Saraswati: Maoist letter claims responsibility

Statesman News Service
BHUBANESWAR, Sept 8: A letter purportedly signed by Sunil of CPI (Maoist) circulated amongst select journalists staked claim to the brutal murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati.

“The PLGA (Peoples Liberation Guerilla Army) has carried out the death sentence it had passed against Swami Laxman-ananda on 23 August for inflicting torture and misery on a large number of tribal and dalit people in the name of Hinduism,” said the Maoist letter.

It pledges secularism and condemns both the BJD and BJP for spreading communal poison in the state. "The Congress too is trying to take political capital out of the situation," observed the letter.

"India is a secular country. Everyone here has the freedom to embrace or quit a religion and also the right to preach. But both the Central and the state governments have been branding the minorities as terrorists or Maoists and persecuting them," charged the letter.

A section of minorities are being branded as 'terrorist' while the other is labeled as 'Maoists,' it decried while accusing Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati of spearheading such a campaign.

The people in Orissa must know that the ruling BJD has been providing all help and support to these communal forces because they have a stake in the alliance government, it said.

"We are neither for Christians nor Hindus. So far 26 people have died in the Kandhamal riots. Many houses have been torched. Innocent people have been sent to jail after booking them in false cases.

Hindu fascist outfits are entirely responsible for the communal riots in Kandhamal and in other parts of Orissa. This has been condemned by one and all. Now the double-speak of the Naveen Patnaik government stands exposed. People in Orissa need to ask why the same state govt which is now preventing leaders of political parties and different organisations from entering Kandhamal had no problem allowing VHP leader Mr Pravin Togadia to visit the district. What kind of policy is this ? questioned the Maoist leader.

The letter also appealed to followers of all religions to give up fundamentalism and work towards a secular social order.

The irony was that it went on to preach tolerance saying: “Each one should learn not to be intolerant and not to attack people from other faiths.”
Innocent people arrested by police should be released, adequate compensation paid to riot victims and arrest of Sangh Parivar leaders were the other demands listed in the letter.

It may be noted here that state government had from day one suspected a Maoist hand in the murder but the Sangh Parivar had blamed it on militant minority factions.

Statesman