CPI M never cooperated with RSS Kerala CM

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 18 (PTI) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday denied any political cooperation between the CPI(M) and the RSS during the Emergency period, calling the right-wing group a "communal force" that had targeted Marxist cadres.


Addressing the media on the eve of the crucial Nilambur Assembly bypoll, Vijayan also launched a sharp attack on the Congress leadership, indirectly targeting former KPCC president K Sudhakaran and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan. He accused the opposition party of compromising its secular principles for "political gains".

The CPI(M) veteran made the statements in the wake of CPI (M) state secretary M V Govindan 's recent remarks that the Marxist party had collaborated with the RSS out of necessity during the Emergency, triggering a political debate on the eve of the Nilambur bypoll.

Though the state secretary clarified his statements earlier in the day, the Congress alleged that it was a deliberate move by the CPI(M) to secure right-wing votes by reminding the RSS and the BJP about their past alliance.

Labelling the RSS a "fascist outfit", Vijayan said the Marxist party has never found any common ground with it since the organisation's inception in 1925.


The Left party has never made any compromise with the RSS at any point in time, he asserted.

Vijayan further claimed that it was the Congress party which cooperated with the RSS at the national and local levels on various occasions during these years.

"There was no relation between the CPI (M) and the RSS during the emergency period. Not just that, we didn't have any connection even with the political party of Jan Sangh during that period," he said categorically rejecting Govindan's remarks.

The Left veteran alleged that the RSS had been considering the Communist activists as the internal foes and had killed 215 Marxist party activists in Kerala in these years.

"RSS is a communal group which has been waiting with weapons to murder us."

Even during the post-emergency period of 1977-79, the RSS had killed many Left cadres, he alleged.

In an apparent dig at Satheesan, Vijayan said none of the CPI (M) leaders had ever bowed before the photos of RSS leaders or paid respect before it.

He said even as scores of Left cadres were killed by the RSS, the Congress had never condemned it.

He also recalled former KPCC Chief Sudhakaran's controversial remark that the Congress workers had guarded RSS Shakhas in Kannur.

Recalling the political climate in the country during the time of emergency, he said the CPI(M) had agitated independently without aligning with any other force against the excessive use of power by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Dismissing claims of an understanding between the CPI (M) and the RSS as "sheer nonsense", the veteran leader wondered how CPI(M)'s electoral cooperation with the Janata party in 1977 could be equated with a relationship with the Jan Sangh or the RSS, merely because the Jan Sangh had merged with the Janata party.


Citing various books and journals, the CM accused Indira Gandhi of maintaining cordial ties with the RSS and receiving support from the right-wing outfit during the post-emergency period.



He further charged the Congress-led UDF with "forging an alliance" with the RSS in the elections post-1980 in the state.

He pointed out that their joint candidate in the Kasaragod Parliamentary poll in 1980 was not a Congress or Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader – but prominent Jan Sangh leader O Rajagopal, who became BJP's union minister later.

The CM also cited examples of various state and Lok Sabha elections to substantiate his claims of secret cooperation between the UDF and Jan Sangh, RSS and the BJP.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)