These are not good times for Indian Communists. They are getting dragged from one issue to another and with every Issue their carefully cultivated Mask is slipping off! Last year, It was Carnage at Nandigarm, Few weeks back it was carnage at Kannur and now its their stand vis-à-vis the uprising in Tibet.
On Tibet, Sitaram Yechury, leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, refused to condemn the violence in Tibet, described by the Dalai Lama as 'cultural genocide' by the Chinese government.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Yechury said the clashes were an internal affair of China. He asked.
"How can we condemn the incidents in Tibet, which is an internal part of China?"
Ironically, Sitaram Yechury was part of the seven-member political delegation that had visited Nepal in Year 2005 to express solidarity with the people in their "struggle for restoration of democracy". After his trip to Nepal, he had proudly told reporters that the delegation told the Nepali leaders that while Indian political parties were in Kathmandu to express solidarity it was for the people of Nepal and the political parties to address issues such as the character of democracy and its structure, the role of the king in a future set up.
He had said
The struggle for democracy would intensify after the festival period of Dusshera and Deepavali. Last time the struggle for democracy in 1990 took 60 days and hopefully it would take less time now.
When asked about the incident of stoning and black flags being shown to the delegation on its arrival in Kathmandu, Mr. Yechury said,
"In a democracy there is a right to protest ... we only want the king to give such rights to all."
Well, We can understand the predicament of Mr. Yechury. That was Nepal "the Only Hindu Country" and this is China "CPM's Mentor"
Even in parliament, Usually at the forefront of action, particularly over human rights issues, the Left presented a muted picture as MPs cutting across partylines expressed anguish and concern over the crackdown on protesting monks in Tibet. They were even silent even when Gorakhpur MP Adityanath took a sharp dig at Left MPs, referring to them as "China's representatives" in Parliament. I guess sometimes Dogs Do not Bark and this is one of such times.
The Left's silence was all the more striking as the "Red" parties have spent most of last year strenuously denying that their opposition to the India-US nuclear deal had anything to do with their "soft" spot for China which has not been too comfortable about India officially becoming a member of the nuclear club.
Shamefully, they even tried to club Tibet Issue with Kashmir issue which even China has not done! CPI leader Sitaram Yechury said warned
"those who talk of Tibet should remember that Kashmir could well be India's Achilles' heel"
This reminds me of the story "King has new clothes" I guess in this case, it would be safe if we say "CPM has new clothes"
