People's Democracy

(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Vol. XXVII

No. 06

 February 09, 2003


CPI (M) Is Key Impediment To Hindutva: RSS Chief

B Prasant

ACCORDING to RSS sar-sanghchalak, K Sudarshan, the CPI (M) constitutes the principle impediment on the path of Hindutva’s progress nationwide. As for VHP supremo Praveen Togadia, he would like to see Article 356 implemented immediately in Bengal so as to allow the Hindus to raise their head.

These and other nuggets of wisdom dropped from the duo in their brief sojourn in Bengal over January 20-22.  State secretary of the CPI (M), Anil Biswas and Bengal chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said that however much the votaries of religious fundamentalism tried to rant and rave about their brand of Hindutva, the conscious people of Bengal would chose to ignore them.  Bhattacharjee said that the Togadias and the Sudarshans, “unwanted guests in Bengal,” would come and go, but the state would continue to adhere to its cherished tradition of democracy and secularism.

Speaking from a saffron-decorated dais that was shaped like a rath, to a modest gathering of lathi-wielding men and boys in brown-belted khaki shorts, black peaked caps, and white shirts at the Shahid Minar maidan in Kolkata on January 22, Sudarshan chose to attack the Left in general and the CPI (M) in particular throughout his speech.  Calling the CPI (M) a party of Marx-putras, Sudarshan said that “the Party members and supporters would not call themselves Hindus, and this is the reason why there have been so many riots in the country.”

Sudarshan also came down heavily on the concept of multicultural and multinational states and said that such concepts emanated from the “brains of a few Moscow-and-Beijing- trained Indian Communists alone.” 

The RSS chief who remained grim visaged for the length of his two-and-a-half hour-long speech, also came out with his analysis of the Gujarat poll outcome.  The English-speaking media, said Sudarshan, had enraged the Hindus of Gujarat by supporting the Muslims, and the poll results reflected the “avenging mood” of the Hindus.

Facing flagging fortunes, now more than ever, and presiding over a deeply divided house, Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has readily agreed to the RSS-VHP chiefs’ call for the imposition of Article 356 in Bengal despite the very cold shoulder she has received of late from her “now-off, now-on” ally the BJP.