for embarking on its own yatra and putting the INDIA bloc qgenda on the backburner,” said the leader.