We know that a large
number of people are either members or sincere followers of various political
parties. At the same time the number of
people who join political parties t meet their personal ends is also not small. There have also been also cases where staunch
supporters of political parties quitting one party and join another due to personal compulsion
overnight throwing to winds their
preaching and principles upheld hitherto.
An incident that took
place at my native place as far back as late 60s involving one acquaintance comes to my mind.
It was quite accidental that I had got acquainted with a person named Gopi
(name changed). He was a beedi worker in
a small shop selling pan, sweetmeat etc. I realized that he is a down-to-earth
gentleman and amiable personality. Ever
since we became close, I alongwith my friend used to drop in at the shop where
he worked every evening on our way to
Municipal Library We used to engage
ourselves in hot discussion in political matters. He was an active CPI(M) worker who used to
participate in all the programmes organized by the party Those days CPI(M) was beset with the threat
of left extremism and many CPI(M) activists were leaving the party to join
Naxalites. While discussing about this
situation he was blunt in his attack on those leaving the party and he openly
declared “in case tomorrow if I am only left in the party, I will alone hold
the red flag of CPI(M) and march fearlessly in the street”, reinforcing his strong
faith in the party.
Hardly two months
have gone by since he made the said declaration of holding alone the red flag
of the party and march fearlessly. Then one morning to my utter disbelief and
shock, I heard the news that Gopi has
quit the CPI(M) and joined RSS. I was rather baffled at the sudden and
unexpected move on the part of Gopi. On
that evening when I met him I enquired as to what are the reasons for his
shifting loyalty overnight to which he gave a laconic reply that it was due to
some family issue. Later on it has come
to light that he had some boundary
dispute with his neighbour who also
belonged to the CPI(M) and party had intervened to settle the same. Nevertheless, Gopi was adamant and was not
ready to accept the compromise formula evolved by the party . Subsequently, he quit
the CPI(M) and sought the help of RSS becoming its member next day itself.
The change of heart
of Gopi in total disregard o the principles
upheld by him was beyond my
comprehension. Thus came the end of our friendship. I do not know whether Gopi
is now alive or not.. All the same, the shift
of political ideology overnight by him
still remains fresh in my mind as a thing which is hard to digest.
******
No comments:
Post a Comment