Political commentator Aijaz Ahmad deplores soft communalism

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Feb 18, 2013  : There is a need for progressive organizations to take to the visual media  to propagate their ideologies and counter communal forces, said Aijaz Ahmad, noted political commentator and Professor and Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi.

Speaking at a two-day seminar organised by Samudaya in Mangalore on February 17, Sunday, he said he did not see much difference between the Congress and BJP as far as communalism was concerned.  “If Congress used communalism pragmatically, the BJP’s stance is problematic,” he said.

Delving on soft  communalism, he said the hanging of parliament attack accused Afzal Guru   and not killers of Rajeev Gandhi revealed the soft communalism of the  Union Government. Ahmad said progressive organizations should  use the television medium as w well as the internet to spread its ideologies.

 A  Kannada translation of Aijaz Ahmad’s book ‘Post  Modernism’ was also released on the occasion.

Surendra Rao, State general secretary of Samudaya, who also spoke,  said with rampant corruption in all the four estates of a democracy, the situation  has turned from bad to worse.

Cultural programmes including  two plays ‘Sultan Tipu’ and ‘Namma Bhashe Namma Bhavishya,’ and a Yakshagana were also presented.