The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the outrageous directions issued by the Rajasthan Minister for Primary and Secondary Education according to which all Government and private schools in Jaipur have been asked to get their students to attend the five-day Hindu Spiritual And Service Fair being held in the State capital.
This fair has stalls like the VHP stall which are distributing pamphlets against ‘love jehad’, accusing Muslim men of ‘ensnaring’ Hindu women, describing places where such ‘ensnaring may take place’. After this ‘ensnaring’, it is alleged that Muslim men convert these women for specific amounts of money. Pamphlets alleging ‘controversial activities of Christian missionaries’ and their receiving huge amounts of foreign money for religious conversion are being distributed. This is a blatant violation of the secular character of the Constitution.
The fact that a constitutional Government has given permission for such a fair to be held is in itself highly objectionable. That it is actually making it mandatory for school children to attend the fair and be exposed to the propagation of hatred for minority communities is completely unacceptable.
The CPI(M) demands that the Central and state governments must not permit the holding of such fairs.