NIC should consider all constitutional measures: Left

New Delhi, Oct 6 (UNI) Ahead of the National Integration Council meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the backdrop of attacks on the minorities in Orissa and Karnataka, Left parties today said the meeting should explore all constitutional measures to rein in communal forces.

They also demanded a judicial probe into the Jamia Nagar encounter in which according to police some suspected Mujaheedin terrorists were killed and Delhi Police Special Cell Inspector M C Sharma was injured and later died in hospital.

Dr Singh has convened the NIC meeting on October 13 in an apparent move to find ways and means to take measures to prevent atrocities against the minority community members in the two states of which not only the political parties have strong note of but also the Human Rights Commission and the National Minorities Commission.

Even in the Congress a section favours the dismissal of the Karnataka and Orissa governments using Article 356.

CPI leaders S Sudhakar Reddy and Shamim Faizi said the NIC meeting should look into all possible constitutional measures which can be used to defuse the attacks on the minorities both in Orissa and Karnataka.

''It seems that the BJP governments in both the states are using the police and civil administration to protect the attackers rather than the victims,'' the CPI leaders said.

They said the whole idea is to hasten the process of communal polarisation in view of the coming Assembly polls in five states and later the Lok Sabha elections.

Mr Reddy, Party Deputy General Secretary, said the Election Commission should also take note of the BJP and the allied parties' utterances spreading communalism in the worst form.

On the use of Article 356 to impose President's Rule in Orissa and Karnataka, CPI(M) senior leader Rup Chand Pal maintained that, ''we are generally against the use of the Article to dismiss the elected governments, but there may be occasions when such unwarranted incidents may create circumstances where it can be considered.'' On the Jamia Nagar encounter, Mr Faizi, party National Secretary, demanded there should be a judical probe into the encounter. While the Samajwadi Party, an outside supporter of the UPA, has already demanded a judicial probe into it and Home Minister Shivraj Patil's resignation on moral grounds, the UPA partner Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has suggested that action be taken against the Hindutva groups like the Bajrang Dal and wondered why a particular community was being targetted as terrorists.

Mr Pal sought the Central government's immediate intervention so that appropriate steps are taken to provide safety and a sense of security to the minorities in the two states.

''The minorities are not only being attacked, they are also being victimised in the name of law and order and terrorism,'' said Mr Pal, the Party Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha.

On the Jamia Nagar encounter, the CPI(M) leader said a lot of questions also remained unresolved pertaining to the circumstances which led to the death of the Delhi police senior official.

RSP leader and Rajya Sabha member Abani Roy wanted to know what the Home Ministry was doing up to now to stop attacks against the minorities in the two states? On the use of Article 356, he quipped," What purpose will it serve, but who will dismiss the UPA government for its failure to intervene in the matter?" He also supported the other Left party leaders' demand for a judicial probe into the Jamia Nagar encounter.

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