KOLKATA: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has decided to bring out a "comprehensive charter for the advancement of the Muslim community in the socio-economic, educational and employment spheres," general secretary Prakash Karat said on Thursday. He also warned against the "newfound aggressive communal plank" the Bharatiya Janata Party had adopted.

Addressing a press conference on the completion of the party's three-day Central Committee meeting, which was preceded by a Polit Bureau meeting here, Mr. Karat said, "The BJP is falling back on what it knows best — trying to raise communal passions even though experience shows that the people have understood and rejected the party's line in the past."

"Minority baiting"

He said, "It has adopted a rabidly communal platform at its national council session in Lucknow. The hallmark of this stand is minority baiting. The BJP is playing a very dubious game with its talk of fighting terrorism which, like its stand on the execution of Afzal Guru or its attitude to the Justice Sachar Committee report, is motivated by a communal outlook."

Mr. Karat said, "The Sachar Committee report has effectively exposed the entire propaganda of the BJP about minority appeasement." The Central Committee decided to continue the party's struggle "against the manner in which Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are being set up all over the country, in which indiscriminately large tracts of land are being taken over."

Mr. Karat said, "The present rules promote real estate speculation, and the CPI(M) is working for amendments to the SEZ Act and the rules." The party also wanted a "major overhaul of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894."

The Committee felt that "the opposition in West Bengal and some other forces outside have sought to misrepresent the Singur project as an SEZ." Supporting the West Bengal Government's moves on the project, the Committee noted that the land-use policy formulated by it "should become the basis for the use of land for industrial and development projects."

The party also expressed concern over the United Progressive Alliance Government's "failure to check rising prices and the rising rate of inflation."

"The procurement policies are a shambles, and the public distribution system is affected," Mr. Karat said, regretting that the recommendations of the National Commission of Farmers were yet to be taken up.

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