The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued the following statement on May 6, 2014. THE rally addressed by Narendra Modi at Faizabad on May 5 had a portrait of Lord Ram as the backdrop. Narendra Modi also made a direct appeal invoking the name of Ram in his political statements. These are a blatant misuse of religious appeal for electoral purposes. The Election Commission should immediately take action against this electoral offence. Narendra Modi and the BJP president, Rajnath Singh, have also been constantly raising the issue of “Bangladeshi” infiltrators in order to target the Bengali-speaking Muslims. In a number of speeches made in Assam and West Bengal, they have threatened that these “infiltrators” will be thrown out of the country. Such a campaign with communal overtones has caused insecurity amongst minorities and raised tensions. This has been one of the factors that contributed to the killing of 31 persons in the Bodoland Territorial District of Assam where Bengali-speaking Muslims were targeted by Bodo extremists. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns this rabid communal propaganda by the BJP leadership. The Election Commission should immediately intervene to stop the BJP leadership from indulging in such communal targeting.