In the grand art of appropriation, no party in India can outdo the saffron squad. In recent years, they have managed to bag icons ranging from Bhagat Singh to M.K. Gandhi, Sardar Patel to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. It doesn't matter if the icon was a hardcore communist or an uber-pacifist, if the saffron crew felt a connection, they would slap on a saffron coat to their statues and status. The ones truly getting the short end of the stick are the communists and Congressies. They were supposed to guard their icons like treasures in their pockets—even if they didn't plan to actually follow their ideals. Now, all they are left with is lamenting and arguing that Bhagat Singh was not reading 'Bunch of Thoughts' before embracing death or Netaji never let out 'Jai Bajrang Bali' to pump up his INA troops.
Hold on, things are getting quite intriguing in Kerala. Looks like E.P. Jayarajan, the convenor of the Left Democratic Front, wants to serve the saffron crew a taste of their own medicine. He is laying a claim on the saffron ecosystem's prized possession, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. At a recent public meeting, Jayarajan boldly declared that Savarkar used to be an extrme-leftist, and his left-leaning escapades landed him in Andaman Cellular jail. According to Jayarajan's version, the whole Hindu Mahasabha and later RSS gig was basically a byproduct of Savarkar's Andaman jailhouse stint. Well, appropriating Savarkar's early years and his escapades in England and France must have felt like Jayarajan ji was leading a red revolution. So go ahead, Jayarajan ji, splash on that red paint!
But hold on, what really tickled this writer's curiosity were the intricate layers in Jayarajan ji's discoveries. Was he hinting that if someone slips and slides away from sort-of left-ism, they magically turn into hardcore rightists? Is that what happened to the leftist cadres in West Bengal?
Could he be pointing fingers at the ideological gymnastics of someone in his own party's current leadership? Well, getting answers from a lips-sealed mastermind like Jayarajan seems about as probable as finding a unicorn in a parking lot.
Yet, caution is advised–these are questions the saffron squad might just love to dig into, dissect, and spin. Some saffron-tinted historian could now argue that had leftists like Singh or Bose lived long lives, they would have inevitably swapped red for saffron. Oh, Jayarajan, you have popped open a veritable treasure trove of fantastical ideas with your one act of appropriation!
(This piece is a work of satire)
