My thick skull is nuclear-resistant. Somehow, stuff like plutonium, uranium, curium, neptunium etc fail to make even a dent on my cranium. I guess it is so for many of you readers also with all this high voltage nit-picking on the the nitty-gritties of Indo-US nuclear deal passing way above our heads. Of course, if offered a mike, I too like many of you, will be able to muster a few jargon or at least some ‘meaningful’ pauses, but that would still be no match to the panache of those primetime pundits. These guys, who may not know how a gas stove works, however, seem to possess such boundless and intricate knowledge of nuclear science that we had better plead ignorance and scoot honourably. But we can certainly talk of the Communists’ nuclear allergy and their history itself without we ourselves going nuclear.OK, let me make it clear.
We will begin at the beginning. Once upon a time a man called Karl Marx founded a religion, which later came to be known as Marxism, and also gave it a Book, Das Kapital plus some attachments called manifestoes. This Mr Marx was no fan of India. He had declared in 1853 that ‘the golden age of India was a myth and that Indians were always starving’. He had even lauded the British for destroying India’s village economy. A century-and-a-half later, today, though Marxism has itself joined its maker, Marx, in his grave, some Marxist ghosts and skeletons survive and India as a civilisation continues to score low marks with them too. So, even if the Left seems right to some on the nuclear deal, their anti-India genetics plus their pro-China leanings raise genuine suspicions about their motives.
I lay no claim to originality in detailing the Indian Left’s duplicitous and dubious political dealings. Their utterings and actions are well-documented and quite an open book, a book of blunders really and that book too is in tatters now. But that does not deter the comrades from proclaiming and parading themselves as the guardian angels of all the lofty ideals that humanity is capable of. And being pastmasters of the art of dialectics and debates, they are quite adept at camouflaging their dark designs and deeds with the cloak of national interest. Really, their disdain for the nation and any form of nationalism is legendary. On the contrary, the vintage Leftists have always seen themselves as citizens of an international community that necessarily thrives on putting down local cultures. While in many countries, Communists tried and even succeeded in adapting Communism to local needs and realities, Indian Communists were steadfast in their refusal to sever their umblical chord with the Communist International.
The Communists’ role during the freedom struggle was most sinister. For them India’s fight for independence was no revolution at all when compared to the Russian or Chinese ‘revolutions’.The Communists became British stooges at the behest of Russia when it was attacked by Hitler. Such was the zeal of comradeship with Stalin that they had no qualms in even betraying our freedom fighters to the British police who hanged them. Again, during the Chinese aggression, they had no hesitation in dubbing India as the aggressor. The Communist Party of India split after that, with the dominant pro-China comrades forming the CPI-Marxists, while the truncated core remained as CPI — and pro-Russia. But pro-India? Never! Moscow and Peking were just stone’s throwaway. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Khruschev, Brezhnev and sundry other ‘zhevs were their idols, while those like Netaji and Swami Vivekananda, heroes of their own fortress Bengal, were treated with contempt. Needless, to say there lurked a CIA agent on every treetop and street corner, nice bogeys that kept the comrades’ charades going.
The Communists’ continuing obsession with ‘nuclear’ China is most disturbing. Many observers have pointed out that CPI-M’s Prakash Karat is just parroting what China has been saying about the Indo-US nuclear deal. An Intelligence Bureau official has also revealed that Sitaram Yechury, allegedly at the instance of the Chinese embassy, ‘forced the Indian government to issue visas to over 1000 Chinese engineers for a project here thus denying jobs to Indian engineers who could have also implemented it’. Again, the Leftists are known to have influenced decisions relating to Chinese investments in sensitive sectors in India. China is also deeply concerned over a possible military axis between India, US, Japan and Australia and would not hesitate to use the willing comrades here to voice its concerns. It therefore seems naive to believe that the Left’s current opposition to the nuclear deal is owing to its familiar habit of anti-Americanism. The Left, rather, seems to be willing partners in a larger geo-political game at China’s instance. They may well tone down their protest to the deal if China finds some virtue in it! Our sovereignity would not matter then!
If the credentials of the Leftists as custodians of national interest is thus questionable, their commitment to certain other high sounding tenets is tenuous. They now talk of democracy, but that is something they have never cared for all through their history. In the roster of totalitarian regimes, Communist countries rank on par or even higher than some Islamist States. A recent book puts Stalin and Lenin on equal termswith Hitler. Naxalites and Maoists in India are only putting to practice the ‘Revolution’ that the Leftists of India have been craving for. Wrote late Mohit Sen, a die-hard Communist:’ ..what crimes did we commit! Our cruelty was no less than that of the imperialists and fascists’. In many countries, ‘liberal’ leftists see no contradiction in finding common cause with rank Islamists. In India, the Mullah-Marxist axis is most pronounced. And this is passed off as secularism! Again, on economic policy, the Left’s double standards are blatantly visible. For them, West Bengal and Kerala are special economic zones while the rest of India can reel under red rage!
It is said that history is written by the victors. But in India, history has been consistently hijacked by the Marxist historians, when Marxism itself has lost and lapsed. Their influence on media and academia is grossly disproportionate to their hold on the people. Moreso their virtual veto power today over every aspect of governance and policy. But real history is proof that national interest and Leftists never meet. So while the pundits look and relook at the nuclear deal, the people had better keep a watch on the Leftists.While we may not understand plutonium, we surely know our comrades.
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