New Delhi, Jan 15 (AHN) CPI(M) leader Hannan Mollah on Thursday backed Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind President Arshad Madani's charges against the Congress alleging that the party failed to act decisively against communal forces and "compromised" its stance "as per convenience".

Madani on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the Congress, questioning its historical approach to communalism and asserting that a failure to act decisively against communal forces has pushed the country to what he described the "brink of destruction".

Reacting to this, Mollah said that the statement does reflect a truth that the Congress has "compromised" its communal stance "as per convenience".

Speaking to AHN, the CPI(M) leader said, "To some extent, there is truth in that statement. Our party believes that Congress is a secular party and not a communal one. However, in its 70-year history, Congress has sometimes compromised with communal stance for its convenience, because of which it also suffered."

"When a party cannot choose its firm stance, people also get confused and lose trust. Only a firm opinion can earn respect. I think Congress should follow its secular idea in all its steps. Only then can it stand as the largest secular party, as well as a strong Opposition," he added.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Madani said that decisive action at a critical moment in history could have altered the country's trajectory. Criticising the party's policies during its years in power, Madani said the Congress adopted a lenient approach towards politics driven by religious hatred.

He further added that the present situation could have been avoided had constitutional principles been implemented sincerely.

Calling it an "unfortunate truth", the Jamiat chief said that from the very beginning, Congress leaders "perhaps out of some fear adopted a soft and flexible stance against religiously driven politics of hatred".

Madani also stated that communal forces were responsible for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

"Had communalism been crushed at that very time, the country could have been saved from devastation," he said.

The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind said that the Congress was paying the price for its past approach.

"If the Congress had taken the same strict stand against communalism 77 years ago that it claims to be taking now, it would not have been ousted from power, and the country would not have reached the brink of destruction," Madani said.