CPM Politburo member M K Pandhe today tried to claim he didn’t mean to inject a “communal” twist in the nuclear deal debate. But his remark that “an overwhelming majority of the Muslim masses” oppose the nuclear deal and that Mulayam Singh Yadav should think twice before supporting it sparked off a chorus of outrage from Muslim organisations and leaders to the Samajwadi Party itself.

The refrain from virtually all Muslim leaders The Indian Express spoke to was: the CPM’s attempt to communalise foreign policy was condemnable and, yes, some Muslim groups are opposed to the nuclear deal with the United States but that has nothing to do with their being Muslim. Remarks like these, they said, only end up alienating Muslims further by reinforcing the stereotype that Muslims have to “prove” their loyalty to the “national interest” every time there is a debate over it.

“I know about minorities very well,” said SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav angrily when reporters asked him about Pandhe’s remarks. He spoke to CPM general secretary Prakash Karat over the phone and is learnt to have told him that his party will take a call on the deal after a meeting with the UNPA on July 3.

The Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, India’s largest Muslim organization, has decided to convene a meeting of its working committee on July 1 to protest against CPM’s attempt to “club the nuclear deal with the Muslim community.” Said spokesperson Moulana Abdul Hameed Noomani: “What right does the CPM have to speak on behalf of the Muslim community? And, more importantly, why have they singled out the Muslim community on this issue? It may serve their political purpose but it was ethically wrong and we are bound to express our strong reservation against this,” he said.

... contd.