HVK Archives: The traitors who are getting away with murder
The traitors who are getting away with murder - Organiser
M V Kamath
()
18 May 1997
Title : The traitors who are getting away with murder
Author : M V Kamath
Publication : Organiser
Date : May 18, 1997
Harkishen Singh Surjeet and his Communist gang have been getting
away with murder. They are pretending to be virtuous and attacking
the Bharatiya Janata Party as "communal" on the sound theory that
attack is the best form of defence. They need to be exposed. The
truth is that the Communists have been nationalist India's worst
enemies and have never fought shy of betraying their country. They
have to be judged on their record during the Quit India Movement
and during the period (1944-47) when the Muslim League was
demanding the vivisection of India. In regard to the second
betrayal let it suffice for the moment to quote the late Khwaja
Ahmed Abbas (Legacy of a Divided Nation: Mushirul Hasan, p. 85):
"India was killed by the Communist Party of India which provided
the Muslim separatists with an ideological basis for the irrational
and anti-national demand for Pakistan. Phrases like "homeland",
"nationalities', "self-determination", etc, were all ammunition
supplied by the Communists to the legions of Pakistan".
The betrayal of the Indian Freedom Movement by the Communists has
been described quoting chapter and verse by, K.K. Chaudhari in his
excellent work Quit India Revolution (Popular Parakashan, Mumbai),
which every member of the United Front would do well to read. The
Communist betrayal of India was systematic and thorough. The
Communist, official organ of the CPI, of November 1940 lampooned
Gandhi's individual satyagraha movement mercilessly. This
anti-Congress diatribe continued with the Communists charging
Gandhi of all people of betraying the national cause. When the AICC
passed the Quit India Resolution. People's War, the new organ of
the CPI ridiculed it, saving of the earlier labours of the Congress
Working Committee that "after nine days of labour, the Working
Committee has brought forth an abortion". The British gleefully
accepted the Communists as their saviours. Writes Chaudhari: "It
should be emphasised that the British did not entice the Communists
into betraying the Quit India Movement. In fact the Communists and
their ally N.M. Joshi, went about, systematically and persistently,
brandishing their usefulness to the Government". The British
Government took no time to release the traitorous Communists, till
then in jail, in order that they may fight the Congress. Among
those released were B.T. Ranadive, R.S. Nimbkar, S.G. Patkar, S.S.
Mirajkar, Sajjad Zaheer. The British felt that the only party. that
could sabotage the Quit India Movement was the CPI. As Chaudhari
has stated (p. 193): "On many occasions the Communists were indeed
more royalist than even the king of England". In exchange for the
release of Communists, CPI General Secretary P.C. Joshi promised
Home Secretary Reginald Maxwell to run pro-government guerrilla
camps in Punjab with the collaboration of the military,
authorities. People's War called all opponents of the CPI,
including the Congress as Fascist elements and fifth columnists"
(p. 199). Joshi was so anxious to prove the CPI's bona fides and
its utility to the British that he claimed it was doing a better
job of stemming the Quit India Movement, of denouncing Subhas Bose
and leaders of the underground - Jaya Prakash Narayan, Ram Manohar
Lohia. Achyut Patwardhan and others than the Government themselves
(p. 200). P.C. Joshi argued that Communists were more vigilant in
tracking down 'saboteurs' (Congressmen) than the police and the
CID. Communists emphatically claimed that they had successfully
divided the nationalists. In a 120-page report to the Government
Joshi bragged about what the CPI had done to sabotage the Quit
India Movement. Several files in the National Archives of India
testify, to this. The CBI was happy to assist the British
bureaucracy in intelligence work against underground Congressmen
(p. 207).
And what is the Communist record in the creation of Pakistan?
Based on documentary evidence, Chaudhari notes how "by incessant
and vociferous repetition" the Communists proclaimed the thesis
that "India was not one nation but a collection of separate
nationalities, that the demand for Pakistan is a just and
democratic one because Hindus would oppress them (Muslims) in
future, that Muslim League itself now (has become) progressive and
secular and that Congress must concede to the Muslims the right to
self-determination" (p. 208). The CPI complimented itself on how
Muslims were flocking to it because of its espousing the demand for
Pakistan. When not even the British, at that time, were ready to
accede to the Muslim League's demand for Pakistan the Bombay
Committee of the CPI vent to the extent of adopting a resolution
(13 April 1943) to the effect that the League's demand for Pakistan
should be accepted in principle (p. 209). The Communists were
willing to sell India down the drain. As Chaudhari observes:
"Documentary evidence indeed makes it amply clear that the
Government did not entice Communists: the Communists went about
systematically and persistently brandishing their utility to the
Government. They made feverish approaches to the bureaucracy
offering their services". It is significant that not even
hard-core Muslim Leaguers were betrayers of the nationalist cause.
As Chaudhari observes: "A scrutiny of documentary evidence in the
form of Bombay Congress Bulletins and newspapers makes it amply
clear that no Muslim in Bombay was found to help the CID in the
matter of investigation of sabotage activity or arrest of
Congressmen, as was done by the Communists... Congregations of
Bombay Muslims were praying for Gandhiji's life during his epic
fast".
And what was the role of the Hindu Mahasabha then, a party which
may be called the fore-runner of the BJP? Writes Chaudhari: "Hindu
Mahasabha did not betray the Congress or the Quit India Movement at
any stage... Several Sabha members did participate in the Movement
in an individual capacity, while others helped underground workers
in many ways".
One can say a lot about the BJP or the Hindu Mahasabha, but they
were not traitors as were the Communists. Inder Kumar Gujral went
to jail in the Quit India Movement and no doubt he remembers the
old days. Yet he allows himself to have a CPI leader as. his Home
Minister and the CPM to dictate to him how he should act. Either
Gujral has a short memory or he does not want to remember
inconvenient facts, If there is one party. which should be treated
- as untouchable, it is the Communist Party whether it is the CPI
or CPM version. Their treachery during the 1942 Movement should
never be forgotten. Nor should their role in the Partition of
India be forgotten. That Inder Kumar Gujral should entertain these
Papers in his Government is the irony of it all. It is an insult
to the men and women who gave their lives for the freedom of our
country. Or, for Inder Kumar Gujral, is it a matter of power at any
cost?
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