The opium of the CPI(M)

At an exhibition preceding the Communist Party of India (Marxist) state conference, a portrait of Christ was displayed along with those of Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin and Che Guevara. The apparatchiks argue that Christ was the greatest revolutionary of them all. The picture of the crucified Christ has a snapshot below it, which, after briefly tracing his life and death, describes Jesus "as a social reformer who emancipated Jews from slavery."

“As a liberation warrior, Christ was revered by one and all,'' said the CPI(M)'s state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.

V.S. Achuthanandan, member of the Politburo, said “Christ was a revolutionary and the Church does not want to accept that fact.”

The Wayanad district unit of the party had a hoarding it put up during its conference in December showed a Jesus picture along with that of Marx. A CPI(M) campaign billboard in a Thrissur village featured the picture of Virgin Mary.

Those who see a Communist in Jesus doesn’t know very much about communism, Christ or Christianity.

Nor is it just the Christians the "communists" in India are appealing to.

In Trichy, members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, the youth wing of CPI(M), petitioned a Hindu god, the Lord Ranganatha, with usual pooja items including jasmine garlands, coconuts and bananas, for his intervention in their campaign for certain reforms.