PaRCha - JNU - AISA - 2009 ID-5779
.
~~/"VVJ.
~aV~ ~~~06 ~~~c::l.-S>. .
.
~ .
) }\c:.,\~Yv1~ (1-I.
s..-z. ;~I1--.
~..t .
A Party, Its Intellectuals, and The Ideological Quagmire .
"/am specially requesting them (Congress supporters) to support the Left for the sake ofpeace, orderand .
12.11.09 .
development 111 tl1e state. .. Democracy is under attack, peace is disturbed. We had restored peace and .
.
democracy in 1977 with people·s support.... We had provided unconditional support to the Congress in the .
interest ofthe country and to fight communalism." .
Jyoti Basu, in an appetl to Congress supporters to vote for the Left in the recently held by-elections (see .
www.zeeii(."H's.com. CPI-M scd.s Jyoti Basu's services in countering Trinamool, Nov 1. 2009) .
On the eve ofthe assembly by-polls in W Bengal, CPI(M) made a last-ditch attempt to regain at least some ofits lost .
turf: it got an ailing J)oti Basu to issue a fervent appeal to Congress sympathisers to vote for the Left Front!However, this .
.
desperate begging ofvotes from the Congress did not bail out the CPI(M), which suffered a rout in the by-elections. .
that tlu.· CPI(l\tl) did not consider correcting its course (the course of corporate land grab, .
It is notnhh.' .
nf'o-libentl policies and st~te repression, first independently and now in partnership with the Congress). .
Rather, it hoped to escape people's punishment in the elections by echoing Chidambaram in raising the .
'Maoist' bogey and appealing to the Congress to support the Left Front to counter the 'Maoist' threat! Jyoti Basu's letter refers. interestingly, to the "restoration of peace and democracy" in 1977 by the Government headed by him. The year is significant -it is the year in which the entire country defeated the infamous Emergency imposed by the Congress regime. Jyoti Babu actually appealed for the vote and support ofthe very forces ofthe Congress which brutally assaulted peace and democracy throughout the state-terror ofthe early 1970s leading up to the Emergency of 1974. Today the CPI(M) is shamefully partncring the Congress in once again assaulting democracy and imposing a virtual Emergc.tcy, raising the bogey of 'Maoism' to justify corporate land grab and all-out repres-.
sion on people's movements. To lend the 'appeal' a personal touch and 'above party' appearance, Jyoti Basu's statement was typed on blank paper .
rather than on the party letterhead. CPI (M) Politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP from Bengal Sitaram Yechuri endorsed the statement in the following words: "Jyoti Basu is a senior political father figure ... [he] has risen .
above parry politics. He is talking about the country, the country's future.... " .
..fj: .
Will SFI and CPI(M) tell us -why do the great stalwarts of CPI(M)'s parliamentary practice-be it Jyoti .
Basu or Somnath Chatterjee -manage to rise 'above party politics' and closer to the Congress 'party'?! (ln the process, Somnath Chatterjee, of course, rose so much above the party that he actually preferred to quit the party rather than vote against the Congress-led UPA Government on the floor ofParliament-and often claimed the blessing of Jyoti Basu in so doing; the latter nev~r refuted this claim). .
Predictably, the Congress rudely rebuffed the proposal, and Jyoti Basu's appeal only invited personal humiliation l'or .
the party's senior-most lcatkr and c:-..puscd tltc cornplcte idcoll>gical bankrupt<.:y that the CPI(M) is displuying.Relian<.:e on .
the Congress (and the Congress' own pla11k of'saving the country from Maoism') did not save the CPICM) from suffering yet another drubbing in its former bastion ofWest Bengal. Meanwhile, intellectuals, who arc either card-holder members of CPI(M) or are close to the CPI(M), .
have issued a stat<'ment (Concer·ned Citizens on "Maoist" Violence) that yet again reveals the intellectual .
bankruptcy of the CPI(M). The statement begins with the line, "There has been a spate ofgrowing murder and violence in certain areas of .
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal by armed persons acting on behalfof .
'Maoist violence' the 'CPI (Maoist).,, Clearly the CPI(M) intellectuals share and echo the Indian State's own claim that .
is the central issue for the country -especially in the states named above. But for the people at large, it is clear that it is these very states that arc the main sites of corporate land grab, brutal eviction of adivasis and state .
repression in service of corporates. .
The statement then says, ..While every conscious citizen opposes acts ofoppression committed by members of .
the exploiting clusses or individuals in the state apparatus, the so-called "Maoists, " by their violent acts of .
vendetta, torture and gruesome killings, are gravely damaging the cause of the popular democratic movement. " .
Do these CPI(M) intellectuals want us to forgot the basic Marxist precepts about the State? Is oppression .
merely a set ofisolated 'acts' committed by individual 'members' of exploiting classes and state apparatuses? Isn't the State itselfan organ ofclass rule? Does the State not have an agenda of oppression and repression ofpopular democratic .
I ).
-c .
movements? .
We too hold that the Maoist tactics are damaging the cause of popular democratic movements. But most of the .
CPI(M) intellectuals who are signatories to this statement must tell us: why did they not support the popular .
democratic movements at Siugur, Nandigram, Lalgarh? Why were they silent and supportive ofthe \Vest .
Bengal State Government when it unleashed brutal repression on those popular democratic movements? P:J:O. .
".
.., ·M~ n"""":"""f .
.
PaRCha - JNU - AISA - 2009 ID-5779
.
~~/"VVJ.
~aV~ ~~~06 ~~~c::l.-S>. .
.
~ .
) }\c:.,\~Yv1~ (1-I.
s..-z. ;~I1--.
~..t .
A Party, Its Intellectuals, and The Ideological Quagmire .
"/am specially requesting them (Congress supporters) to support the Left for the sake ofpeace, orderand .
12.11.09 .
development 111 tl1e state. .. Democracy is under attack, peace is disturbed. We had restored peace and .
.
democracy in 1977 with people·s support.... We had provided unconditional support to the Congress in the .
interest ofthe country and to fight communalism." .
Jyoti Basu, in an appetl to Congress supporters to vote for the Left in the recently held by-elections (see .
www.zeeii(."H's.com. CPI-M scd.s Jyoti Basu's services in countering Trinamool, Nov 1. 2009) .
On the eve ofthe assembly by-polls in W Bengal, CPI(M) made a last-ditch attempt to regain at least some ofits lost .
turf: it got an ailing J)oti Basu to issue a fervent appeal to Congress sympathisers to vote for the Left Front!However, this .
.
desperate begging ofvotes from the Congress did not bail out the CPI(M), which suffered a rout in the by-elections. .
that tlu.· CPI(l\tl) did not consider correcting its course (the course of corporate land grab, .
It is notnhh.' .
nf'o-libentl policies and st~te repression, first independently and now in partnership with the Congress). .
Rather, it hoped to escape people's punishment in the elections by echoing Chidambaram in raising the .
'Maoist' bogey and appealing to the Congress to support the Left Front to counter the 'Maoist' threat! Jyoti Basu's letter refers. interestingly, to the "restoration of peace and democracy" in 1977 by the Government headed by him. The year is significant -it is the year in which the entire country defeated the infamous Emergency imposed by the Congress regime. Jyoti Babu actually appealed for the vote and support ofthe very forces ofthe Congress which brutally assaulted peace and democracy throughout the state-terror ofthe early 1970s leading up to the Emergency of 1974. Today the CPI(M) is shamefully partncring the Congress in once again assaulting democracy and imposing a virtual Emergc.tcy, raising the bogey of 'Maoism' to justify corporate land grab and all-out repres-.
sion on people's movements. To lend the 'appeal' a personal touch and 'above party' appearance, Jyoti Basu's statement was typed on blank paper .
rather than on the party letterhead. CPI (M) Politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP from Bengal Sitaram Yechuri endorsed the statement in the following words: "Jyoti Basu is a senior political father figure ... [he] has risen .
above parry politics. He is talking about the country, the country's future.... " .
..fj: .
Will SFI and CPI(M) tell us -why do the great stalwarts of CPI(M)'s parliamentary practice-be it Jyoti .
Basu or Somnath Chatterjee -manage to rise 'above party politics' and closer to the Congress 'party'?! (ln the process, Somnath Chatterjee, of course, rose so much above the party that he actually preferred to quit the party rather than vote against the Congress-led UPA Government on the floor ofParliament-and often claimed the blessing of Jyoti Basu in so doing; the latter nev~r refuted this claim). .
Predictably, the Congress rudely rebuffed the proposal, and Jyoti Basu's appeal only invited personal humiliation l'or .
the party's senior-most lcatkr and c:-..puscd tltc cornplcte idcoll>gical bankrupt<.:y that the CPI(M) is displuying.Relian<.:e on .
the Congress (and the Congress' own pla11k of'saving the country from Maoism') did not save the CPICM) from suffering yet another drubbing in its former bastion ofWest Bengal. Meanwhile, intellectuals, who arc either card-holder members of CPI(M) or are close to the CPI(M), .
have issued a stat<'ment (Concer·ned Citizens on "Maoist" Violence) that yet again reveals the intellectual .
bankruptcy of the CPI(M). The statement begins with the line, "There has been a spate ofgrowing murder and violence in certain areas of .
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal by armed persons acting on behalfof .
'Maoist violence' the 'CPI (Maoist).,, Clearly the CPI(M) intellectuals share and echo the Indian State's own claim that .
is the central issue for the country -especially in the states named above. But for the people at large, it is clear that it is these very states that arc the main sites of corporate land grab, brutal eviction of adivasis and state .
repression in service of corporates. .
The statement then says, ..While every conscious citizen opposes acts ofoppression committed by members of .
the exploiting clusses or individuals in the state apparatus, the so-called "Maoists, " by their violent acts of .
vendetta, torture and gruesome killings, are gravely damaging the cause of the popular democratic movement. " .
Do these CPI(M) intellectuals want us to forgot the basic Marxist precepts about the State? Is oppression .
merely a set ofisolated 'acts' committed by individual 'members' of exploiting classes and state apparatuses? Isn't the State itselfan organ ofclass rule? Does the State not have an agenda of oppression and repression ofpopular democratic .
I ).
-c .
movements? .
We too hold that the Maoist tactics are damaging the cause of popular democratic movements. But most of the .
CPI(M) intellectuals who are signatories to this statement must tell us: why did they not support the popular .
democratic movements at Siugur, Nandigram, Lalgarh? Why were they silent and supportive ofthe \Vest .
Bengal State Government when it unleashed brutal repression on those popular democratic movements? P:J:O. .
".
.., ·M~ n"""":"""f .
.