The news that the Communist Party of China is celebrating its centenary sparked two memories. The first was of a conversation with a “lapse...
The news that the Communist Party of China is celebrating its centenary sparked two memories. The first was of a conversation with a “lapsed” communist. It was in the late ’80s and he was a member of an organisation that called itself the “purest communist party”, at least in India.
While attending the meeting of one its state committees in Bangalore, a report about an incident from the student protests in Beijing came up for discussion. Someone had thrown paint on a portrait of Chairman Mao on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. In response to the news, a senior leader of the party on stage suddenly burst out in anger and gave his judgment: the culprits should be hanged.
Defacing the portrait of Mao was deemed an act of blasphemy, which called for nothing less than the death sentence. These words sent shivers down my friend’s spine. That turned out to be possibly his last day in the party.
A heavy hand
I was in Patna then and was active on various fronts of the Communist Party of India, a party not considered sufficiently red by other communist parties. When the news of the Tiananmen Square protests reached us, we were filled with hope. What could be better after...
