FORTY YEARS AGO

CPI-CONGRESS TIES

THE CPI DOES NOT want to snap its ties with the Congress and wants to continue to work for the unity of the left and democratic forces including those in the Congress, said M. Kalyanasundaram, secretary of the Tamil Nadu unit and a member of the CPI central executive. We are neither for interference in the internal affairs of the Congress, nor for confrontation with it in any manner,” he said in Chennai. Even the prime minister’s criticism did not show that the Congress was for a break with the communists,” he said. According to Kalyanasundaram, the unity of the CPI, Congress and ADMK would be effective in meeting the challenges from the DMK and other “reactionary forces”.

OPPOSITION MEET

SOCIALIST PARTY LEADER N.G. Gorey said the next meeting of the non-cpi opposition leaders would be held in Delhi on January 22 to 23. He told the media in Pune that the correspondence between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the Old Congress leader Asoka Mehta will figure in the discussions.

DENG RISING

CHINA OBSERVED THE first death anniversary of Chou En Lai amid intensified criticism of the four purged radical leaders and demands for speedy rehabilitation of the former vice premier, Deng Xiaoping. The Japanese newspaper, Asahi, reported that wall posters demanding the quick rehabilitation of Deng, a protege of Chou, were erected on improvised scaffolding for the memorial hall of Chairman Mao at the Tiananmen Square. The posters also said it was “necessary to correct the erroneous status given to Deng in connection with the Tiananmen Square incident”, which occurred on April 5, 1976. On that day, people had converged on the square to place funeral wreaths at the monument of the heroes of the Chinese revolution. The demonstrations turned into riots. Deng was blamed, dismissed and made the object of a mass criticism campaign.