Comrade in Introspection!

INTERVIEW

“After the fall of the Left in West Bengal and Kerala, no man is as worried as A.B. Bardhan, the General Secretary of the CPI. Today he is restless at the age of 88, despite the fact that his party did well compared to the other Left parties. But this legendary comrade needs no excuse…he is a man at work now with a new framework to retrieve the CPI as well as Left parties with the essential ground-touch, also eyeing to enter into the crucial psyche of the great Indian middle class and youth. Recently we had a two-hour-long and straightforward conversation at the historic Ajoy Bhavan in New Delhi. Sitting in his office (probably in his last year as a top-ranking leader of the CPI), he shared the future roadmap of Left politics in India and also spoke on many new issues. The following are the excerpts.” —Atul Kumar Thakur

How is the CPI reconciling to the situation emerging out of the recent poll debacles in West Bengal and Kerala?

The election results in West Bengal and Kerala were very disappointing but for different reasons. In Kerala, power has been almost alternatively won either by the LDF or UDF. This time, it was the turn of the UDF, but as you know, the LDF fell short by only three seats. Those three seats we lost by very narrow margins. In West Bengal, it was truly a debacle; later we have analysed the scenario and said openly why the Left Front lost so badly after being in power for thirtyfour years. In a way, the voters in the State have mandated the Left Front to sit in the Opposition for this term. I think we should work like a true constructive Opposition and allow the new people learn from their experience about this new coalition gover-nment and retrace our links with the masses. The sense of alienation must be allowed to change.

Which factors are blocking the potential integration of the Communist Parties?
The last four-five decades have seen the growth of many divisive factors, such as communalism, casteism, regionalism and so on. Parties have exploited these factors and diverted the attention of the people. We have not been able to overcome these divisive factors and rally the working people behind us. This is especially true in the vast Hindi belt. In particular, I am refering to our weakness among the rural masses, who are decisive in elections. We are working to overcome these hindrances by actuily turning to rural India. Caste versus caste requires a sensitive approach to the problem of castes, particularly with the oppressed castes and the marginalised sections. As I think, there has been erosion in many of our old existing rural bases; therefore expanding and consolidating such rural bases is our priority task. Taking up issues like land, water, employment and a stand against price rise will be the start of our fresh struggle, as those have badly affected the already miserable access to food, health and education.

The CPI is now in the process of holding conferences at branch, anchal, district, and State levels culminating in the all India Party Congress by March/April 2012. In all these conferences, the issues mentioned above will be on top of the agenda. We are also working toward joint work and action between the two major Communist Parties rallying along with them all other Left-oriented parties and movements for streng-thening Left unity. Communist unity will be the core of Left unity; only then would we be able to advance towards realisation of Left and democratic unity which can be the framework of a real alternative to both the major bourgeois parties, namely, the Congress and BJP. Such a combination will constitute the true secular and democratic front. Any other ad hoc combination, solely based on electoral arithmetic, will not inspire confidence among the people. In my view, the time is right because the credibility of the Congress and BJP are at a low level; people are looking forward to an alternative to replace them.

Mobilisation of all these forces also requires the development of unity and united action among the mass organisations. The overarching coming together of all the central trade unions, whatever will be the political colour of the leaderships, is a case in point. They have taken up the issues confronting the common people all over the country. Kisan organisations are also moving in that direction.
On many occasions, the CPI has taken initiative in this regard, but those didn’t work out because of the policy of denial of the CPI-M; why are such inhibitions growing among fellow comrades? In the past, the CPI leaders, including Chaturanan Mishra, tried to unify the progressive trade union movement but that couldn’t be substantially materialised. In this direction, do you see any constructive development in the days ahead?

The CPI is committed to the goal of communist unity but this cannot be done in a hurry. It’s true the reactions to our moves have not been very positive but issues like the programme, the organisational principles and tactical line require to be discussed and agreed upon. After all, we have to fight back the legacy of a split that kept us apart for more than four decades. However, it’s a welcome sign that the perceptions of the two Communist Parties are almost the same on national and international affairs, and also on economic and political issues. This, I think, has created a good atmosphere though a sense of rivalry still persists. As far as the ideology is concerned, both the parties are committed to Marxism-Leninism and to the goal of socialism. The point is to apply the scientific theory in the complex and changing Indian and world conditions. As far as the trade union movement is concerned, we are working together now and very closely…it’s making a good impact. Things will be more visible very soon…

Why is the CPI’s stronghold in Bihar and Jharkhand weakening consistently? Once a way of life in north Bihar, now communism is becoming an alien ideology. Don’t you think the CPI has failed to groom the next generation of leadership after Comrades Bhogendra Jha and Chaturanan Mishra?

Bihar has been a relatively strong support base of the CPI; this base was built through tremendous struggles and sacrifices by Comrades Chandrashekhar Singh, Indradeep Sinha, Surya-narayan Singh, Bhogendra Jha, Chaturanan Mishra and many others. I have already said that erosion took place when this base was subjected to caste politics; in Bihar the ugliest caste politics was played by Laloo Prasad Yadav and others. The communal politics of the BJP, not to mention our own failures and shortcomings, equally accounted for this decline. Bihar is a State where there is a huge mass of agricultural and marginal workers on the one hand and landlords on the other. There is still a huge scope and need for class struggle between the two and to implement land reforms. The so-called Land Reform Commission has already detailed the issue of this struggle for land redistribution, land for housesites etc. The government and also some of the Opposition parties have done nothing on this core issue. It’s for the Communists to lead the battle of class versus class and take the focus away from caste versus caste.

Why is communism still being determined by the texts rather than contemporary contexts? Why should the CPI not follow more Marx’s-progressive line rather than Lenin’s technical programme?

The world has changed but imperialism and capitalism continue to exist; what we see today is a big crisis that has overtaken capitalism. It can’t solve the problems of unemployment, poverty and even illiteracy and disease. India has also changed in the course of the last six-and-a-half decades since independence but facts reveal that the capitalist path of the government that’s being pursued and the so-called neo-liberal policies of privatisation, liberalisation and globalisation have only aggravated all our problems. Disparities between the super rich and affluent sections, which are only 10 per cent of our population, and the overwhelming mass of the poor and vulnerable sections has deepened and widened as never before.

They talk of growth but if development means that all sections benefit, we find that there is actually no development for the majority, particularly the SCs, STs, minorities and the most backward sections who are excluded from all this talk of growth. That’s why we find the outburst of discontent, indignation and so forth. This is the socio-economic basis of many of our problems that afflict us today. The free market, the so-called trickle-down theories have all proved to be for the benefit of the top layer, while the masses remain excluded. No wonder, we have price rise, high level corruption and so-called Left-wing terrorism which the govern-ment describes as the biggest security threat. Today, the mass of the people has been alienated from the present system and its governance. The more the talk of law-and-order, the more alienation takes place, the more the authorities indulge in repression and denial of democratic rights, the more is the mass outburst. In this scenario, text and contexts, both are equally imperative for us.
The AITUC has been the initiator of the labour movement in India; it has been doing remarkable work over the years albeit new conditions after the market reforms now necessitate policy changes. What is the framework the CPI is adopting to go deep into both the conventional and new-workers?

I am happy to say that the AITUC has taken the initiative in forging all-in unity of the central trade union organisations and I am glad that the objective situation has forged all of them towards united action. We should also know that the government has virtually banned any trade union or association among IT/ITEs and many other sectors, their workers are being kept isolated. But I am confident this move by the government and corporate houses will be defeated sooner rather than later.
What’s the CPI’s official position on market reforms? Is there any possibility that the CPI will support reforms with progressive clauses?

There is confusion about markets. Markets existed even before capitalism and there will be markets even under socialism. The point is: under which system do the markets operate? The so-called market economy that’s functional today is a naked devise to extract and maximise profits, profits without limit by foreign and indigenous corporate houses and big businesses. It’s an instrument of imperialism for exploitation of the developing countries and of capitalist exploitation of the poor within each country. To call this reform is not only a misnomer, it’s a cruel joke.

Wasn’t not allowing Jyoti Basu to become the Prime Minister in 1996 a “historic blunder” by the Communist Parties as well as Indian democracy?

As you know, he had himself called it a “historic blunder”; I agree with him.

With the Left parties, UPA-I was a different political coalition. After your departure, a series of scams were unearthed; these became incessant, Why shouldn’t the Left parties fight all the Lok Sabha seats and move forward for a strong alternative coalition at the Centre?

I think Left parties by themselves are not in a position to contest all the Lok Sabha seats; that’s why we want Left and democratic unity, which will take along with the Left all other secular democratic parties, forces and individuals. Moreover, what we need is electoral reforms, which will save the electoral process from the grip of money/muscle-power. As you know, the Left parties have been talking of the proportional representation system, which will do away with the first-past-the-post system prevailing presently in which moneyed indivi-duals use all tricks to get elected, even with minority votes.

In the coming days, will the CPI accommodate many sidelined issues in its agenda? How would the CPI draw the attention of the middle class and youth, whose roles have become substantially vital in all spheres?

The middle class has proliferated considerably. But it’s not homogenous. While the upper layers hope to reach out to the top, the lower sections are subjected to corruption, price rise and are the victims of exploitation. However, on the whole, the latter are a great opinion- builder and therefore Communists and the Left have to re-orient themselves to work among large sections of the middle class and substantially inspire and draw the middle class towards progressive and democratic causes.

How are you viewing the current policies of India in foreign affairs? Have our stature strengthened in the world after twenty years of the liberalisation programme?

India’s foreign policy unfortunately moved away from its anti-imperialist basis and the solidarity with countries fighting for democratic advancement to a policy of increasing strategic partnership with the US and developed West. But India is a big and assertive country; today there are no issues in international relations which can be solved without the participation of India and China. The combination of BRIC, BASIC and SCO, which have brought together India and China, Russia, Brazil and South Africa, is a very important development. India can secure a stable strategic place in world affairs by being part of these alternative international formations instead of getting its position fixed as one riding piggyback of Western forces.