Left-wing politics supports social
equality and egalitarianism,
often in opposition to social
hierarchy. It typically involves a concern for those in society whom
its adherents perceive as disadvantaged relative to others as well as a belief
that there are unjustified inequalities that need to be reduced or abolished
(by advocating for social justice).[1] The
term left-wing can also refer to "the radical, reforming,
or socialist section
of a political party or system"
Post-Independence though, the
party sprung back to form leading armed
struggles in several principalities where the princely rulers were reluctant to
give up on power. Most noteworthy among these was the rebellion against the
Nizam of Hyderabad. In Manipur and Bihar too, the party made
its ideological impact felt strong in terms of the agrarian and trade union movements they led. By 1952, it realised
the need to occupy the space of governance rather than just the streets and
decided to embrace parliamentary politics. Having been successful in garnering
enough support among some sections of the Indian population, it soon emerged as
the first leading opposition party that
the Congress faced.
Soon after, the party experienced
its first-ever electoral success in the
state of Kerala in the 1957 Legislative Assembly elections. Two decades
later the party gained a footing in West
Bengal and soon after in Tripura.
By the early 1960s, however, the international conditions affecting
Communism had altered yet again, the ripples of which would be felt
strongly in the Left politics of India. The Soviet Union and China (two most important Communist powers of the
world) were at daggers drawn over ideological implications of Left politics. The
Chinese, led by Mao Zedong, denounced the
Russians for leaning towards the West as a diplomatic means of spreading
Communism, rather than leading to an armed struggle. The ideological
conflict between the two countries had its immediate effect on the CPI, drawing
sturdy lines between those who leaned
towards a Soviet philosophy and those who supported the Chinese. The
political soil in India too was conducive to the conflict within the CPI. The
Indo-China border war in 1962 affected the politics within the party with one section backing Nehru, while the
other radical section opposed to what
they believed was an unqualified aggression towards China.
The party splits
The internal politics within the
CPI soon manifested itself in the famous
split of 1964, when the radical
section leaning towards China walked out of a meeting held in Delhi, calling themselves the ‘real communist
party’. Soon after they would form
the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), which eventually
overshadowed the CPI in parliamentary politics.
Three years after the split of
1964, however, there was yet another
dissension within the CPI-M, with a faction
of radicals claiming that the party, engrossed in parliamentary politics, had
given up on the original cause of armed revolution. In 1969, this group, led by Charu
Mazumdar led violent attacks at Naxalbari
in North Bengal in an effort to replicate a Chinese revolution. The movement was soon crushed when the CPI-M,
which was at that moment part of a coalition government in Bengal, came down
heavily upon it, ironically accusing it of drawing inspiration from Mao, rather
than following what India stood for. Despite the failure of Mazumdar’s movement
though, the revolution he attempted to
ignite, established the roots of what is now the Maoist movement in the
country.
The recurring splits within the party, primarily based on what precisely
the Marxist ideology entailed, however, could not shake the Left’s
influence on the three states it had gained control over in the 50s and 60s. In
Kerala the Left Front kept alternating with the Congress in presiding over the
government, in West Bengal the CPI-M, once elected to power in 1977 under Jyoti
Basu’s leadership, held on to power for the three decades. In Tripura too the
CPI-M came to power in 1988, and except a brief moment of Congress rule between
1992 and 1998, the state was governed by the Left up until the overthrown by
the BJP earlier this month.
The saffron challenge
Interestingly, while the Congress
and the Left kept tussling for power in these three states, they were rather
insulated from the approach of saffron in their territory for years. “The sort
of ideological disposition that Jan Sangh had it was not culturally conducive
to draw on Bengali psyche. For instance, in Bengal Ram Navami has no appeal
because Bengalis don’t have anything called Ram Navami in our cultural
universe,” says Chakrabarty explaining why the Jan Sangh could not effectively
make space for itself in West Bengal in opposition to the Congress. He extended
the same argument to Kerala as well, where he said historically, a rich
cultural tradition of internationalism existed that could not cohabit with the
ideological leanings of the Jan Sangh or the BJP that was rooted in a
nationalist spirit.
However, what is noteworthy is
that cultural tradition and ideological positioning of a certain community can
never decide the fate of a party in electoral politics. This was first made
evident when the Left suffered a drastic loss of power in West Bengal in 2011
to the All India Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee. The
policy of rapid industrialisation of the state since 1994, leading to a spree
of forcible land acquisitions soon alienated large sections of the rural
population, made space for an alternative political party to take center stage.
But a ruder shock for the Left
was yet to come in March 2018, when the BJP made history by introducing saffron
to the land of red in Tripura. The trouncing of the ruling party has raised
serious questions over both the future of Left politics in India and the extent
to which the ideology of Marx has been effective in improving the practical
realities of everyday life in India. “When you think of elections in India,
they are decided not on the basis of ideological priorities but on the basis of
people’s disillusionment with the ruling authority. If you look at Tripura, do
you think BJP has got any cultural authority there? I doubt it. BJP has won
because people are disillusioned with the incumbent Left Front government,”
says Chakrabarty.
As Narendra Modi’s party
makes its first-ever inroads into a Left bastion, the real question on
everyone’s mind is if the era of Left politics in India is about to meet its
end. “In India Left ideology has evolved in contrast with the prevalent system
of government led by Congress. Since it is oppositional politics, conceptually
it cannot be over ever,” explains Chakrabarty.
Credit: Indian Express Research
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