Author: Rakesh Sinha
Publication: The Organiser
Date: June 25, 2000
"It is not that Communists do not know the truth. It is only that Communists
cannot bear the truth. Truth is Communists' deadly enemy."
Jay Prakash Narayan
The CPI's role during and before the Emergency is a well-known fact.
It not only collaborated with the authoritarian regime of Smt Indira Gandhi
but also acted as regime agent against the democrats. Their role during
1975-77 was similar to that of during the quit India movement in 1942 when
they acted as an agent of the British imperialism against the Indian freedom
fighters. It was difficult for them to accept Jay Prakash as their leader
whom they had derided as Fascist in 1942 and had not changed their assessment
about their role in 1942 and vilification of the heroes, particularly JP.
Thus when the students movement in Bihar took organised shape after JP
took its leadership and demanded dissolution of the Assembly which failed
to fulfill the aspirations of the people. Tile CPI organised counter agitation
to protect the corrupt, inefficient Abdul Gafoor ministry of Bihar. Paradoxically
the CPI, using the resources and patronage of the authoritarian and Fascist
regime of Indira Gandhi, organised All India Conference against Fascism
in Patna in December 1975. There is a remarkable parallel between the 1942
and 1975. Both the occasions when the country and the people of India faced
'severest' repression from the autocratic regimes, the CPI enjoyed complete
freedom. Its membership, as the party record says, increased substantially
during the two years of the Emergency from 3,55,525 (as reported in its
Vijaywada Congress in 1975) to 5,46,343 (in 1977). It reminds one its 'growth'
during the Quit India Movement. The party membership went up from 4000
in July 1942 to 30,000 in January 1944. During the repressive regime of
the British colonialism the party organised the first party congress in
May-June 1943 and during the Emergency the party celebrated its 50th anniversary.
The role once played by the then CPI's organ People's War during the Quit
India movement was now replayed by New Age. It revived its old thesis of
Fascist danger and vilified both the RSS and JP as "Fascists". However,
dismal performance in the elections in 1977 forced the party to re-examine
its political Line. The CPI was able to win only seven seats that too only
from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Its percentage of votes declined to 2.82. it
faced alienation from both people and cadres. In its 11th party congress
in Bhatinda (31st March - 7th April, 1978) the party expressed deep regret
for its, mistake:
"Our party's independent image was blurred and it became identified
with the then ruling Congress party. For this we have to pay heavily in
the post-Emergency Lok Sabha election. we grossly underestimated the sense
of suffocation and fear that the continuation of Emergency was creating
among vast section of people." Interestingly the CPI neither questioned
the very rational of the Emergency nor accepted its mistake of opposing
the biggest democratic struggle in the post-independent India. It only
says, "We did not raise our voice against indiscriminate arrests under
the MISA as strongly as we should have done."
Contrary to the belief that the CPI-M played anti-authoritarian role,
it stabbed the JP Movement in the back. It is true that its role was not
pro-Indira Gandhi but it had also not supported the JP Movement. The fact
is that while there was unanimity in the CPI to support Smt Gandhi, the
CPI-M was a divided house. The Congress placated the pro-Chinese CPI-M
by appointing Shri K.R. Narayanan, as an ambassador in Peking (Beijing)
in 1976, which predictably elicited a positive reaction from the CPI-M.
The CPI-M welcomed it as "constructive tilt" towards Indira Gandhi's Government's
anti-imperialist foreign policy. But the fact remains that a section led
by jyortimoy Basu and a section of the party cadres' in Kerala, particularly
from Kunnore, supported anti-Emergency underground movement led by RSS-Socialists
combine. Thus the CPI-M's policy was head you lose tail I will. Its opportunism
has been shrewdly disguised by the Marxists. However some facts that were
not known to the world now unmask their real face. The party offered itself
as all obedient communists as EMS Namboodiripad wrote V.C. Shukla, the
then IB Minister, oil May 23, 1976, "The other day you told Samar Mukherjee
and me that you are prepared to withdraw pre-censorship on our papers if
there is gentlemen agreement that editors of our papers will work within
tile framework of the guidelines. whether we like it or not, we are obliged
ill tile interest of the continued bringing out of our publication, to
accommodate ourselves to the guidelines." (emphasis added)
The CPI's delegation led by EMS met Prime Minister Smt Indira Gandhi
in the month of March 1976 and assured her support to all her "anti-imperialist
policies". It was revealed by Comrade M.N. Govindan Nair, the CPI veteran
who was a minister in Kerala Government during the Emergency. He repeatedly
into the made statements accusing CPI-M playing double game. EMS and A.K.
Gopalan who were detained under MISA on July 9, 1975, were released thereby
a week later! The party lobbied with tile central government for advertisements
ill its party publications. While thousands of facilities were struggling
for bread and butter since earning members were either arrested under MISA
or leading underground movement, the CPI-M was making all bid to generate
revenue through the government support. EMS' letter to Indira Gandhi on
October 11, 1975, clearly shows this: "I have already drawn your letter
attention to the manner in which press censorship is used against us. Innumerable
other instances of discrimination shown against our paper can be given
but A do not want to bother, you with them. I, however, want to raise the
question of denial of government advertisements to our papers in Malayalam
about which our Chief Editor, Comrade P. Govinda Pillai, personally talked
to Shri Karunakaran (then the CM) and to Shri Shukla (VC)." (emphasis added)
The CPI-M complained against Malayalam' and English press and offered
the government its services to penalise them only to prove its innocence.
EMS wrote VC Shukla on 23 May 1976.
"You told Samar Mukherjee and me that pre-censorship was relmposed on
Deshabhimani because, in spite of warnings we continued to publish news-items
concerning the squabbles between Karunakaran and Anthony groups of the
Congress in Kerala... However supposing that interpretation (that Deshabhimani
reports on sqabbles within the Congress party in Kerala are covered by
this instruction) is correct may I ask you how all the papers in Malayalam
(including those that are 100 per cent if not more in support of government
policies) could give graphic accounts of the clashes between the two groups
of the youth Congress in Kerala at the time of the visit made by Ambika
Soni, the president of the All India Youth Congress to Kerala?
"How have your censoring officers in Kerala failed to report to you
that such news-items appeared in Mathribhoomi, Malayalam Monorama etc.?
If they have not I am prepared to send you press clippings in the original
Malayalam together with their English translation."
The party's division on the question of Emergency, was an open fact.
Jyortimay Basu' and handful of party leaders were arrested under MISA.
The issue appeared in the press and exposed the party's rank and file.
The sources of such news were the CPI-M cadres who were not happy with
the leadership's role during the Emergency and its attempt to patch up
with the Congress government and EMS solicited the help of the government
to use censorship against such news.
"You (V.C. Shukla) told us (EMS and Samar Mukherjee) then that, if any
such report (squabbles in the CPI-M) given to you, you will take action.
"You stated that you do not know that certain papers have taken upon
themselves the job of giving currency to all sorts of reports-most of them
false; but even supposing that some of them are true, they should not be
published according to the standard laid down by you for our papers about
what is supposed to be going inside our party, do you not know the several
papers in Calcutta (Bengali and English) have, under your censorship regime
and with pre-censorship prevailing in the state of West Bengal, published
lots of 'reports' about the alleged 'internal conflicts in the West Bengal
party' and 'in all India leadership. if you feel necessary I am prepared
to give lots of press clippings."
The CPI-M was perturbed by the news-items concerning serious conflicts
inside the party. The CPI, a Congress tail, described that section of the
CPI-M supporting the JP movement as "professional hoodwinkers". There was
a mad race 'to win support of the Congress regime. White the CPI was naked
in its efforts the CPI-M was facing inner resistance. It was the only difference.
For instance, anti-Emergency literature, Resistance, published from JNU
students including the SFI members was condemned by the CPI in a leaflet,
The Truth about Resistance (dated November 20th 1975)
"The bulk of underground literature in Delhi, the outpourings of the
RSS-BLD-Anand Marg combine are cyclostyled and printed by "revolutionary
comrades" of the CPI-M-SFI. The number of CPI-M comrades arrested to resist
Emergency was far less than those arrested during the Indo-China war in
1962-64 or Indo Pak war in 1965 acting as fifth columnists."
Both the communist parties were playing the role which matches their
character with the communists of Germany during the Nazi regime, to quote
Ram Manohar Lohia, "When Herr Hitler came to power in Germany, it was easy
enough to notice how those brave and valiant and thinking Europeans belonging
to socialists and communist parties had lost all their manhood and although
I regret to have to say this word they behaved more or less like rats,
scurrying to and fro for shelter from Hitler."
(The author is a Reader in Political Science in Delhi University)