Indian communists have mastered the art of hypocrisy over the decades. They present themselves as liberals but their liberalism has been selective. When it suits them, they fall back on the very methods that they accuse their rivals of — stifling contrary opinions and pandering to sectarian or religious outrages. In the most recent case, the Communist Party of India (Marxists) has slammed a book that speaks of the misrule of the Manik Sarkar Government in Tripura and has begun campaign to discredit a film, Lal Sarkar, that reportedly presents a less than complimentary account of the regime in that northeastern State. The Left’s anxiety has been heightened since the book and the yet to be released film have been made into issues by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its ongoing election campaign. This is in sharp contrast to the Left’s rhetoric over the film, Padmaavat, where it condemned the protests against the film by a bunch of Rajput organisations and the refusal of some BJP regimes to have the film released in their respective States.
Thus, according to the Left, freedom of expression is fine when it comes to targeting the Right but not done when such freedom is directed at them. But this is not the first instance, nor will it will be the last of the communists’ doublespeak. It may be recalled that the Left Front had, when it was in power West Bengal, hounded Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen when she was staying there. The writer had through her books spoken about extremities arising out of the intolerant brand of Islam. Indeed, senior communist leader Biman Bose had suggested that Nasreen should move out of West Bengal since her presence had caused unrest there! Instead of offering her protection and criticising the fanatics who had been threatening her, the ’liberal’ Left had left her to the wolves. Years before, the Left had taken a similarly hypocritical position on celebrated author Salman Rushdie over his book, The Satanic Verses. It did not let out a squeak even when the then Union Government banned the book. None had read the book but the outrage in sections of the Muslim community was sufficient for the Left to throw in the towel. Freedom of expression was then damned. The violence unleashed by Left goons in Kerala against its rivals, particularly the RSS and the BJP, is another example of how the communists view even the legitimate political differences.
The communists have lost public trust over the years, but they refuse to learn.
Discussion about this post