| Modi mobbed |
Extreme right wing, hindu supremacist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), is voted to power, ousting the Congress-led UPA-II Government under Manmohan Singh, that ruled for a decade. While BJP alone secured 282 seats in run up to Lok Sabha, Congress got squeezed to 44 seats.
The spectacular victory of
BJP, has come on the wave of widespread dissatisfaction and unrest against the misrule
of Congress led government, that was marred by massive corruption, soaring
prices, raging inflation, and vast unemployment.
Congress, hitherto the chief party
of Indian big business, was trapped between the pressing need to put in place
the most rudimentary welfare schemes in rural employment and food guarantees,
on the one hand, while on the other, the dictates of the capitalist market that
demanded dismantling of all such schemes, wiping out all social spending. Result
was a double discrediting of the Government. As meagre spending, clubbed with
corruption and pilferages, failed to bring the promised results, masses of
workers and toilers turned against the Congress regime. Alongside, the corporate gradually dissociated
itself from Congress Government, leaning more and more on the right wing BJP,
as in its estimation, the Congress regime failed to put the economic reforms in
place, at desired pace. Large sections of big business, thus, mobilized their
support behind the BJP.
Conscious of the explosive
consequences of rule in the hands of fascists, the ruling big bourgeois, in
its quest to arrest the fall of its economy that has set in after the 2010 currency
crisis in India, is dragged behind the BJP. As the economy has since continued to
shrink, dispelling the foreign investment, international credit rating
agencies have recently issued ultimatum to the government, commanding it to ‘do
or die’.
The claims of corporate media, as to a 'sunami' in favour of Modi, are however, a blatant lie, as despite of an apparent parliamentary majority, BJP could get only a 31% share of popular vote, while its NDA allies added 7% more to it. This is the lowest share of vote, that any winning party has got, till date. Equally false are the claims that vote in favour of BJP is the vote for agenda of "economic reforms". On the contrary, the vote is against all 'reforms' that had been pushed by the ousted Congress regime. BJP could capture even this much vote, only as it succeeded in masquerading as an opposition to the rule and policies of Congress, while hiding its real agenda of pushing through the 'economic reforms' at far higher pace than ever.
Victory of BJP has come by 'default' against the anti-people policies, crushing failures and misrule of the Congress Government and the shameful complicity of Stalinist left with it.
Needless to say that Congress led
UPA governments, have done their best to serve the interests of big business,
including a massive drive for dismantling the public sector, withdrawing
subsidies, and ending price controls over most essential commodities like diesel. However,
the constraints of bourgeois-democracy to dupe the masses through keeping in some
semblance of a welfare state amidst rabid reforms, ‘reforms with a human face’
as they put it, has prevented the UPA from daring to take to the harshest
anti-people decisions. The claims of corporate media, as to a 'sunami' in favour of Modi, are however, a blatant lie, as despite of an apparent parliamentary majority, BJP could get only a 31% share of popular vote, while its NDA allies added 7% more to it. This is the lowest share of vote, that any winning party has got, till date. Equally false are the claims that vote in favour of BJP is the vote for agenda of "economic reforms". On the contrary, the vote is against all 'reforms' that had been pushed by the ousted Congress regime. BJP could capture even this much vote, only as it succeeded in masquerading as an opposition to the rule and policies of Congress, while hiding its real agenda of pushing through the 'economic reforms' at far higher pace than ever.
Victory of BJP has come by 'default' against the anti-people policies, crushing failures and misrule of the Congress Government and the shameful complicity of Stalinist left with it.
In estimation of Indian big
business and foreign investors, only a right-wing authoritarian government under
the BJP can accomplish the tasks that Congress could not perform. These include,
complete wiping out of social spending and taxing the working and toiling
people even more, to shift the burden of all economic crisis upon their
shoulders.
Ironically, the big-business succeeded
in channelling the anger of the masses against its own regime and its own policies,
to induce a push, towards the right, bringing the arch communal BJP to power.
BJP is the political front of
most rabid communal formation, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), that is
ferociously hostile to working class and socialism, and is modelled on the
patterns of Fascist black shirts under Mussolini in Italy. It holds its traditional social base among
most backward sections of petty traders and small businessmen and ropes in most
conservative elements in bureaucracy, security agencies, police and army, that
are deeply inimical to working class and poors. It is flanked by equally
communal Shiv Sena and MNS in Maharahstra, Akalis in Punjab and ethno-linguistic
AIADMK in Tamilnadu, and TDP and TRS in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
respectively.
Rise of the BJP to power, is direct,
first and foremost result of the shameful failure of the Stalinist left, which
has failed the entire working class, behind it. Fascists could have and really
have rode to power, only on the back of this failure of working class, to put
challenge to the misrule of big bourgeoisie.
The left under Stalinists,
instead of leading an opposition to the anti-people regime of Congress-led UPA,
remained adhered to it and kept the working class completely dormant, inert and
sterile. For decades, stalinist
parties continued to
support and sustain the minority governments under Congress. Even when
the
most reactionary neo-liberal policies were being put in motion since
1991, by
the Narsimha Rao government, trashing even residues of ‘congress
socialism’, public assets were being sold off to corporates at throw
away prices, Stalinists stood support to this party of the
big-bourgeois, on
false slogans of democracy and secularism.
BJP led National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) had come to power in 1998, due to the pro-investor thrust of Congress
government since 1991, supported by Stalinists. But Stalinists drew no lessons
and again supported the minority UPA-1 in 2004, assisting in resolving the
political and constitutional crisis of the bourgeoisie. They continued the
support till in June 2008, they were kicked out of the alliance on the nuclear
issue. Still refusing to draw any lessons, they continued to lend support to
the government of UPA-II formed in 2009 general elections, by holding back any
opposition from the working class to the policies and actions of bourgeois government. More recently, Stalinists
had been sending feelers for an alliance with Samajwadi Party (SP) of Mulayam
Singh, while SP has been associated with the communal riots in Mujaffarnagar, hand
in gloves with the BJP, to communally polarize the people in vote banks. It is
worth to mention that similarly, CPI (Maoist) was instrumental in bringing the right-wing
Trinamool Congress (TMC) under Mamata Banerjee to power in last assembly
elections in West Bengal.
The state governments, that
were led by Stalinists, in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, were platforms for
implementation of the same neo-liberal and pro-investor policies, that were
implemented by other governments including the right-wing governments. The
government under Stalinist left-front in West Bengal was discredited for
deploying the most rabid means through concerted police-goon violence
against poor peasants, in Singur and Nandigram regions, while forcibly seizing farm-lands
for big capitalists like Tatas. Tatas, were among the chief funders for recent election
campaign of BJP.
Workers and toilers have again
and again voted for Stalinists in expectation that these bearers of red flag
would lead them in opposition to capitalism, but Stalinists have betrayed them everytime,
by delivering them, bound hand and foot, to the leaders and parties of capitalists.
Out of total 67 years, since
the Indian bourgeois came to power in 1947, Congress had led the bourgeois governments
at the centre for 54 years. In all these years, Stalinists had stood support to
the regime, open or tacit and have assisted these governments to employ the
most reactionary measures for loot and plunder of working class and toilers.
This political strategy of
Stalinists, is, in turn, guided by the false Menshevik policy of Stalin and
Mao, who argued that in democratic stage of revolution, working class has to
ally with the bourgeoisie. For Stalinists, it is
the democratic revolution in India, going on for decades, that underscores the need of an
alliance between parties of workers and capitalists. Due to their
misunderstanding of revolution in general and the democratic revolution in
particular, Stalinists keep adhered to the parties of bourgeois, one after the
other, chiefly to the Congress, the central party of the big Indian
bourgeoisie. Through this adherence, Stalinists keep the working class tied to
the political regime of bourgeois, and prevent it from taking to independent
road, from rising in opposition to the class dictatorship of the bourgeoisie
under the guise of democracy.
In this, four major parties of
Stalinists and Maoists- CPI, CPM, CPI ML Liberation and the CPI (Maoist) share
the essentially same perception and program, despite superficial differences
among themselves, which remain of no more than archival importance in face of their
rooting in the same politics of democracy extricated from socialist revolution,
acceptance of alliances with bourgeois parties, and finally denial of
proletarian dictatorship as the starting point for revolution.
As Stalinist-Maoist parties
ally with the parties of Indian bourgeois, the hopes of the workers, toilers
and rural and urban poors, get dampened and the ready vacuum is created
instantly for manipulations by the ruling bourgeois to push the political swing
towards more and more right.
Despite a strong anti-incumbency
wave in the offing against the Congress-led regime, the Stalinist left front,
instead of leading the working class and toilers behind it against the misrule
of Congress, continued to look out for alliances with regional bourgeois
parties like AIADMK, TDP, SP, RJD etc. into a third front, while these parties
were engaged in bargaining between the chief bourgeois alliances of UPA and
NDA.
Stalinists got total 11 seats
in Lok Sabha in 2014 , i.e. half of the seats they secured in 2009. In 2009,
they could secure half of what they secured in 2004. In 2014, the largest party
of Stalinists, CPIM, failed to secure its official recognition as a national party.
Despite all demagogy in the
name of the working class, Stalinists and Maoists, both have no faith in the strength
and potential of the working class and their whole politics is centered around
collaborations with sections of the bourgeoisie. Their fate is bound up with
sections of bourgeois, its leaders and parties.
All other factors, like colossal
propaganda campaign funded by big capitalists, role of corporate media etc. are
of secondary importance in bringing BJP to power. The primary factor is the
role of Stalinists in failing the working class, that has created an instant
space for rise of fascists.
Without much effort, one would
see, that in the face of a fascist advance, not only the Stalinists, but other
bourgeois and petty-bourgeois formations of liberals, reformists and ambedkarites,
proved themselves of no real worth at all. Even put together, they could not have
prevented the fascists from taking to power. The truth, however, remains, that
all these petty-bourgeois tendencies find themselves more in proximity and in agreement
with fascists, than the revolutionary working class. They play dubious role in
dividing the working and toiling people on the lines of caste, community, nationality,
language, regional and ethnic identities.
Fascists have risen to power,
albeit, by misinterpreting their real agenda to the masses, fanning wild hopes
of millions for better living conditions, employment, curbing of corruption and
crime, expansion of economy etc. However, in the settings of a full blown
economic crisis under way on national and international arena and the
self-contradictory nature of their agenda, that calls for far more social
spending than ever before on the one hand and complete wiping out of last
remnants of the welfare state on the other, the farcical agenda and false promises
would blow up, very soon.
Despite its initial strivings
to strike a balance between the two, the new government would soon find this
balancing impossible, and would be forced to lean furiously against the
aspirations of masses. Within no time this government would expose itself as a
battering ram in the hands of corporates, imposing their savage agenda of most
intense exploitation and violence against the people. The government, breaching
all promises it had made to woo the voters, would fall back to old
fundamentalist agenda of BJP- abolition of Article 370 of the Constitution that
gives privileged status to Kashmir, Construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, and above
all ouster of Bangladeshi migrants. It is also bound to trigger some sort of
conflict with neighbouring countries, as the BJP had been long-time critique of
Congress governments for going soft on Pakistan and China.
The hindu communal and fascist
colouration of the BJP government, is bound to come in direct conflict, sooner
than later, not only with religious minorities like muslims and Christians, but
also with national, regional and ethnic minorities, apart from the working
class and poors. This, in turn, would set off a whole series of social
explosions, coupled with widest ever resistance, to its policies on economic and
political front, bringing the mass of workers and toilers in direct conflict
with the right wing government of big-bourgeois, and may have devastating
consequences for it.
However, on this radical turn in
history, the working class, the only class capable of rescuing the humanity
from the clutches of capitalism decaying into fascism, remains on the fringes,
fragmented and demoralized, due to decades of dominance of Stalinism over it.
Bound up closely and subordinated to the sections of bourgeois through its
leaders and parties, by the Stalinists, the working class has lost the last
shreds of political class consciousness.
In order to push the political
swing towards left, i.e, towards a proletarian revolution, working class has to
strive, above all, for its class independence from all influence of the
bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie. However, the present opportunist leadership
of labour movement, the Stalinists and Maoists, would never permit this to
happen. Therefore, purging of the old and emergence of the new leadership in the
movement of working class, armed with a program oriented towards the October revolution,
is the foremost requisite for a proletarian revolution. Only such leadership, organized
into a party, can lead the working class to triumph over capitalism.
-Rajesh Tyagi/ 19.5.2014
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