Communists oppose minority education Bill

The Communist Party of India opposed the Minority Education Commission Bill in the Lok Sabha yesterday saying it could "disrupt communal harmony in the country."

The CPI which had earlier backed the legislation wanted the government to bring amendments to the Bill, which includes empowering the states to take a final decision on the implementation.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India(Marxist)(CPI-M) which had also supported the Minority Education Commission Bill in the Lok Sabha plans to oppose it in the Rajya Sabha.

Repercussions

The CPI, which would have liked to toe the CPI(M) line cannot do so, since they do not have any member in the Upper House.

Asked why the Left supported the bill in the Lok Sabha last week, a senior CPI(M) leader said, "We wanted to see the repercussions."

The bill, which has been passed in the Lok Sabha, is aimed at facilitating the minority educational institutions to secure affiliation to a central university.

CPI leader V.K. Vasudevan Nair felt that taking advantage of the bill in its present form, some minority institutions "might deviate from the existing system of education and make religious classes compulsory."

Appeasement

Incidentally, the BJP has also been opposing the legislation claiming that it was aimed at appeasing the minority community.

Though the CPI refrained from taking such a hard line, reminded that the Christians in Kerala had perpetually been talking about "a Christian atmosphere." Nair said.

He feared that once affiliated to the central university, "some minority institutions might start teaching Bible in the classes and make religion classes compulsory."

Though Nair was confident that Kerala being "a secular state and under strong Leftist influence, shall never be communally charged, the same thing could not be said about rest of the country."

He said the BJP could possibly take advantage of such a situation.

The veteran CPI leader from Kerala also pointed fingers at Muslim Education Society, run by a corporate body in the state. "Though there have been no complaints till now, but one has to be careful," he said.

- The Asian Age