CPI(M)-RSS cooperation: Venugopal contests CM's claim

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 19 (PTI) AICC general secretary K C Venugopal on Thursday contested Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s claim that the CPI(M) had not collaborated with the RSS during the Emergency period.

"History will not disappear by turning a blind eye to it," Venugopal said, citing CPI(M)’s first general secretary P Sundarayya’s resignation from his post, protesting against the party’s decision to ally with the Jan Sangh and RSS in the name of confronting the Emergency.

In his resignation letter, Sundarayya had listed the reasons for resigning from party positions, including the party’s alliance with the ‘pro-imperialist’ Jan Sangh and the ‘fascist’ RSS in the name of fighting the Emergency, Venugopal said in his Facebook post.

Sundarayya had then pointed out that with such an alliance, the party will be isolated among the anti-imperialist and socialist forces in democratic societies both in our country and abroad, Venugopal said, quoting the letter.

He alleged that the chief minister is trying to put up an anti-RSS facade in an attempt to mask the party’s earlier cooperation with the RSS.

Venugopal charged that Vijayan himself entered the assembly for the first time in 1977 with the support of the RSS. He also remined the CM about the joint support given by the CPI(M) and BJP to V P Singh government in 1989.

Venugopal also alleged that the CPI(M) had a tacit understanding with the BJP in the 2021 assembly elections in Kerala.

The controversy over the CPI(M)-RSS alliance was triggered by CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan’s remark in an interview that his party had collaborated with RSS in its fight against the Emergency.

Though Govindan corrected his statement later, Congress leaders latched on to it, with the Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan terming it an ‘open request’ to the RSS to cast their votes in favour of CPI(M) candidate in the Nilambur assembly byelection.

In a press conference later on Wednesday, the CM denied that there was any political cooperation with the RSS at any time. "The RSS is a communal force that had always targeted CPI(M) cadres," he said.

Vijayan had also alleged that it was the Congress which had tied up with the BJP and RSS several times in the past, citing several instances. PTI MVG MVG KH