For the first time, CPM joined India's Independence Day celebrations by hoisting tricolour in front of party offices in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, on Sunday. CPM central committee which met in New Delhi early this month asked the party rank and file to celebrate Independence Day as part of efforts to resist the ultra-nationalist politics of BJP. CPM said that Independence Day should be celebrated in such a manner that it would help expose the ‘hollowness’ in the claims of right-wing forces, especially RSS and BJP.
CPM’s Independence Day celebrations did not pass without inviting criticism from its political rivals. KPCC president K Sudhakaran said he was happy to note the changing mindset of CPM. “The party which used to call August 15 as Apathu 15 (Danger 15) has now started hoisting the national flag. I’m happy that CPM has finally recognised the legacy of Congress. CPM is an organisation that rejected Gandhiji. They should show the gumption to accept their mistakes of the past,” Sudhakaran said.
CPM acting state secretary A Vijayaraghavan, who hoisted the flag close to the party red flag in front of AKG Centre said Sudhakaran’s criticism against CPM stemmed out his ignorance about the Indian independence struggle and the role played by the Communists in it. According to him, the country should think aloud about whether the dreams of the freedom fighters has come true or not.
BJP state president K Surendran escaped humiliation by a whisker as he pulled the wrong end of the rope while hoisting the flag in front of BJP state committee office in Thiruvananthapuram. CPM and CPI also came under attack as they hoisted the national flag next to the party flag. Youth Congress filed a police complaint, saying the CPM and CPI violated the Flag Code of India protocol by hoisting the national flag near party flags on par or a notch above the national flag.
