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I don't need lessons from you, Basu tells Advani

West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu lashed out at Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Monday, saying his government did not need advice on democracy from those who had destroyed the Babri mosque in 1992.

"We do not need to be advised about the role and functioning of democracy by those who destroyed the Babri Masjid in 1992, which led to communal riots," Basu said in a statement in Calcutta.

The veteran Marxist politician said the same forces were now attacking members of the Christian community and the scheduled castes and tribes in different parts of the country.

"Any attempt to subvert democracy by toppling an elected government, which has been in office continuously for the last 24 years, will further expose the ugly face of the communal, reactionary forces that have formed the BJP-led government," he said.

The chief minister said he was confident that the vast section of the people wedded to democratic ideals throughout the country would give a fitting reply to such a sinister design.

"The people, cutting across all religious, linguistic and ethnic barriers, will wage a relentless struggle to preserve democracy," he said.

Basu said the people of West Bengal had set an example by electing the Left Front government for five consecutive terms since 1977 and giving it a clear majority in all elections, including to panchayat bodies and municipalities.

"Being gripped with panic because of this rare achievement of the Left Front, the reactionary forces have now grouped together and become active to take recourse to undemocratic means. It is no use preaching morals to people who pay scant regard to morality in politics," he said.

Basu said the people of West Bengal experienced "semi-fascist terror" from 1971 to early 1977, a period marked by curtailment of democracy and the imposition of an autocratic style of government by the Congress.

He also called upon all patriotic and democratic people in the country to unite and defeat the evil forces and keep aloft the banner of democracy and federalism.

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