24th January 1966: Shashtriji is found dead in his room at USSR. Congress has to decide the next PM. The Congress Syndicate did not want to have Morarji Desai as PM who was thought to have a very high stature, but chose a “ghoongi gudiya(dumb dolly)” whom they can easily manipulate. Little did they know, this decision was going to bite them back.
Indira Gandhi is now the PM. But there were constant clashes between Indiraji and the syndicate(Group of leaders consisting of Morarji, Nijlingpaa, Kamraj etc). The situation comes to head when the President Dr. Zakir Hussain expired in 1969. Congress put up Neelam Sanjiva Reddy as Presidential candidate where as Indiraji supported V.V.Giri, an independent candidate. And V.V.Giri won! This resulted a split in Congress. Syndicate formed Congress(O) where as Indiraji’s faction was called Congress(R).
Congress(R) now became 45 MPs short of majority in loksabha. And here enters the Communist Party of India (CPI). The govt survives on left support. The left did not ask for ministries or alluring posts, their agenda was much more well thought. They started their agenda of “red-washing” the brains.
The left stood by Indiraji during all her difficult times i.e. when she abolished privy purses, nationalized the banks/coal mines, reformed bureaucracy etc. With so many enemies(including Supreme Court) trying to corner her, Indiraji did not want to leave a “true friend” and did what Left wanted :– “Indiraji manages politics and left manages peoples’ brains“. And hence from around this time onwards, all intellectual space was taken over by left.
They took the below steps:
- Education ministry: CPI made Indiraji appoint staunch left leaning historian Saiyid Nurul Hasan as the education minister of India. He inaugurated the “red-washing” process.
- ICHR: Nurul Hasan established the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) to rewrite the history filled with left historians. Narratives like “Buddhism/Jainism took birth to oppose Brahmanical tyranny, whole Indian history is filled with caste strife, Mughals were great, elimination of the role of native rulers from history, Sikhism is a separate religion” etc. were incorporated in Indian history by this institution. I would argue that the British historians were far better than the left. the British did not demean the concept of “Bharatavarsa” to that extent the left did.
- JNU: Jawaharlal Nehru University was filled with left leaning faculty and no one contradicting the ideology was allowed entry or even given a PhD degree. Why JNU is important? Because, a number of Civil services cadres were filled with students from JNU. This “red washed” Indian bureaucracy to great extent. Also the JNU students opened many coaching centers for UPSC/SPSC aspirants, there by indoctrinating students before they entered services.
- Catch them young: In parallel Nurul Hasan started rewriting the NCERT text books and induct them with leftist history and agenda. We all know how NCERT books propagate the left agenda.
- Capture the entertainment industry: Emergency made Indiraji very unpopular. But the communists remained by her side, never criticized her and extending tactical support. V. C. Shukhla was appointed as the Information Broadcasting minister. He ensured that all movies are thoroughly watched before they are released. From this time onwards, the Bollywood never made any movie contradicting leftist agenda. From around this time we also see that underworld gets entrenched itself in bollywood.
- Alliance with the Jihadis: Knowing very well that their public support cannot last long, the Communists also made alliance with Jihadis. The percentage of Bangladeshis increased in Bengal during the left rule. The text books praised the Mughals and demeaned the local rulers. Taslima Nasreen’s book “Lajja” which just highlighted the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh was banned in India after the hue and cry by the Islamic clergy. The left definition of secularism, liberalism and women empowerment doesn’t apply to Muslims – radical clergy needs to be kept happy.
In nutshell, I can say that Left in a very systematic manner captured the brain of the country. With left political influence dwindling, things have become better. But it is imperative that Indians never let the left gain political power in India and breach their last remaining bastion in Kerala.
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