Minorities raise their voice against Yogi Adityanath, BJP

Minorities in India are raising their voice against the saffron forces, as direct and veiled threats to them appear to surface in the form of speeches and tweets.

While the Indian Union Muslim League, recognised by the Election Commission of India as a state party in Kerala, knocked on EC's door “against the malicious tweet of Yogi Adityanath that the 'Muslim League is a virus'”, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India's Council for Laity stopped short of calling for a vote against the BJP.

“Communalism poses a major threat to the peace and harmony in the country... government must respect the sacred days and celebrations of all religions for better communal and religious harmony,” it said, and urged people to “pray earnestly for an ideal government that will fulfill our aspirations”.

Taking strong exception to Adityanath's tweet, P.K. Kunhalikutty, the national general secretary of the IUML, said in a statement on Saturday that his party did not need “a certificate about its nationalist or patriotic credentials from any quarters including Yogi Adityanath”.

He has urged the Election Commission to “take appropriate action against such forces who are out to tarnish the image and secular credentials of the IUML”.

The IUML secretary reminded “these forces which are facing certain political defeat at the hands of our liberal, secular democratic common people, that their agenda of creating divisive politics in the country will not succeed”.

The CBCI Council for Laity discussed the forthcoming general elections and discussed joblessness, agricultural distress, challenges to the Catholic faith in the country, violation of constitutional rights and denial of minority welfare schemes to Christians, growing danger of communalism, challenges to educational institutions, hospitals, orphanages, attacks on churches and reservation for dalit Christians.

Divisive talk along majoritarian lines also came up when Congress president Rahul Gandhi filed his nomination papers from Wayanad—a district in Kerala with mixed demographies.