With the Communism tottering at its end, the religious fundamentalism in its various forms and manifestation has begun shaping the nation’s political trajectory, India’s inevitable switchover to theocracy has become unstoppable. Hence, it is the high time that the revival of Communism has become absolutely imperative for checkmating the degeneration of democracy into an evolving face of authoritarianism.
Vivekanand Jha Ranchi: My genesis from Kolkata, especially in the context of its being the citadel of Communism before 2011, exposed me to the vicissitudes of twists and turns of Communist era; its doctrinaire philosophies as expounded by Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Tse Tung; its evolution across the world over time, and its institutionalisation in India which had its own chequered trajectories in different times and eras. However, it becomes absolutely imperative here to underscore the fundamental disagreement between the core doctrinare belief of Communist ideology with Sanatan value system: Whereas Marx had trashed religion as the ‘opium for masses’ India’s very raison d’etre and its summum bonum is premised on religion; Sanatan, whose derivative Hinduism has an underlying pinning in the supremacy of Brahman, the Consciousness, the primordial and pivotal cause for setting in motion this behemoth of Creation. Unequivocally then, Communism, in its foundational template repudiates any god like phenomenon and emphasises on the philosophy of ‘nihilism’ being the trigger for the Creation. Indian Civilisation has thrived, since time immemorial, on the deep rooted belief in the existence of God, which is an anathema for Communism. Hence, the original ideologues of Communism like M.N.Roy and others did a lot of brain storming on this glaring contradiction: denial of existence of God, at best, would kill the seed of Communism even before it would start spreading. Hence Communism, in a Parliamentary democracy invented a new theme: Let the worship of an external phenomenon be the private affair of citizens; we will not interfere in your belief, yet our ideology of ‘Proletariat dictatorship’ should be accepted in letter and spirit. Also, Parliamentary democracy, as bestowed upon the nation by Constitution, was wholesomely accepted.
The war with China in 1962 proved to be decisive for a United Communist Party, inasmuch as the Party against the backdrop of severe differences among its constituents, stood disintegrated into two parts: whereas the one school of thought which felt that, India was responsible for innleashing war, remained as Communist Party of India, whereas the ones who refused to criticise China for unleashing war upon India, split into the CPIM(Marxist). Apparently the CPIM, even for this writer, as many other fellow compatriots, was prima facie considered as ‘traitors’ for having sided with China. With the benefits of hindsight, my exhaustive research against the backdrop of my writing of the book The Making of Narendra Modi, Unmaking of Jawaharlal, had dawned upon me a new awakening: Nehru’s ‘Forward ‘ policy instrumental behind the war in 1962, even though Jawaharlal might have personally resented that thrust? Unfortunately, Krishna Menon, the then Defence Minister, who too had strong reservation on the same, was unjustly and unethically stigmatised for having orchestrated the war which led to the fiasco, and was made the sacrificial goat for the whole sordid saga. On the contrary, V.K.Menon was the one who dissuaded Nehru to go for any war against China, yet had to bear the brunt for saving Nehru’s chair.
With the arrival of regional chieftains, E.S. Namboodripad in Kerala, and Pramod Dasgupta and Jyoti Basu in West Bengal, the Communism started gaining a traction in India, especially in two states, Kerala and West Bengal, both literate states of Union. Paradoxically, as the self-manifest rule of Communist suggested, tantamounts to hijacking of power by few oligarchs in the name of Proletariat dictatorship’. With the demise of Pramod Dasgupta, Jyoti Basu enjoyed an unbridled power, for all the party mandarins sitting in Alimuddin Street in Kolkata, like Biman Bose, Anil Biswas and Buddhadev were far younger to speak before the towering Basu. Indubitably, Jyoti Basu was equated with West Bengal the way Indira was equated with India. Gone was the veneer of proletarian rule, came in the footprints of a man whose legacy to the state was: Nandan and Chandan; the former being a theatre in Kolkata, and the latter being the promotion of his son. Surprisingly, Basu continued to be popular till he lived, as Basu’s degenerating Kolkata was fantastically portrayed in one of the pieces of Jag Suria in Times of India, decade ago. No wonder, the rule by iron fist, has its limited tenure: The departure of Basu had left nothing to cheer or cherish, for the latter had finished the glory of City of Joy to its last vestiges. Also, Mamata’s rise has written an obituary of this ideology in West Bengal for a long time to come.
The communism today is in comatose state. Such Himalayan misfortune had struck this party that, even its president, Sitaram Yachury is unable to get elected to Rajya Sabha. The irony of the party losing its traction in such times when the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have- nots’ has been increasingly widening. Worse still, this writer was taken aback to see the English educated people being the party’s backbone of support in recent years in Jantar Mantar in Delhi, with its deviation from its core vote bank: The hoi polloi. It is natural that, with religious polarisation reaching the culminating point, both Secularism and Communism have been pushed into abeyance, as the ascendancy of Hindu nationalism appears to have caught the fascination of masses today, with a counter resistance coming from the muslim segments of society. In such a surcharged atmosphere, the obsolescence of the doctrine of Communism has become an abiding reality as well as a concern which, given the religious polarisation the polity has evoked today, unequivocally will lead India on to the path of political hara-kiri. Hence, in this backdrop, to checkmate the escalating degree and magnitude of religious frenzy, India needs the rejuvenation of Communism to fend off the religious frenzy, for the mixing of religion with politics has never augured well for any nation. The glaring example is the degeneration of Roman empire which had collapsed when religion was mixed with politics. No wonder, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the former statesman Prime Minister too had rejected the adoption of theocracy for the nation. Thus for the sake of restoring sanity in the polity, especially when Secularism is presumed to be dead, India needs the quickest revival of Communism to lend teeth to our democracy, however, the moot point is: Does Yachury, undoubtedly a sophisticated politician, has something up his sleeve to win back the public imagination? The evolving ground reality, however suggests otherwise. But then India needs Communism today to keep our democracy strong and vibrant.
Vivekanand Jha is a Political Thinker, Author, Academician and a public intellectual.
He is a Convener of Education pe Charcha.
