Yechuri treads a fine line between Church & Muslims

While opposing the entry of Church into politics in Kerala, CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechuri on Monday tried to woo Muslims in West Bengal saying that the West Bengal government had recently decided to implement the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Commission Report, including granting 10 per cent reservations to them in jobs.
Speaking to reporters after releasing the party's resolution on the forthcoming elections in Kerala and Bengal, Yechuri opposed the entry of churches into politics. "With all due respects to the Church, I can say that religion has its space and politics has its space. In Kerala, the Congress-led UDF is trying to consolidate all the communal and caste forces around it. Sections of the Church are openly interfering in political affairs by conducting an anti-Communist campaign. Muslim and Hindu extremist forces are bracing themselves to disturb communal harmony in order to create political polarisation," he said.
The resolution stated that despite the "nefarious" activities of extremists and communal forces, Kerala continues to maintain its excellent record of communal harmony. The resolution was mostly devoted to explain the "rapid" progress witnessed in the states under the CPM rule. "The LDF government in Kerala has taken forward its welfare legacy and currently has the largest number of welfare schemes amongst all states of India," it claimed.
When half-a-million houses proposed under the EMS housing scheme are completed, there would be no family in Kerala without a house, the resolution claimed. In the agriculture sector, the measures adopted by the State government have been successful in putting an end to the suicides of farmers, it said and praised its government. However, Kerala Chief Minister Atchuthanandan wasn't present at the meeting to accept the praises.
The resolution observed that the ruling classes had mounted a concerted offensive against the CPM, in its strong bastions, in order to weaken the resistance to their unbridled loot through the neo-liberal economic trajectory. The Assembly elections in May 2011 in Bengal and Kerala will be a major battle between the forces representing the interests of working people and those representing interests of capitalists, it said.