By Leila Nezirevic
STOCKHOLM (AA) - Swedish Left Party politician Linda Snecker on Thursday accused some political parties of wanting to forcibly take children into custody who do not speak "perfect Swedish," local media reported.
During a speech in the southern city of Linkoping, Snecker claimed that the Liberals want to forcibly take children into custody who do not speak "perfect Swedish."
She also said that several countries' political parties blame Islam for all the evil in society.
"In this election campaign, there is terrible racism. Islam is blamed as 'the great evil' in society.
"We have parties that forcibly take your 2-year-olds into custody if they don't speak perfect Swedish."
She also criticized a proposal by some parties who proposed that immigrant children should be routinely tested for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Swedish Liberal politician Jan Jonsson, a social citizen councilor in the city of Stockholm, said these comments made by the Left politician only fuel "the anxiety and mistrust towards authorities that already exists in vulnerable areas towards social services and other authorities," according to Swedish daily Aftonbladet.
Jonsson defended the proposal for vulnerable areas by saying this is where "exclusion and needs are at their greatest," stressing cases where parents continue to be unwilling to help their children and show a lack of parental capacity.
The Liberals' party leader, Johan Pehrson, also reacted to Snecker's statements on his Twitter page saying this is "serious" and that the Liberals have proposed a mandatory language test for 2-year-olds who are not enrolled in preschool.
He said that in cases where children are lagging behind in language development, the so-called "language pre-schools" must be offered to those children.
However, Snecker said this is a policy that constantly "paints certain groups of people as a problem, instead of trying to solve social problems. I think that's important to point out."