CPM distances itself from ‘The Last Supper’ controversy

 Monday, February 6, 2012: Barely days after it faced flak for displaying a painting of Jesus alongside Communist icons at an exhibition, the CPI(M) in Kerala has landed itself in another soup after a billboard carrying a political spoof at a party conference raised hackles here.
The board, depicting US President Barack Obama at a table along with Congress and BJP leaders, was a takeoff on Leonardo da Vinci’s famous ‘The Last Supper’, showing Jesus with his disciples.
CPI(M), however, claimed it had no knowledge of how the board had landed at the party’s state conference at Thirkannapuram near here and said it had no intention “to blemish the values of Jesus Christ or Christianity”.
“The board was put up without the knowledge of any responsible party worker… the party has no intention to blemish the values of Christ or Christianity,” CPI(M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said.
“The moment the matter came to the notice of the local party leaders, it was removed from the place by the party itself,” Vijayan said, adding the incident had happened a week ago and the board had been displayed in public for only about 30 minutes.
Vijayan was reacting to the news report in a Malayalam daily about the board, titled ‘The Last Supper of Capitalism’.
The controversy comes close on the heels of the criticism faced by the party over the display of a painting of Jesus along with icons of Communism like Karl Marx, Lenin and Che Guevera at a CPI-M organised exhibition in the city.
The party had defended itself saying Jesus was a frontline soldier for the liberation of the suppressed in human history.
Alleging that there was an attempt to tarnish the image of the party, CPI(M) District Secretary Kadakampalli Surenderan said the party has filed a complaint with the police on the matter.
“The party suspects that there is a conspiracy to soil the image of the party,” he said.