A soft word … a small sentence

… feebly uttered or merely murmured

… if not direct … if not strident … atleast whispered

… if not from the depth of your hearts, atleast served from the lips

… or atleast from behind the canopy blinds of huts, from behind closed doors

… or from the tatty shades of the book shelf,

… or from the attics of vintage houses …

With fond hope and eager ears, I turned to all these places for a whimper, a whisper… I am still waiting, aching for a sound-byte, a soft word, from here or there or from anywhere, for sixty days now!

The eyes dilated, tired from scanning newspapers, poring through reports, ardently watching television news, skimming through Social Media … scouring for at least that one newsbyte … that Maoist China is wrong … that China’s armed incursion in Doklam would threaten India and Bhutan, that is what I hoped the Indian communists would say, mumble or whisper, moved by a whiff of conscience or courage!

But alas! All my hopes are quashed!

What happened in 1962 is repeating now!

When socialist Nehru opened his heart to ‘Hindi-Chīnī Bhāī Bhāī’, communist China launched a stealthy strike, an invasion across the Himalayas. The then communists in India went into denial asking “How can socialist China invade a non-aligned country like India?” They then went on to defend China vehemently while blaming the ‘hyperbole’ of Indian Defense minister, Krishna Menon for the war with China!

Although half a century has passed but their way of thinking has not changed. In spite of worldwide reverses, the infatuation of the communists with China has not ended.

Just read the lament of the editorial of CPM’s mouth piece “People’s Democracy” over Doklam:

”Doklam belongs to Bhutan. Let Bhutan resolve the problem by itself. We need not interfere in that issue. And the root cause of the problem is not Doklam but Modi Sarkar…”

“China is infuriated because of the increased proximity between Modi and America, and because of the importance to Tibetan Buddhist Guru Dalai Lama given by India” so goes the editorial.

What a dubious and callous analysis!

These red brothers and combatants, who perennially hit the roads with their hartals, bandhs, lockouts and strikes with their protest rallies, who claim to stand by the exploited poorer and down-trodden sections of the people, are now asking India not to stand by the side of Bhutan, a tiny hilly country that is being bullied by an elephantine expansionist China, and advise India not to stand against Chinese forces!

The Indian Communists give us this free advice: “If any objection is at all required, that has to come from Bhutan; and the mighty Chinese empire can talk to small weak Bhutan and will get this resolved…”

History is witness and the whole world knows, what Tibet got by holding talks with China.

The communists say, let Bhutan resolve Bhutan’s issue! They have audacity to give us free advice, but do not even whimper against China, let alone trying to persuade China to establish cordial relations with Bhutan. These same communists never ask China why it meddles in India Pak issues, instead of letting us resolve them mutually.

Never, not a finger against their ‘motherland’ – China!

They will not dare to even suggest to China to allow Tibet to resolve its internal issues, and not to interfere with Tibet. Instead, dancing to the chinese tunes, they proclaim that ‘Chinese invasion of Tibet is to liberate Tibetans from feudal landlords”! What is the difference between the Chinese invasion of Tibet and America that waged a war against merciless Gaddafi under the pretense of liberating Libya, who killed Saddam Hussein under the pretense of an alleged threat from WMDs?

Tomorrow our communists may defend the Chinese invasion of Bhutan in the name of ‘liberating’ the Bhutanese from monarchy, thus conniving with the devious chinese plan to grind communism into the innocent lives of the simple Bhutanese.

Tomorrow, if China declares that Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are to be conquered as part of their ostentatious expansionist plan, our communists might even support China, saying that any chinese expansion into India is only to liberate these states from imperialist India!

All this they have done and will do in future, only to please China – their ‘motherland’ !

Clandestine role of Communists in 1962 War with China:

During the 1962 war, the undivided CPI party leaders were imprisoned by the government of the day because they supported the enemy country – China. Among these leaders was Kerala’s Leftist leader V.S. Achuthanandan. Once in prison, he realized his mistakes and tried to correct. He directed his cadres to support the soldiers of India in order to change the perception that they were Chinese agents!

While in jail, with the help of his fellow-inmates, he conducted blood donation camps to help the injured Indian soldiers and also offered money for war expenditure, by consuming only one meal a day and then selling the remaining food for money, and contributing that money to the soldier’s welfare fund. However, the hardcore Communists did not oblige and vehemently opposed his proposal. The opposition was so emphatic that they came to physical blows with each other!

The war with China ended. Communists were released. What happened next? A complaint was lodged against V.S.Achuthanandan in the party forum questioning his commitment to the party. The Communists concluded that instead of helping China, V.S.Achuthanandan tried to help the Indian government, and that this amounted to a criminal offense! Doubting his commitment towards communism, he was reprimanded for not kow-towing to the party line and was even demoted in the Communist party!

So much for communists’ allegiance and loyalty to China – their ‘motherland’ !!

Well, we are all ordinary people. We believe that having been born on this land, raised in this land, being fed from this very soil, interlaced into the life of this nation, our loyalty is to this land.

But our Leftists claim to be intellectuals, you see! Therefore, geographical boundaries do not apply to them! Gratitude to the soil and people that have fed them, do not apply to them! Nations do not apply to them! For them, international commitment is more important than national interests, and devotion to the motherland, the land that nursed them is only a bourgeois illusion… That is why they cannot oppose China, not even in their dreams. Just mutter a word against Islamism and the Indian communists will all rise in righteous rage claiming to defend the Indian nation and ‘secularism’!

But when Muslim women in China’s Xinjiang province were forbidden to don the burkha and full veil, when muslim men were ordered to discard the full beard, when religious names were forbidden to muslim children, when fifteen of such onerous sanctions were slapped on Chinese muslims, the communists of India cowered in abject silence. After all, all these sanctions were imposed by their beloved ‘socialist motherland’!

None of the communist fellow-travelers, not even a single member of the “Award Wapsi gang” who threatened to leave India because Indian people voted against their preference, who returned national awards because somewhere there was an attack on some writer, has announced any similar move in protest against China’s aggression on Bhutan. They do not care for Indian interests and worries, they do not mind Chinese incursion in Doklam.

Fearing that communist betrayal of national interests may lead to an existential crisis, the RSS is being prevented from entering Kerala! They are killed if they enter Kerala.

On one hand, the Communists support the separatist movement in Kashmir, accusing the Indian government of suppressing dissent. On the other hand they hail the Chinese government for suppressing the dissent of “Uyghur” Muslims, claiming that China is only “protecting the state”. Clearly, the Communists have different yardsticks of integrity for India and their ‘motherland’ China!

Making tall claims about Doklam being part of their territory, China claims mendaciously that Bhutan accepts its stand. But the very next day Bhutan condemns and rejects all these claims as false and vilifying. Yet, the Communists of India vouch for Chinese version only! Because, for them, Leftism is more important than Realism and People’s Liberation Army (PLA China) is dearer to them than the interests of Indian people!

There is just an iota of Communism left in China, but still the loyalty towards China has not yet died in the hearts of these Indian communists.

China has territorial and coastal disputes with about 22 countries. Just like “British East India Company” which came in the name of the business, then invaded the countries and expanded the British empire, China today gives high interest loans in return for land pledged by indebted countries, then after invading their geographies, it plans to expand its empire beyond its boundaries.

But hush! We are not supposed to speak about all this! China is fire! It is ‘motherland’!

Hush! Hush! We are wrong… we are absolutely wrong!

Just like a person who chooses a path of devotion only to get a good wife for himself, just like political parties who proclaim principles only to get seats and power, Oh…Communists … say this time, atleast mutter or whisper that China is wrong.

Or if not for your own sake, say for the sake of the country, and say it strongly this time – that China is wrong!

Eagerly awaiting your response… please…

Post-script: The Maoists, who pledged their own lives and struggled with hunger and thirst in the woods and forests for the lives of poor and downtrodden, are much better than these pseudo-Communists haunting the corridors of power! The Indian Maoists in their 9th Congress convention, have resolved that Maoist China has become a regional expansionist force and have condemned the attitude of China.

(Translation from article that appeared in Andhra Jyoti, Telugu: Dt.: 13-Aug-2017)