How often does it happen that mainstream media, social media, journalists, politicians and five star activists all come together to kick up a storm over a municipality bulldozing illegal construction? I am guessing not very much.
But then, how often does it happen that a municipality goes ahead and bulldozes a building even after there is a Supreme Court order to maintain status quo? I don’t know. Is there a precedent? When was the last time the Supreme Court ruled on a matter of some municipal authority demolishing an illegal construction? That too on such an emergency basis. I cannot say if the municipal authorities in Delhi are in contempt of court. But in case they are, I demand that they should immediately pay what I am assuming is the standard fine of Re 1 in all such cases.
So everything that happened in the national capital yesterday was quite unprecedented. Well, except for the municipality bulldozing illegal construction. That happens somewhere or the other, every day in India. It sucks to be one of the people whose homes or businesses get torn down, but the administration is just doing its job as well.
I know what they are saying. They allege that one particular community was “targeted.” They ask why the part in front of a mosque was torn down when nearby temples, which might appear unauthorized to some, were not? Again, I don’t know. Maybe it was just a coincidence. All I know is that “whataboutery” is not allowed. I learned that from liberals themselves.
If you ask me, by far the most unprecedented thing yesterday was CPM’s Brinda Karat trying to block bulldozers in Delhi. A top Communist hitting the streets of Delhi instead of five star hotel lobbies and air conditioned rooms? Has hell frozen over yet? But I guess that desperate times call for desperate measures. With so many Bengali Muslim votes on the line, and the CPM desperate to find some footing in Bengal, the Communist leadership had to be seen doing something.
And of course Brinda Karat got tons of praise for posing in front of TV cameras yesterday. The Communists may have mass murdered 100 million people, but they do know how to work the media. In fact, her appearance incited the kind of groveling admiration from intellectuals, celebrities and journalists that might be second only to that of Sonia Gandhi herself. You can expect these stool pigeons to keep applauding this photo op well into this year, and the next.
But you know who were not applauding? The 28,000 victims of the Communist regime in West Bengal. And that’s just the official figure. Then state home minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya provided it himself in 1997, on the floor of West Bengal Assembly. So 28,000 political murders between 1977 and 1996, working out to about 4 murders per day, every day for twenty years.
I wonder. How many Supreme Court hearings have happened about that?
In any case, 28,000 is just a number, even if it refers to dead bodies of actual human beings. Poor and forgotten, their bodies lie buried in the countryside all across West Bengal. Some might be in mass graves, some not. You might think they left a few bodies to rot just like that, but you would be wrong. Because you might not know about the “Bengal model” of body disposal. There is some kind of “scientific” way to dispose off a body with salt so that it quickly becomes unrecognizable. It is typical Communist style innovation, which stresses being cheap, brutal and scalable.
I don’t know the exact details of this gory process, but the Communist politburo, of which Ms. Karat is a member, might have a clue. Better still, there is a rumor that a certain someone was sent to Bengal during that time to study this method and bring the knowhow for body disposal to other states. Some people say this person is a Chief Minister right now. Yes, as of right now…
That is Communists when they have power in an Indian state. What would happen tomorrow if they get national power? We don’t have to go back to Stalin or Mao to find out what would happen. Let me take you to this heartwarming interview with CPM General Secretary in 2019.
Interviewer: There must be some affinity that you or any other Communist has towards China?
His answer?
What I cannot show you in this screenshot is just how many times he nodded eagerly before saying absolutely. It was like asking a father if he loves his child…
Now remember the face of Brinda Karat standing in front of a bulldozer, apparently trying to stop “injustice”.
I should mention that the interviewer appeared somewhat disgusted with Yechury’s answer. I suppose that is why he asked this follow up question:
Interviewer: But human rights violations, comrade… They [China] are doing organ harvesting of Muslims.
His answer?
Don’t just read what he said. Also note the smile with which he said it.
And now think about Brinda Karat’s face, pretending to stand up to bulldozers yesterday. Oh, I forgot. I’m not supposed to do whataboutery. I will stop now.