CPI(M), Left-wing supporters take on Centre, Assam govt with #LalSalaamComrade

Left parties and supporters took to Twitter today to protest against the Union government's 'failures' and also the chargesheeting of peasant leader and activist Akhil Gogoi in Assam over alleged sedition and terrorist activities.

Using #LalSalaamComrade, CPI(M) and other Left-wing groups, along with authors like Kavita Krishnan and Meena Kandasamy, and MLA Jignesh Mewani, slammed the Centre over a host of issues, and also the Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP government in Assam for NIA's chargesheet against Gogoi and his three associates.

Along with it, the CPI(M) also highlighted other issues like the Centre's 'failure' to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the continued 'witch-hunt' of JNU students, the 'one-sided' chargesheet filed in the Delhi riots case, the arrest of activists Anand Teltumbde and Gautam Navlakha in the Bhima Koregaon case, the denial of bail to pregnant Jamia student Safoora Zargar, among others.

Amid other such issues, the party also tweeted on how the Centre was giving environmental clearances to large-scale infrastructure projects, during lockdown. Ironically, the LDF government in Kerala today decided to revive the controversial Athirappilly hydel power project proposed in the ecologically sensitive Chalakkudy river basin in Thrissur district.

A couple of days ago, Assam Chief Minister Sonowal was defiantly addressed as 'comrade' and greeted with 'lal salam' on Facebook by netizens outraged by the chargesheeting of Gogoi over alleged sedition and terrorist activities.

Days after Gogoi and three of his associates were charged by the NIA, which cited the two expressions linked to Communists, to claim their involvement in seditious and terrorist activities, Sonowal's posts on the social media website drew a barrage of Left terminology.

Criticism that began trickling in from June 4 turned into a virtual avalanche in the next 2-3 days.

The posts on his official Facebook page are being greeted with expressions like 'comrade', 'lal salam', 'inquilab zindabad' and references of communist ideologues like Vladimir Lenin.

On May 29, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had filed the chargesheet against Gogoi and his three associates for alleged sedition and terror activities for their role in violent protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act that rocked Assam in December last year.

Reading the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Lenin's works, Mao Zedong's life, and calling friends comrade and greeting them with Lal Salam are some of the grounds that the NIA has cited to link them to the banned CPI(Maoist) and charge them under the stringent anti-terror law.

If convicted, they face the prospect of spending the rest of their lives behind bars.

After the contents of the chargesheet became public, the outrage spilled over to the Facebook page of Sonowal, who also holds the Home portfolio.

While most comments were limited to "comrade, lal salam", many have strongly criticised the action.

"Red Salute Red Salute. If Red salute is a crime you go and arrest Patriot Bhagathsing first then come back if you are still remains.....!!!," one user said.

Many posted memes and videos of Lenin delivering a speech after the October Revolution in Russia.

"Lalsalam comrades... When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist," a netizen wrote, referring to the famous quote by Brazilian Catholic Archbishop Dom Helder Pessoa Camara.

While people from across the country posted their comments, a sizeable section was from the Left-ruled Kerala.

(With PTI inputs)