Communist leaders were and are targets to be eliminated by the ruling classes. History is full of such incidents of attacks and murders.
The attacks are to eliminate not only the communists, but also Communism. But it has always failed to achieve the target.
Most of the world communist leaders had faced threats to their life once or more.
In India also the situation is not different. It was on 31st March 1970 that Jyoti Basu was attacked in the Patna Railway Station. While he escaped miraculously, the comrade who came to receive him was shot dead.
In W.Bengal, the attack on the CPI(M) continues unchecked. 145 CPI(M) cadres have been killed after Mamata Govt. came in to power.
The ruling classes thinks that by terrorising and killing communists, communism can be finished. They are completely mistaken. Communism is a force which will come back again and again till it succeeds world over. Because it is the system, where there is no exploitation of man by man and the interests of the toiling masses are safeguarded.