N. JAMAL ANSARI analyses the factors responsible for the decline of the Left movement in India in the wake of Nandigram bye-elections.
In the assembly by-election held in Nandigram, Trinamool Congress candidate, Firoza Biwi has defeated CPI’s Pramananda Bharti by a huge margin of 40,000 votes. The result of this by-election has shown that voters are not supporting political parties on communal lines. While BJP got only 4000 votes, PDCI founded by Siddiqullah Chowdhry secured just 1300 votes. It should be recalled that it was Siddiqullah Chowdhry who first launched anti-land acquisition movement in the region. Routing of CPI in red bastion is not sudden. It is the result of diluting Marxism for short term gains by Left Front in West Bengal.
Shikha Mukerjee has analysed the reasons behind success of Mamta Banerjee in her article, “Mamta breaches left’s fort” (The Pioneer, 12 January) but she did not discuss the reasons behind collapse of red flag. It is very important that we dig deep to unearth real causes of declining fortunes of CPI or CPI (M).
Why did the Communist movement fail in the country? I still remember days of my student life. Those were the days for Marxist ideology and CPI that saw establishment of Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA), All India Students Federation (AISF), Progressive Writers Association (PWA), National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) etc. These organisations attracted cream of the country’s writers, artists, intellectuals, youths and women. They raised their voices against every type of oppression. All of us were upbeat with flames of hope within ourselves. During those days, we believed that we were launching a revolution and thus creating history. Where has all that fervour, energy and vibrancy gone? This was the fire that should have tempered the steel but seems to have melted. CPI in particular and the Left lobby in general cannot but be put in the dock and asked why it allowed itself to be captained by outside and did not initiate its own independent line of action?
A long time ago, class struggle was the main agenda of CPI. Red flag became the symbol of freedom from exploitation of toiling masses. It was fluttering in India higher than any other flag. Trade Union movement became a powerful vanguard of struggle. Masses flocked under its red banner to liberate themselves as they had nothing but their chains to lose. But from 1980s onwards the Left’s revolutionary agenda began to be diluted. Side by side the Leftists slackened their grip on working classes. Socialists within the Congress Party advised CPI not to cross swords with India’s ruling elite. CPI or in fact the whole Left lobby began singing in tune with the Congress. Why didn’t the Leftists display enough courage to resist pressure?
Ego clashes among the Leftists were responsible for split in 1960s and other splits. Chiefly the development of false egos among leaders of the Left Movement led to its downfall. Left parties, which should have been “party of people”, began to be “personalised”. Does the Left really believe any change in social structure? Perhaps not! Because Marxism, Socialism and Communism all are in doghouses today and are nearly a dead cause. Now they believe that “free market economy” will be the engine of change. It can safely be argued that the Leftists feel it is best to ‘swim with tide’. They are not wrong. Dilution of Marxism has paid rich dividends. A glaring example is the induction of the two of the most senior Comrades Indrajit Gupta and Chaturanan Mishra in the Union Cabinet on June 29, 1997. It was a historic day in the entire history of the Left Movement in India because for the first time two Communist leaders donned the mantle of ministership at the Centre. It was a historic day for them but, somehow the inner Marxist conscience of the party got a big jolt. However, the flame of Communism could not be totally extinguished in the country.
Actually, the reduction of working class and toiling masses has weakened the Left Movement. Of late, a new trend is emerging among the Leftists: to be Leftists while following capitalist agenda. Tata’s Nano car project on the lands of poor Nandigram residents is a blatant example to show how far a Leftist Chief Minister may go to serve capitalist goals. No doubt, Nandigram residents won the battle by their sacrifice and determination but there is no guarantee that legal land grabbers will not do so again.
Nandigram has sent another message which is very important. PDCI founded by Siddiqullah Chowdhry has failed to win voters on account of their religion. It means voters understand importance of their votes and they do not want to strengthen political parties based on religion or narrow-mindedness. This is very crucial as the nation is to go to polls to elect new Parliament soon.
Displacement, police firing and depriving poor masses of their livelihood is not Marxism, it is fascism. In Nandigram fascism has been defeated.
[The writer is a social and political commentator based in Aligarh.]