The Communist Party of India (Marxist), on June 16 (Tuesday) organised an all-India protest against the Narendra Modi-led NDA government’s policies which according to them have failed in combating not only the spread of COVID-19 but also the economic slowdown. Several leaders and members including veteran leaders like Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M) and Polit Bureau (PB) members including Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, Nilotpal Basu and Hanan Mollah held placards and raised slogans against the Modi government.
CPI(M) uses old placards
The ‘protest’, however, turned into a mockery after CPI(M) members were amusingly seen protesting holding an old placard asking Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to go home. CPI(M), probably in a haste carried an old placard, a goof-up which did not miss to catch the attention of social media users as well.
Abhijit Iyer Mitra took to Twitter to question CPI(M) intention behind carrying a six-month-old placard asking Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to go home. “Running out of money for cardboard & pens”? questioned Mitra in a light note.
The most curious thing about this protest is that the Commie on the extreme left of this picture is holding a 6 month old placard asking Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to go home. Running out of money for cardboard & pens? https://t.co/vvii9u3gVw pic.twitter.com/JfTSY0dann
— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) June 16, 2020
Sitaram Yechury, while addressing the media, said “People are going hungry. They don’t have food to eat. We cannot have hunger deaths and self-reliant India simultaneously.” He also commented on PM Narendra Modi’s announcement of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. “You (Narendra Modi government) are privatising all the public sector, scrapping the labour laws, this will not make India self-reliant”, said party’s general secretary Sitaram Yechury who led the protest at the CPI(M) central committee office in Delhi today.
Nevertheless, while protesting, the communists, in a haste, used a few old placards they probably made while protesting Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro’s visit to India as the chief guest at the 71st Republic Day Parade in January this year.
Brazil President Jair Messias Bolsonaro attended Republic Day parade as chief guest
Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro had visited India on January 24, on the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, primarily to be the chief guest at the 71st Republic Day Parade and also explore ways to boost trade and the economic ties between the India and Brazil.
Then, the CPI(M) West Bengal had protested asking the Brazilian President to go back. Taking to Twitter the communists had then said: “#Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro who adheres to a far right-wing ideology, kingpin of the destruction & exploitation of the Amazon forests for corporate loot, mastermind behind curbing the rights of the workers of #Brazil is not welcome in India #GoBackBolsonaro #RepublicDay2020”
#Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro who adheres to a far right-wing ideology, kingpin of the destruction & exploitation of the Amazon forests for corporate loot, mastermind behind curbing the rights of the workers of #Brazil is not welcome in India #GoBackBolsonaro #RepublicDay2020 pic.twitter.com/doQN0Py9Be
— CPI(M) WEST BENGAL (@CPIM_WESTBENGAL) January 25, 2020
CPI(M) youth wing trolled for ‘protesting’ in front of the closed embassy of the Brazilian government
Last year too, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) had held ‘protests’ near the Brazilian embassy in Delhi over the burning of the Amazonian rainforest. The DYFI is a leftist organisation considered as the youth wing of CPI(M).
DYFI’s All India President PA Mohammad Riyas had shared the images of DYFI cadre then ‘protesting’ in front of the Brazilian embassy in Delhi. However, then too, DYFI had apparently forgotten that the day they had chosen to protest was a Sunday and being a holiday, the Brazilian Embassy was closed on that day.
The too, the ‘protest’ had attracted some trolling where social media users asked the relevance and purpose of communists protesting against something happening in the Brazilian rainforest while they were oblivious to environmental issues in Kerala.
