Remembering the Massacre

The editor deserves compliments for the sincere remembrance of the Tiananmen massacre in the June 6, 2009 issue of Mainstream. Indignation and outrage felt by both S.C. and N.C. twenty years ago still touch the heart. This is in such sharp contrast with the ‘line’ of a section of the so-called Left in this country. Your effort have inspired the writer to fish out a copy of an after-edit, published by the Nagpur Times (July 17, 1989). I hope you will be able to print it (after correcting some obvious printer’s devil), as a supplement to your efforts.

Tailpiece: Basing himself on a dubious report by a BBC correspondent, Prof Ravi M. Bakaya has informed the readers of Mainstream that the tragic events at Tiananmen Square is no longer the focus of public attention (March 12, 2005). What can one say to diehard Gulagists like Prof Bakaya? Where angels fear to tread? The Gulagists’ long march to Singur, Nandigram and Lalgarh commenced in the Soviet Union in the twenties. The Moscow Trials were its first conspicuous landmark. The Tiananmen massacre was another amongst many. There is no running away from History.

Subrata Sen

13 Lendra Park, Nagpur 440 010