It seems the CPI (M) is taking a break from its rhetoric on “US imperialism.” With the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections round the corner, the party has called for the “defeat of communal forces”.

“The need of the hour in Gujarat as also in Himachal Pradesh, for all well-meaning Indians who cherish secular democracy and who have the future of our country at heart, is to unite and defeat the communal forces,” says the party.

In an editorial in the forthcoming issue of party’s mouthpiece, People’s Democracy, the CPI(M) says that the “elections in Gujarat will once again serve as a barometer, measuring India’s democracy.” The party hits out against CM Narendra Modi, both for the money he spent on the publicity campaign and his remarks on the killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife, Kauserbi.

And to further drum up its secular credentials, party leader Sitaram Yechury said, “Those behind the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya should be brought to book at the earliest.”