Senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury has said that BJP leader L K Advani’s statements on the UPA Government being “soft on terror” were “designed to inflame communal passions”.

“The initial remarks of Advani (in the wake of the Jaipur blasts) ... are, to say the least, designed to inflame communal passions,” he said in an editorial in the coming issue of CPI(M) mouthpiece People’s Democracy. He said minority fundamentalism and majority communalism “cannot survive without constantly feeding and strengthening each other”. “India was subjected to heinous terrorist attacks even when POTA adorned our statute books,” he said.

Asking the UPA Government to take all additional measures on a war footing to protect internal security, he added: “It is equally important for us as a country to look inwards and exterminate all such viruses that sow the seeds of division within us. It is in this context that the RSS/BJP reactions are ominous,” he said.

Referring to the attacks on Parliament, Red Fort and Akshardham, Yechury said that “surely these attacks did not happen because of the NDA Government’s softness on terror”. He said all parties “setting aside their differences stood behind the NDA Government and Advani, as the Deputy PM and Home Minister, in meeting such challenges”.