Which Martyrs — Comrade?

Several communist leaders ignore the swayamsevaks who died defending India's unity, saving lives and resisting terror, while selectively invoking martyrs to suit their ideology

- ANIRBAN GANGULY

It was amusing to read comrade Brinda Karat's rant against Prime Minister Modi and to hear comrade Pinarayi Vijayan "denounce" him for flagging and lauding, in his Independence Day address, the contributions of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on the occasion of its centenary.

Comrade Karat, who had once prescribed the administering of "Dum Dum Dawai" - a communist political-slang of the 1960s calling for public thrashing - to the hapless farmers of Nandigram, who were shot and killed by her party's, the CPIM, led government in West Bengal, spoke of Modi insulting martyrs!

Which martyrs was comrade Brinda referring to? Were they among those nearly 10,000 Bengali Hindu refugees in Marichjhapi, in the Sunderban, who were shot and killed by her party's government in 1979? Which martyrs? Was she perhaps referring to the Ananda Margi monks and nuns who were accosted in broad daylight, on April 30 1982, by comrade Brinda's party's cadres, in one of the main thoroughfares of south Kolkata, Bijon Setu, doused with gasoline and burnt to death?

Which martyrs was she referring to? Those RSS Swayamsevaks in Moga, Punjab, 25 of whom were mowed down by Khalistanis while attending a Shakha on 25 June 1989? Their fault was that they stood and spoke for a united India, and of Punjab as an integral part of that India. The fault of RSS Swayamsevaks was that they had dared to save the lives of both Hindus and Sikhs; they had audaciously dared to resist Khalistani attacks and to counter the Khalistani mindset.