Agartala, Jan 11: Referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s announcement in Tripura on January 5 that Ram Mandir would be ready by January 1, 2024, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday said the BJP has been polarising people in communal lines.

Fearing an increase of the hatred and communal violence in the country in the coming days, Yechury said that before the Lok Sabha elections (2024) the BJP has been trying to make the Ram temple to divide the people on the communal line.

Shah, who also urged the people to book their tickets to go to Ayodhya where Ram Mandir would be ready by January 1 next year, announced this while flagging off BJP’s 8-day-long “Rath Yatra” in Tripura.

The CPI-M leader said that January 5’s announcement was not new, it was declared in August 2020 that Ram temple would be ready by January 2024. “Shah without answering the questions of deteriorating law and order situation, their failure to implement their poll promises and betraying the people, he highlighted the Ram Mandir issue,” Yechury told the media after the two-day meeting of the CPI-M state committee.

Without naming Mohan Bhagwat, Yechury said that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief has recently in an interview to media announced that their main enemies are Muslims, Christians and the Communists.

“RSS chief’s announcement means all the Sangh Parivar would intensify their attack and hatred against the minorities and Communists before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Ahead of the next parliamentary polls, this would be Sangh Parivar’s only tool,” he alleged.

“Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) during his visits abroad termed India as the mother of democracy, spread the ideology of Gandhi ji, and inside the country doing the power politics. With the announcement of the RSS chief, it is clear that hatred and communal violence would increase in the country in the coming days,” he said.

The Left leader further said the Tripura Assembly polls are crucial in terms of national politics, secularism and protecting democracy.

Referring to the National Crime Records Bureau data, the CPI-M General Secretary said that in terms of crime, Tripura’s position is the worst in the country.

“In the ensuing assembly elections in Tripura, our main target would be to liberate the people of Tripura from the reign of terror of the ruling BJP and to restore peace and democracy,” he said.