Che Guevara visited India at the end of June 1959 and stayed for two
weeks. In the course of that official visit, he met Nehru, traveled
around India, and was interviewed on All India Radio by K.P. Bhanumathy.
When she prodded him, saying, “You are said to be a communist but
communist dogmas won’t be accepted by a multi-religious society” , Che
apparently replied, “I would not call myself a communist. I was born as
a Catholic. I am a socialist who believes in equality and freedom from
the exploiting countries. I have seen hunger, so much suffering, stark
poverty, sickness and unemployment right from my very young days in
[Latin] America. It is happening in Cuba, Vietnam and Africa – the
struggle for freedom starts from the hunger of the people. There are
useful lessons in the Marxist-Leninist theory. The practical
revolutionary initiates his own struggle simply fulfilling laws foreseen
by Marx. In India, Gandhiji’s teachings had its own merit which finally
brought freedom”. In other words, Che seemed to be saying that Marxism
didn’t prescribe any specific trajectory of revolutionary emancipation,
whether from capitalism or from imperialist or colonial domination.
The ‘mysterious Krishna’ whom Che met and was so impressed by was
clearly V. K. Krishna Menon who was a passionate opponent of nuclear
weapons and had liaised with Bertrand Russell throughout the fifties. We
have at least one photo of Che conversing with Krishna Menon. They met
on 3 July. About that conversation Che said, “While talking with
Krishna, the learned Indian, we became aware of the evils of the means
of mass destruction”. Strangely, when Che visited Calcutta, none of the
leaders of the then undivided Communist Party of India went out of their
way to meet him.
May be an image of 2 people
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