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New Delhi, Apr 12 (UNI) Taking umbrage at the release of a controversial CD followed by communally sensitive advertisements in some newspapers in Uttar Pradesh by the BJP, the Left parties today said it warranted stringent action against the party for resorting to rabid 'Hindutva' to gain votes during the UP assembly polls.

While the CPI(M) alleged that mere distancing of the saffron party from the present CD does not absolve it of its culpability, the CPI urged the EC to de-recognise the BJP and freeze its symbol.

The RSP and the Forward Bloc said the culprits deserved severe punishment for fomenting communal hatred.

The CPI(M) in an editorial in the People's Democracy said the RSS and BJP had come to the considered conclusion that the only way they could regain their lost social support was through stoking communal passions.

''Prakhar Hindutva is BJP's political mascot in the ongoing UP elections. With such communal aggressiveness on its part, BJP hopes to strengthen and consolidate its Hindu vote bank. This is vote-bank politics of the worst kind...'' the CPI(M) said.

The Left party wondered what prevented the BJP from condemning the contents of the CD and offering a public apology for having inadvertently distributed this obnoxious CD.

In an obvious reference to BJP leader Arun Jaitley's arguements put forward before the EC, the CPI(M) observed that apart from violating the election code, the distribution of such ''inflammatory material'' capable of creating enmity and hatred among different communities amounted to a violation of 153(A), 153(B) and 505 of the Indian Penel Code and clauses 3 and 3(A) of section 123 and section 125 of the Representation of the People Act.

''The BJP, thus attracts action under these provisions,'' the party said.

The Left party reminded how the saffron party distributed such a CD at its Lucknow National Executive and Council meeting in December 2006.

Quoting media reports, it said the CD carried its Lucknow office address and the name of the 'producer'. In both the CDs senior leaders A B Vajpayee and L K Advani figured prominently.

CPI leaders A B Bardhan and Shamim Faizi observed that after groping in the dark since the loss of power in 2004, the BJP and its mentor- the RSS- had concluded that only rabid communal ideology of Hindutva could revive the sagging morale of the rank and file.

The CPI leaders said it became evident when Mr Advani was forced out of the party president's office for his ''conciliatory'' remarks on Pakistan founder M Jinnah. ''The choice of Rajnath Singh as party chief was also the choice of the RSS, and since he took over he has done everything to revive the communal agenda, that was supposedly put on the backburner by the then NDA coalition,'' the party said.

On the provocative CD and communally sensitive material in the print media not being accidental, the Left party said, ''All this is planned. It is not accidental that the publicity department of the party has prepared such provocative material.'' RSP leader Abani Roy and Forward Bloc national secretary G Devrajan questioned the BJP on what grounds it was now feigning innocence and sought to wriggle out of the controversy.

The BJP's claim, the Left leaders said, that the party did not produce, prepare, display or distribute this obnoxious CD, does not hold any ground. The cover on the CD showed the party symbol- the 'lotus' in full bloom and photographs of its top brass.

Both the CD and advertisements in UP newspapers were meant to polarise the population on communal lines, which is not only against the spirit of the constitution but the principle of secularism, the very edifice of society, Mr Roy and Mr Devrajan added.

UNI