Chidambaram’s heart bleeds for a Maoist

Congress leader P. Chidambaram’s concern for the imprisoned Maoist ideologue and litterateur Varavara Rao is indeed touching. He wants Rao, who is corona-positive, to be treated “properly”—and that too in “a super speciality hospital.”

The former home minister knows from his personal experience that the conditions in our jails are not good. While demanding proper treatment for ailing prisoners is kosher, one wonders why such solicitude is reserved for a Maoist.

To begin with, Maoists are not garden variety Leftists—the folks who lord over public discourse and eloquently champion the causes of workers, peasants, minorities, etc. Maoists are criminals who believe, with their god Mao Zedong, that power flows from the barrel of the gun. Mao ended up slaughtering anywhere between 30 million to 70 million of his own countrymen and women; his followers are way behind him on this count, but they are no less brutal. This is evident from the continuous attacks on our paramilitary troopers by the Maoists. The Maoists, also called Naxals or Naxalites, have murdered thousands of security persons and many more civilians.

The 80-year-old Rao has been accused of involvement in the Bhima-Koregaon violence in Maharashtra in December 2017. The police say that he was one of the conspirators plotting to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The truth of the charges will be known in a court of law, but it is undeniable that Rao has been a lifelong communist, a Maoist actually. “In the Left intellectual circles,” The Quint wrote on August 28, 2018, “Varavara Rao is a big name and is known for taking strong stances against neo-liberalization of the state. A prolific poet, he has over 15 poetry collections to his name and is also a founding member of the Viplava Rachayitala Sangham or Revolutionary Writers’ Association, popularly known as Virasam. The association was later banned by the Andhra Pradesh government.”

In fact, being a Maoist, Rao wants to end the Indian republic as we know and replace it with a people’s republic; the template, needless to say, is Mao’s China. Rao hates not just the Right-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party but also all parties, including the Congress.

Yet, Chidambaram tweeted: “The condition of Shri Varavara Rao as described by his family is a matter of grave concern. It is beyond belief that the State, the police and the prison authorities can behave in such an inhuman manner under the watch of the NHRC.” He went on to demand, “Shri Varavara Rao should be released immediately and admitted to a super speciality hospital that will treat him properly.”

Chidambaram’s tweets signify the grand old party’s obsession with the Left—to be precise, the Nehru-Gandhi family’s obsession. Nehru himself was a socialist; Indira Gandhi embraced socialism because she wanted to placate the Left; under Sonia Gandhi, all shades of Lefties were mainstreamed; and now Rahul is going Leftward. Perhaps, Chidambaram’s concern for Rao’s health is just virtue signaling, his way of telling the pinkish intellectual establishment that he is favorably inclined towards them.

One wishes the senior GOP leader also showed some concern for the thousands of under-trials who are languishing in jails because of lack of resources. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, by the end of 2017 over 3 lakh people were in Indian jails without being held guilty by any court. Many of them are people who would have been out had they been convicted for the crimes they were accused of. But they are deprived of their right to liberty because they can’t afford legal expenses.

Chidambaram’s heart doesn’t bleed for them but for a Maoist..