THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM central committee member and Minister of Local Self-Government MV Govindan on Tuesday once again exemplified the party’s China fixation as he justified the brutal repression of 1989 Tiananmen Square protests by the Chinese army in which thousands of protestors, mostly students, were massacred.
In his statement made during the discussion of Kerala Employment Guarantee Workers’ Welfare Fund bill, Govindan said the CPM does not hold the opinion that the protests were drowned in blood in Tiananmen Square. “There was a tense situation there. The proponents of counter-revolution were trying to bring a USSR-like situation in China. The Chinese government successfully blocked it and paved the way towards socialist economic order,” he said.
The minister’s remarks on Tiananmen Square was precipitated by opposition MLA Sunny Joseph, who had sought the former’s position on the infamous incident, which received world-wide condemnation. The pro-reform political protests were brutally suppressed by the Chinese army resulting in heavy casualties.
Govindan also justified the Chinese government’s handling of protestors in Hong Kong.