Ex-MP asks poll panel to de-recognise CPI-M

NEW DELHI - Trouble is brewing for the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). One of its former parliamentarians has asked the Election Commission to derecognise it if the party does not comply with the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

Former Marxist MP K.S. Manoj, in his petition to the Election Commission, has sought that the CPI-M be directed to amend its stand on religious faith as spelt out in guidelines to its members given in the “Rectification Document”.

The guidelines to party functionaries and people’s representatives that “they should not conduct religious ceremonies and should not participate in religious rituals, infringe upon the Fundamental ‘Right to Freedom of Religion’ envisaged in the Constitution”, Manoj said.

An anaesthetist with a hospital here, Manoj said if the CPI-M does not rectify its stand on religious faith, the Election Commission should de-recognise it as a political party. The guidelines have been issued by the CPI-M’s central committee in its “Rectification Document”.

Manoj joined the Congress Sep 12. He became Lok Sabha member on the CPI-M ticket in 2004 after trouncing Congress veteran V.M. Sudheeran in Kerala’s Alappuzha constituency.

He quit the party in January this year following a clash of political ideology and religious belief. The CPI-M claimed that Manoj was expelled from the party after he accused the party of curtailing his religious freedom.

Manoj said the Kerala state committee of the CPI-M has recently moved a step further by issuing a circular that family members and immediate relatives of the party functionaries and peoples representatives also should not go to places of religious worship and cautioned party cadres.

“The partys position is that unless the party cadre abandon the religious faith and abstain from religious ceremonies and rituals, he will not be considered for office bearership of the party and candidature for the legislative bodies. This is unconstitutional and amounts to coercive measure to get rid of religious faith, which is punishable under IPC 153B subsection b,” Manoj said.

When an organisation is recognised as a political party under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, as per clause 29A subsection b, it is mandatory that the organisation should declare its true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India, he said.

“And if a political party is violating the constitutional right of a person by virtue of its programme, the very sanctity of its existence should be questioned,” Manoj added.