The close connection of the Indian communists with their Chinese counterparts is an open secret, these claims have been validated by Former foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale in his latest book 'The Long Game', where he has claimed that China tried to use the left parties to stop the Indo-US nuclear deal.

“China utilized the close connections with the Left parties in India. Top leaders of the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India would travel to China for meetings or medical treatment ,” said the former foreign secretary in his book. 

“Knowing the influence that the Left parties wielded in the United Progressive Alliance government of Dr Manmohan Singh, China perhaps played on their fears about India’s tilt to the Americans. This may have been the first example of China’s foray into domestic politics, but they were careful to remain behind the scenes,” he further writes.

However, he added that like the Chinese, the Left leaders are also fiercely “nationalistic” and would not compromise on issues such as the boundary question.

Reacting to this, CPI(M) leader Hannan Mollah said bourgeois ruling parties in the country work as agents of the US and Israel. "Left never had foreign influence. We have an independent understanding. Left did not do anything anti-national," he told ANI. CPI leader Binoy Viswam said the Left parties are "more patriotic than right-wing politicians".

This is not the first time Indian communists have toed the China line, in the past, they have refused to condemn the violence perpetuated by China in Tibet and even threatened the Dalai Lama not to criticize China while staying in India. After the Pokhran tests of 1998, they even had demanded a rollback and halt of the same calling it a Hindutva Bomb being used to whip up jingoistic nationalism.