Tue Feb 25 20:30:00 UTC 2025: ## CPI(M) Leader Accuses RSS of Seeking to Make West Bengal Hindutva Epicentre

**Kolkata, West Bengal –** Senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Prakash Karat has accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of plotting to establish West Bengal as the focal point of communal Hindutva forces in eastern India. Speaking at the conclusion of a three-day CPI(M) state conference in Dankuni on February 25th, 2025, Karat pointed to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent ten-day visit to the state. He alleged that Bhagwat’s visit was not for religious purposes, but to strategize on how to divide the population and incite communal tensions.

Karat further criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s “neo-liberal and communal agenda” at the national level and the Trinamool Congress state government’s “corrupt and criminal” practices. He highlighted the rising number of attacks on women in the state, including a recent murder of a doctor, and blamed the state government for failing to protect its citizens. He also condemned the alleged deprivation of funds for the MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) scheme, stating that the rural poor have been deprived of ₹7,000 crore over the past three years.

The CPI(M) state conference, held from February 22nd to 25th, focused on strengthening the party’s opposition to both the BJP/RSS and the Trinamool Congress. Karat expressed hope for a new coalition of “Left and pro-people forces” to emerge as an alternative in the upcoming state assembly elections, scheduled for 2026. He warned that strengthening the BJP and RSS in West Bengal would only benefit big industrialists at the expense of the state’s people. The CPI(M)-led Left Front lost power in 2011 and currently holds no seats in the state assembly or Lok Sabha.

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