CPM's atheism in school text triggers mass protest

Two years in power in god's own country, the Left parties of Kerala have instigated a civil war in their bid to poison young minds with atheism and anti-religious sentiments. Almost each and every town is ablaze with people protesting against the controversial class seven social studies textbook that teaches class war and anti-religious propaganda.

Hindus, Christians and Muslims have jointly and separately launched protest movements. The youth wings of the Opposition parties are demonstrating daily. The Left Front Government is equally adamant saying it will not withdraw the textbook. Instead it has appointed a pro-Left committee to examine the objections. But what the public really wants is the wholesale removal of the textbook because of its clear anti-religion stand and class-war perspective of all historic events.

As the protests increase the Marxists have let loose their youth activists and have ordered the State police to crush the movement with a heavy hand. As a result blood is flowing in the streets of many cities and towns. Even journalists haven't been spared and the offices of some of the most read newspapers in the State have been vandalised. The police waited for several days to take any action against these hooligans and when ultimately it did the charges were frivolous and trivial.

Meanwhile, there is growing concern in the State that Ministers are trying to take over temple administration boards and thus interfere with age-old traditions. Many Hindu organisations have expressed concerns over delays in starting preparations for the winter Sabarimala pilgrimage. The Marxist Minister in charge of temple affairs, Mr G Sudhakaran, wants total control over the Devaswam Board. The fight between the two is said to be responsible for the tardy progress in providing facilities, which should ideally begin six months ahead of the pilgrimage.

Given recent events, it seems that the Communists in Kerala have taken a leaf out of the DMK's book in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. The DMK too is trying to interfere in temple administration in their State and inject their own brand of anti-god poison into these age-old Hindu institutions. It is trying to replace the ritual language from Sanskrit to Tamil and the traditional priests are being replaced by those who are trained in Tamil-based rituals. Similar attempts are being made in Kerala where the so-called Communist 'intellectuals' have been promoting the idea of Government-trained priests.

No wonder leading and age-old organisations like the Nair Service Society, several authoritative Christian organisations, as well as the Muslim League have perceived the new school textbook as an attempt to bring up a new generation of children who would be brain washed against religion itself.

The growing opposition to this sinister move among the various religious communities is likely to gather momentum resulting in a coming together of the leaders of these communities to jointly resist the ruling LDF. In this connection it is recalled that the 'Liberation Struggle' against the first Communist Government in the late-1950s also began in a similar manner after the Government began cracking down on schools run by religious and community organisations. That movement finally led to the Centre dismissing the Communist Government. In the ensuing elections the Communists were routed but the disunity among the different non-Communist political parties led to their re-emergence.

Every time the CPI(M)-led LDF comes to power it usually goes down in a welter of corruption charges. This time too it is not going to be any different. The case in which Rs 2 crore was 'donated' to the Marxist newspaper Deshabhimani by a person charged with massive cheating of the public has already put the ruling party on the defensive. On the direction of the Kerala High Court the Government entrusted the investigation to the local police. But the High Court has declared the investigation report untenable. The Marxists had to admit to receiving the money but claimed that it was an advance payment. When that explanation failed to stick, they had to admit it was an error and sacked the manager of the newspaper, making him the scapegoat.

An independent investigation could result in a most embarrassing exposure of how deep-rooted corruption is in the Marxist party. At this juncture, with a Lok Sabha election looming large, and the Marxists under attack in Kerala over their anti-religious propaganda, such an exposure could severely damage the party.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, July 11, 2008