Deciphering the decline of Left

The singular failure of the Left is that it did not pay enough attention to every day corruption, misgovernance and arbitrary exercise of power and, more importantly, the decay of the institutions that affect the common man in a visible manner. These are the areas, where its impact could have been more telling and would have made a marked difference to the life of the common man

The Candid Comments of The Hans India Editor about the Left decline in the Indian polity (April 15, 2015) are timely and rather incisive too. In a way, he hit the nail on the head, about the problem concerned, when he says that the left has failed in an “all inclusive action that gives the party a mainstream image and class specific political action that leads to its independent growth.”

There are other solid reasons, both tactical and theoretical, which account for the Left’s decline.Some of them are cogently explained in the well-articulated piece. What is baffling is, the basic reason why the Left made many compromises with its theoretical positions for years together in forging tactical alliances with the bourgeois parties, both the national and the regional, has been its consistent opposition to the upsurge of the communal forces in the body-politic.

Yet, the present reality is that they are at the center-stage of national politics. Is it the case that the communalism is not a problem at all in the popular perception? Is it a case that the left has made a mountain out of the molehill regarding the communal threat? One has arrived at this unhappy conclusion because, the regional parties that sail with the BJP off and on are successful electorally and the Left is left in the lurch.

Particularly pinching, one can as well say agonising to the liberal democratic section, is that the communal forces are entrenching cozily themselves in a state where the Left front did rule for more than three decades. One is afraid that all the reasons that are advanced in the article or the policy formulations circulated by the party before the 21st party conference in Visakhapatnam do not comprehensively satisfy an ardent fan of the Left outside Bengal.

Something is deeply amiss. Unless, it is rightly and honestly accepted and addressed without inhibition, the situation may not improve. Even open confessions are the need of the day. Didn’t Arvind Kejriwal confess to his mistakes? A perception is gaining ground that unless the situation in Bengal improves, it is not that easy for the Left to revive itself in other States. It is where Ajay Gudavarthy’s argument, to which a reference is made by the Editor in the article, holds water.

It is the implicit contention of the Editor that had the Left welcomed the positive dimension of the neo-liberal economic policies/capitalism, instead of dogmatically opposing them per se, it would have been in a better position to have some appeal for the middle class voters. At the same time, at one place, the Editor contended that the Left did fail to respond fittingly to the multi-faceted changes that the new economic policies brought about.

Yes, these two contentions, one implicit and the other explicit, are on a strong wicket from one point of view. But, one’s nagging doubt is, is it that easy in a country of this size and this many contradictions to have a nuanced opposition and support for a policy and its effects. The other limitation is, the spread of the Left is rather patchy. It is true that the Left’s attack on crony capitalism and the mega corruption that is a must in its trail is the best of its kind. Yet, in the absence of sufficient numbers, where they are required, it has failed to halt the crony capitalism. If anything, the party that succeeded the Congress is promoting it with a focused vigor.

The singular failure of the Left is that it did not pay enough attention to every day corruption, misgovernance and arbitrary exercise of power and, more importantly, the decay of the institutions that affect the common man in a visible manner. These are the areas, where its impact could have been more telling and would have made a marked difference to the life of the common man.

Sadly, its own track record in this regard, in its major base is deeply disappointing, let alone its intervention in other States. Whatever it is, it is a good augury that some sincere intellectual churning is going on about the Left’s failures from within and a serious attempt is on to forge the Left unity. (The writer works as a Lecturer in English at Burhanpuram in Khammam district)

Response

This is a viewpoint on the article – Behind the Left decline – of Prof K Nageshwar,

The Hans India Editor, published on April 15

Yalamudi K