Hey Ram! Marxists Give Red Salute to Lord Ram

A body with Left leanings is organising reading of Ramayan in Kerala. 

Thiruvananthapuram: Keen on wooing the Hindu community, the Marxist party in Kerala is organising Ramayan reading through the month of Karkidagam which falls between July 15 and August 15.

Women in almost all Hindu households read Ramayan through Karkidagam – a month that is considered to be holy.

The Ramayan reading is being organised through an organisation called Samskritha Sangham. Though the Sangham is supposed to be an independent organisation on paper, in reality it has a strong Left leaning and support.

Alarmed at the reports, the central committee of the CPM has asked its Kerala unit to deny the reports. State secretary of CPM Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was at pains to explain that the party is not organising Ramayan reading. However, he admitted that Samskritha Sangham, is organizing several programmes to “expose the agenda of Sangh Parivar to misuse puranas and ‘itihasas’ for communally dividing the society”.

But Samskritha Sangham plans to organize lectures and seminars on Ramayana in all districts during July 15 to August 15.  A state-level event to understand the literature of Ramayana will be organized in Thiruvananthapuram on July 25.

“RSS has been misusing Ramayana month for communal agenda. Samskritha Sangham, an organization formed by Sanskrit scholars and academic persons, is organising several programmes to check this misuse. But, that organization is not conducting Ramayana reading. Their activities are not confined to Karkidakam either. A section of the media misinterprets these facts to blame CPM,” Kodiyeri said in a statement issued here.