This worthy and Eminent intelekshual Mr Guha once again seems to forget real history and pontificates about some mythical past. Today let's look at how his dear family regularly used execution squads to shut down even street corner dissent. Tale of Safdar Hashmi. https://twitter.com/Ram_Guha/status/1283243070998249472

1/n Hashmi founded the JANAM theatre company, a far left street theater group. He himself was a card carrying member of the SFI.

When Indiramata rigged the elections, he wrote a play called Kursi Kursi Kursi criticising Indira.

2/n then wrote / acted in many plays addressing topics of the day. Unemployment, domestic violence etc.

On Jan 1, 1989 he was performing in a street play called Halla Bol in Delhi. A Cong leader Mukesh Sharma & his goons set upon the group, bashed his head in & then shot dead

3/n another Left wing member and factory worker Ram Bahadur. He died the next day.

Under the peaceful reign this was not new. Police and party goons regularly attacked theatre artists. Sharma and his gang were sentenced in 2003.

4/n attacks on playwrights by Congi thugs or even police was common. Some more examples. On July 20, 1974, Prabir Dutta of Silhouette company was performing in Kolkata. Nearby a Naxal group was in a public protest. The police charged both groups,

5/n Dutta was not even performing but eating his rice dinner. He was bashed to his death.

1972, Ashish Chatterjee was performing in a play a called Bipani. Police arrived. Fired at the crowd and Ashish was killed by a bullet. In both cases not even a charge sheet was filed.

6/6 This is the kind of "past" Congress wants us to go back to? Where you didn't have only lynch mobs but outright police execution squads? I would expect HiSTorIaN of the stature of Guha though to know about all this no?