The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Thursday hit back at its detractors for painting it pro-China in the wake of its stiff opposition to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, asking them to meet its arguments on their merit and not resort to slander.

In an editorial in the forthcoming issue of party organ People's Democracy, the CPI-M claimed that a 'disingenuous campaign' was on against it over the nuclear deal and sought to demolish the '1942, 1962 and 2007 syndrome.'

The article quotes former President S D Sharma's midnight address to Parliament in 1992 to mark India's 50th anniversary of Independence in which he had said that the  Communists were 'anti-British revolutionaries' while referring to their role in the 1942, Quit India movement.

'After large-scale strikes in mills in Kanpur, Ahmedabad and Jamshedpur, a despatch from Delhi dated September 5, 1942 to the secretary of state in London [Images], reported about the Communist Party of India: The behaviour of many of its members proves what has always been clear, namely, that it is composed of anti-British revolutionaries,' it quoted Sharma as saying to set its record straight on its role in the Quit India movement.

On the border dispute with China, it said the CPI-M had always maintained that it cannot be resolved through an armed conflict but only through talks and claimed the Rajiv Gandhi government adopted a similar position in the 1980s, which led to the thaw in Sino-Indian standoff and beginning of dialogue.