FOR DEAD MEN CANNOT PROTEST.......

Summary

Dated November 15, 1977, this letter from S. V. Raju to Viren Shah forwards an invitation from Kanshi Ram, convener of the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation, and asks Shah to accept it. Raju describes Kanshi Ram as a good person and the federation as influential among backward-class employees in government departments and undertakings.

The enclosed text, headed “FOR DEAD MEN CANNOT PROTEST…”, attacks what Raju presents as the opportunistic appropriation of the reputations of C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) and Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) by contemporary politicians. It questions the participation of Indira Gandhi, Yeshwantrao Chavan, B. D. Jatti and S. B. Chavan in commemorative lectures and memorial initiatives, arguing that both Rajaji and JP would have remained sharply critical of the political establishment had they been alive. Raju also objects to James Callaghan being invited to deliver a lecture commemorating JP, whom he says spent the final two decades of his life exposing the “myth of Socialism.” The document concludes that politicians are extracting political mileage from dead figures who had little in common with them, and that such conduct reflects the deterioration of political values.

Key points

• S. V. Raju forwards Kanshi Ram’s invitation to Viren Shah and recommends that Shah accept it.
• The federation represented in the forwarded invitation is described as influential among backward-class employees in government departments and undertakings.
• The enclosed political commentary criticizes the use of Rajaji’s and JP’s reputations for contemporary political purposes.
• Raju argues that Rajaji and JP would have continued to criticize those responsible for the prevailing political situation.
• The text questions the appropriateness of commemorative roles given to Indira Gandhi and other politicians who had opposed or mistreated JP.
• It objects to James Callaghan’s invitation to deliver a lecture in memory of JP, whom the text associates with opposition to socialism.
• The document frames political appropriation of the dead as hypocrisy and evidence of a lack of values in Indian politics.