CALCUTTA, 24 October 2004 — The Communist Party of India (Marxist) tore into the fundamentalist Hindu outfit, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, yesterday for its unprecedented attack on Marxist ideology and the performance of the West Bengal government.
CPI(M) politiburo member, Anil Biswas, branded RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan a “dangerous Hindu extremist” and said that “nobody in West Bengal will believe what Sudarshan has said about the Left Front government”.
“Sudarshan’s comments have exposed him as an ultra-Hindu nationalist. As a true disciple of Lal Krishna Advani, he is ignorant of Indian history and the secular heritage of West Bengal”, Anil said angrily.
Addressing a massive rally in Nagpur a day earlier, Sudarshan accused “Marxputras” (offspring of Kar Marx) and “Macaulayputras” (a reference to the English-speaking class) of harming Hindus and weakening India.
“By chance, today they are the back-seat drivers running the national government. They are using the opportunity to cause incalculable harm to Hindu forces”, said Sudarshan in Advani’s presence.
“Marxists have a negative mindset. It is borne out by their failure to do anything positive for West Bengal where they have been in power for 27 years. The state is lagging behind the rest of India in every sphere.”
Severely criticizing Sudarshan’s Left-bashing, Anil said: “RSS lies cannot shake our resolve. We have been running the West Bengal government since 1977 and will continue to do so for many more years.
“The RSS has failed to destroy Indian democracy because Marxists have been campaigning relentlessly against it. And we will do it until our last breath.”
Anil, who heads the CPI(M) in West Bengal, added: “We believe in Marxism and we are proud of it. We walk with our head held high, unlike RSS preachers who are dividing India along religious lines.”
Anil also lambasted RSS icon Savarkar — whom Sudarshan praised to the skies for his role in India’s freedom struggle — saying, “The less said about Savarkar the better. He walked out of the notorious Cellular Jail in the Andamans by signing a bond proclaiming allegiance to the British.”
The CPI(M) also refuted Sudarshan’s allegation that Marxists were aiding and abetting infiltration from Bangladesh. “We are fully aware of the problem. We are dealing with the problem jointly with the national government. But we have never encouraged infiltration”, he said. Sudarshan claimed that 7.9 million Bangladeshis had illegally entered West Bengal where they were enrolled as voters and possessed ration cards thanks to the Left Front government.
The RSS chief alleged that as Bangladeshis voted for the Left Front, the state government overlooked their anti-national activities in collusion with Pakistan’s spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), for electoral gains, a charge Anil dismissed as baseless.
