We are no more Indians, we are ...Marathis,Biharis,regrets Gowda

New Delhi, Nov 3 (UNI) Accusing the Sangh Parivar, including the BJP of communalising India's polity and polarising society, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda today said demolition of mosques and burning of churches were as much terrorist attacks as serial bomb blasts.

The same forces who killed Mahatma Gandhi, who demolished the Babri Masjid, who carried out massacre of minorities were behind the recent attacks on Christians across the country and Malegaon blasts, he said, addressing the People's Convention organised by the Coordnation Committee for Indian Muslims here.

Expressing regret that the country today stood divided on casteist, communal, lingustic and regional lines, he said,''We are no more Indians. We are Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Marathis, Biharis, Kannadigas, Tamils, OBCs, Dalits and what not. I thought that we had ousted the outsiders from this country on August 15, 1947 ... but today we have started calling each other outsiders n our country.'' Without naming the Congress, he also blamed the party for not doing anything to check such forces. ''Why the Government failed to punish the cuprits behind the demolition of the Babri Masjid? Which Government failed to dismiss the Governments in Orissa and Karnataka in the wake of brutal attacks on the Christian community and institutions? Who refused to ban fascist outfits like the Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sena despite the Government's own National Commission for Minorities recommending the same?'' He said it was most unfortunate that instead of sinking mutual differences, attempts were being made overtly and covertly to wipe out regional secular forces who have stood much against fascist forces. ''Such attempts to create a bipolar polity would only further strengthen reactionary forces, who have shown the capacity to force national parties to play second fiddle in states like Gujarat in the absence of a third secular alternative,'' he stressed.

Reiterating his demand that a Truth and Reconciliation Commission be created to look into all incidents of communal violence, starting with the demolition of the Babri Masjid as the cut off point, Mr Deve Gowda said such a gesture would go a long way in providing the much needed healing touch to the minorities and help bridge the chasm.

He also called upon the Government not to follow the prescriptions of America and the West blindly. ''Our economy should have its own direction and sense of priorities. It may well be that we earn in a hard way in near future that the Nuclear Deal was after all only to aid a slowing America rather than create job opportunities for our youth.'' UNI MMG AKJ RN1706