Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan has decried attempts to challenge the history of Kerala’s anti-caste movements. He was opening a seminar organised by the party to mark the centenary of the Vaikom Satyagraha, at Vadakara in Kozhikode on Saturday.
Mr. Govindan delivered his speech online. The CPI(M) leader claimed that attempts were being made by certain sections to challenge the history of people’s movements against caste atrocities. Kerala’s public conscience had been shaped by such struggles, and it would definitely correct any attempt to challenge history, he added.
Earlier, Mr. Govindan criticised the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Union government for trying to portray V.D. Savarkar, who had no great role in the anti-imperialist movement in the country, as a hero. Savarkar was the one who wrote mercy petitions to the British authorities to get himself released from jail, he added.
The Centre chose to open the new Parliament building on Savarkar’s birth anniversary, said Mr. Govindan. “Secular democratic political parties can never agree with the way the new building was inaugurated as the President of India and the Vice President, who is also the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, were not invited to the event. Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented himself as the sole person representing the country there. The government had no remorse in not inviting the President,” he said. The incident was an example of the Savarna psyche of BJP leaders, added Mr. Govindan.
