Religious people can join CPI(M), says Kodiyeri Balakrishnan

Making a calculated move aimed at shedding its image as an anti-religious party, a senior CPIM leader on Monday said people with religious beliefs can also become its members.The statement was made by CPIM Kerala state secretary and politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan while inaugurating the partys district conference here.

Making a calculated move aimed at shedding its image as an anti-religious party, a senior CPI(M) leader on Monday said people with religious beliefs can also become its members.

The statement was made by CPI(M) Kerala state secretary and politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan while inaugurating the party's district conference here. The senior leader said the CPI(M) was not against any religion or faith.

''A section of people propagated that Communists did not accept religions. The Communist Party is not against religions. The CPI (M) is a party that gives membership to people with religious beliefs,'' Balakrishnan said, in an apparent bid to reach out to those who have been distancing themselves from the party for long for its anti-religious stand on various socio-political-cultural issues.

To justify his claim, the CPI(M) state secretary quoted Russian Communist leader V I Lenin who had stated that even the clergy could join the Communist party.

Balakrishnan alleged that there was an organised move in the state to keep the Muslim faithful away from the party by propagating that the CPI(M) is against believers.

He alleged that such a propaganda was carried out with the support of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), which is currently under the ''influence of the ideology of the Jama-at-e-Islami''.

He said today the situation in the state is that the CPI(M) was widely accepted by the people belonging to the Christian and Muslim communities, which had been watching the party's functioning from a distance for long. ''Therefore, the move to mislead the believers will not succeed in Kerala,'' Balakrishnan said.