Kobad Ghandy, a former senior CPI (Maoist) leader, has spent over a decade in jail on charges of plotting to carry out terror attacks in the country. Ghandy sticks to his criticism of the Left politics.
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) expelled former senior Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy after accusing him of moving away from Marxism-Leninism-Maoism principles and practising “spiritualism”.
In a statement released on Saturday (November 27), the central committee of the CPI (Maoist) accused him of being co-opted by the ruling political forces. “Ghandy has worked for over 50 years by following the principles of politics of Naxalbari, first as CPI(ML) central committee member, later as Maharashtra state committee leader and subsequently as member of the CPI(Maoist) politburo. He was jailed in 2009. Since then, he has been maintaining that he has no connection to the party. He has been doing this at the behest of ruling political forces, showing that he has lost his honesty. What message can such dishonest people give to the society?” read the statement released by CPI (Maoist) spokesperson Abhay.
Kobad Ghandy was arrested in September 2009 on charges of being a Politburo member of the banned CPI (Maoist). He was accused of plotting terror attacks and spent a decade in jails across the country. In October 2019, he was released on bail from Surat jail.
After his release from jail, Ghandy published his memoir “Fractured Freedom: A Prison Memoir” in March. This book has rattled the Central Committee of CPI (Maoist).
The statement reads, “Through this book, it is understood that he was completely separated from Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.” Ghandy has been accused of eulogising the ideas of “humanitarianism, idealism,” which it says is “in essence bourgeoisie and ruling class ideology.”
In his memoir, Ghandy has severely criticised the dogmatic approach of Leftist politics. In a statement to The Indian Express, Ghandy stood by his criticism of the Left politics. “I strongly stand by what I wrote (in the book). And I will continue to raise these questions. If I am wrong, they should tell me why the Communist movement around the world is collapsing, why they are sticking to the same dogmatic approach,” he said.
He added, “The Left needs to see what’s wrong with the movement that produces these trends, so that in the future they can do a better job. But I don’t see that happening immediately.”
The CPI (Maoist) accused that Ghandy did not contact the party after his release from jail. In response, Ghandy said, “Where would I find them? In the bushes? No one met me while I was in jail.”
