The participation of the Left Front leaders in celebrating 100 years of the Chinese Communist Party on Tuesday comes at a time when there is a tense situation building up at the India-China border with the two countries flexing muscles at each other at every given opportunity. This indeed takes us back to the War of 1962 which the Communist Party of India celebrated and supported the Chinese act of aggression against India.
The Chinese Embassy in India had organized a virtual conference at the Chinese embassy in Delhi to mark the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China on Tuesday. The online seminar was hosted by Chinese ambassador Sun Weidong and CPC’s international department counsellor Du Xiaolin. A section of prominent Indian Left Front leaders and a DMK parliamentarian participated in the virtual event which included CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI’s Lok Sabha MP D Raja, DMK parliamentarian S Senthilkumar and All India Forward Bloc central committee secretary G Devarajan.
The theme of this seminar was “Sharing Experience on Party-Building, Promoting Exchanges and Cooperation”. The participation of the Communist leaders in the Chinese event comes at a time when both India and China are closely watching each other along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the Indo-Pacific region. India’s external affairs ministry accused China of breaking an agreement and disrespecting the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Galwan Valley in June 2020.
Taking advantage of the situation the Chinese envoy chose the virtual platform to share its stand on Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh, where troops of both the countries clashed last year, leading to casualties on both sides. The Chinese envoy, unsurprisingly, skipped on what the triggered the clash and talked about maintaining peace in the region. During the interaction, it was expected of the Indian leaders to question the Chinese Ambassador or stand with their country, but they were silently accepting what the Chinese leader had to say.
India was never on common ground with China, be it historically or based on the present scenario. In the aftermath of the Galwan valley clash, Indian government banned Chinese apps and Chinese companies. PM Modi did not even wish the Chinese president on his birthday neither did he acknowledged the completion of 100 years anniversary of the CCP. However, the communists in India joyously celebrated the same.
Tracing back to 1962 when China invaded India, leftist leaders supported the Chinese government’s actions against India. When some leftist leaders opposed this stand and wanted to support India instead, their position in the party was reduced and they were even punished. Some of them, who wanted to donate blood for the soldiers of India or help the Indian Army with money, were stopped from doing so. During the war, many leftist leaders were even holding rallies in support of China; the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had imprisoned all pro-Chinese Marxist leaders for betrayal, calling them ‘Chinese spies’. It was after this war the CPI broke up and CPI (M) was formed.
Indian leftists participating in CCP programs and celebrating their 100th anniversary makes it clear amply that the legacy of the 1962 war continues. Ironically, it is quite precise that enemies of India are not just sitting outside the borders, but they also exist within the country. Such anti-Indian leaders and parties even contest elections and have supporters here; the Communist Parties of India could still be tagged as the “China sympathizer” as nothing has changed in the perception of the Indian leftists since 1962.