National News
Kim Jong-un a communist ‘hero’ in Kerala? CPM left red-faced after North Korea leader features on party posters
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) was left red-faced in Kerala as party posters in the state’s Nedumkandam, Idukki district emerged featuring an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
According to The Indian Express, the posters, showing the autocrat giving out a salute, were supposed to announce the details of a party gathering in town but ended up as an embarrassment for the party.
The report quoted a district party leader as saying that the embarrassing error happened at the regional level as local workers had put the posters up. ‘The posters were duly removed when it came to the attention of senior leaders. No action has been taken against the workers yet,’ he said, according to The Indian Express.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra was quick to attack the CPM and tweeted saying that the poster reasons ‘the mass killing of RSS cadres in the state’.
Patra said that he hoped that CPM does not launch a missile attack on the BJP, RSS offices like Kim’s plans to nuke the United States.
According to a report in India Today, the party has, in the past, reportedly used images of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin on their posters, but this is the first instance of using the North Korean leader’s image.
Speaking to India Today, Patra said: “The poster is not an unintentional mistake. This is intentional and shows the mindset of the Left. Also exposes the intolerance brigade.”
The constituency is represented by Power Minister MM Mani. The posters were put up as part of the area committee conferences being held, in the run-up to the quadrennial party congress in Hyderabad in April next year.
CPM district secretariat member PN Vijayan, however, seemed to defend the move. Speaking to The Times of India, he said: “Kim is the only communist leader who dares to challenge US president Donald Trump. He’s a die-hard fighter against American imperialism which has killed thousands while playing the role of the world’s cop. For us, that is the important thing; we do not consider other elements of Kim’s personality.”
Over the years, both CPM and the BJP-RSS faction have seen altercations that have often turned violent. The state, especially Kannur, has seen a number of deaths as a result of killings and counter-killings of both the CPM and RSS cadres.
