Bihar Elections - Review of Left Right & Centre
Tuesday, September 08, 2015
Politically the scenario of the country is getting more troublesome in view of the upcoming assembly election in Bihar. Being one of the largest provinces of the country with a large population, the political war zone of Bihar is surely giving insomniac syndromes to our political bosses.
After divorcing his partner for over a decade, BJP, from his government, Nitish Kumar has turned towards his yesterday's bete noire Lalu Prasad Yadav as a messiah for the upcoming polls. The betrayed BJP, which is now led by Prime Minister Modi and his coterie, is quite determined to sweep the provincial legislative polls following their victory in the 2014 parliamentary elections. The BJP is relying on its own traditional vote bank of upper caste Hindus along with the support from its junior partners like the LJP led by the 'minister of all seasons' Ram Vilas Paswan and disgruntled muscleman Pappu Yadav.
The attempts made by the Lalu PrasadYadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal and Nitish Kumar - Sharad Yadav led Janata Dal (United) to revive the collapsed Janata family, following the footsteps of their predecessor and patron Jay Prakash Narayan, by tying knots with the Mulayam Yadav and Deve Gowda led Janata splinters- Samajwadi Party and Janta Dal (Secular). However, the opportunist hotch potch, which is called the prototype of a neo-Janata Parivar, could not take off due to the adverse political weather, as Mulayam Yadav, notorious for his secret deals with Central Government of the BJP and the Congress, withdrew his party from the so called 'Grand Alliance' in Bihar and decided to fight the election with its partner, Nationalist Congress Party, another political double-dealer.
It is evident that the alliance of Nitish-Lalu and the Congress Party in Bihar will pull more votes than what the fragile Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Yadav can collect on its own in a state outside its home turf, however, the walking out of Mulayam from the alliance will ensure that the 'Grand Alliance' will lose a part of its votes to the Samajwadi candidates, which will ensure that the BJP will gain supremacy in several constituencies.
In view of the upcoming Bihar assembly election, the BJP has started spraying salvo against the Nitish-Lalu coallition, blaming Nitish for continuing the reign of terror and lawlessness which was the trademark of Lalu's rule, forgetting the fact that the BJP was the junior partner of the government during its tenure in office with the junior Modi (Sushil) holding the second position after the Chief Minister in the cabinet.
The BJP also released the socio-economic caste census data at the eve of the Bihar election to ensure that the Bihar electoral campaign could help it in weaning a large section of the Dalit voters from the "Grand Alliance" camp by showing a poor performance of Bihar in the sphere of uplifting the ostracised community. However, as a double-edged sword, this has its own repercussions, as the BJP was a partner in the same government, which it plans to take on over the issue of indifference towards the Dalits.
The right wing parties enjoy the support of the feudal landlords and local hoodlums and criminal gangsters, who gain immense political and administrative support from the ruling parties and switch their allegiance accordingly. This axis between the feudal forces-mafia and the rightwing forces calls the shot in each election in Bihar, and other political forces that cannot feed the ever increasing greed of the feudal landlords and mafia, cannot make any difference in the poll-arena of Bihar.
The parliamentary left parties recently formed a grand alliance of their own to counter both BJP and the JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance. Six parties namely, the CPI, the CPI(M), the CPI(M-L) Liberation, Forward Block, RSP, SUCI (C) came together on 7th September 2015 in a rally at Patna to declare their intention to fight the Bihar election unitedly. This formation of the neo left block is another example of how opportunist the left parties, which swear by parliamentary democracy, can turn, as they have agreed to unite only with a mission to garner more votes and win more seats, rather than with any goal to foster a socio-economic change. These so-called left parties have used all their rhetoric mongering skills to deceive the common left supporters and activists and have turned their focus from fighting the socio-economic evils of the semi feudal and semi colonial production system over which our country stands, to just campaign and fight for electoral gains.
The left forces that have joined hands together, each has a different and diametrically opposite official view on the situation of the country, starting from the nature of the Indian state. Whilst the CPI and CPI (M) considers Indian revolutionary stage to be national and people's democratic one respectively, the SUCI and RSP considers the stage to be socialist. The CPI considers India to be an independent country, followed by the CPI(M), Forward Block, RSP, etc whilst the CPI(M-L) Liberation officially considers India to be a semi colonial and semi feudal country. With such a wide array of views, the only common understanding one political front can reach is - increase vote share and win some seats.
The possibility of any parliamentary left's victory in Bihar through is as much bleak as the scope of colonisation of Mars within 2020. Bihar assembly election, alike the election in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, etc., is ruled by money and muscle power. The feudal landlords, their mafia and private army chiefs primarily decide, which party should win an election in the rural hinterland of Bihar and the poor peasants, mostly from the ostracised and oppressed castes and communities have no other options but to support what their masters command them. The lack of political consciousness of the masses, the lack of militant struggle built by the left forces to counter the feudal forces, has provided the feudal landlords with a free turf to rule upon, unchallenged.
The left forces, rather than forming an alliance for electoral gains, should have formed an alliance to stir up broad militant workers' and peasants' struggle against the policies of the government, at both central and provincial level. The left forces should have rather intensified campaigns for land rights to the tillers, right to food, education and universal health care to the deprived and poverty ridden people of Bihar. Elections, for the Communist forces, is a yardstick to measure the consciousness of the people, a platform to propagate their policies and demands, and to uncover the impotency of the parliamentary system before the masses.
This is what the Leninist teachings on parliamentary democracy teaches those who subscribes to Marxist-Leninist view point. The communists were never allowed to participate in the elections of a bourgeoisie democracy to win seats and form governments, unless one confuse Khrushchev's doctrine with Marxism-Leninism. However, our misfortune is that though our left leaders from the parliamentary sect will love to quote in length from the classics of Marx and Lenin, they will surely overlook the simplified implications of the Marxist-Leninist science in their love for Khrushchev's doctrine.
Bihar assembly election, unlike the predictions of the mainstream corporate media, will not be the litmus test for the future polity of India. As election results always swings within the gap of years and sometime within months and weeks. The political landscape of the country will remain same irrespective of whichever party among the Congress or the BJP led block wins power at the national or provincial level. As they will subscribe to the same policies enacted by the block of international monopoly and financial capital led by the IMF-World Bank - WTO. Even if the left block makes its way to power under any special circumstances through electoral path, they will do nothing different than replicating the experience of West Bengal where they did nothing but emulated the neo liberal policies of the right wing Indian government camouflaging them with leftist rhetoric.
It is imperative for the progressive left and democratic forces of Bihar and elsewhere to shed the parliamentary illusion, which only results into ideological capitulation to the might of foreign monopoly and financial capital and Indian feudalism, bureaucratic and comprador capitalism. Only by strengthening and expanding intensified struggles of the workers and peasants against the ruling classes and their policies, one can build up a huge bastion of the people which can defeat the rule of reaction and establish a true people's representative government. Electoral alliances will only imitate hoax calls and lead the genuine people's struggle to complete astray.
After divorcing his partner for over a decade, BJP, from his government, Nitish Kumar has turned towards his yesterday's bete noire Lalu Prasad Yadav as a messiah for the upcoming polls. The betrayed BJP, which is now led by Prime Minister Modi and his coterie, is quite determined to sweep the provincial legislative polls following their victory in the 2014 parliamentary elections. The BJP is relying on its own traditional vote bank of upper caste Hindus along with the support from its junior partners like the LJP led by the 'minister of all seasons' Ram Vilas Paswan and disgruntled muscleman Pappu Yadav.
The attempts made by the Lalu PrasadYadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal and Nitish Kumar - Sharad Yadav led Janata Dal (United) to revive the collapsed Janata family, following the footsteps of their predecessor and patron Jay Prakash Narayan, by tying knots with the Mulayam Yadav and Deve Gowda led Janata splinters- Samajwadi Party and Janta Dal (Secular). However, the opportunist hotch potch, which is called the prototype of a neo-Janata Parivar, could not take off due to the adverse political weather, as Mulayam Yadav, notorious for his secret deals with Central Government of the BJP and the Congress, withdrew his party from the so called 'Grand Alliance' in Bihar and decided to fight the election with its partner, Nationalist Congress Party, another political double-dealer.
It is evident that the alliance of Nitish-Lalu and the Congress Party in Bihar will pull more votes than what the fragile Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Yadav can collect on its own in a state outside its home turf, however, the walking out of Mulayam from the alliance will ensure that the 'Grand Alliance' will lose a part of its votes to the Samajwadi candidates, which will ensure that the BJP will gain supremacy in several constituencies.
In view of the upcoming Bihar assembly election, the BJP has started spraying salvo against the Nitish-Lalu coallition, blaming Nitish for continuing the reign of terror and lawlessness which was the trademark of Lalu's rule, forgetting the fact that the BJP was the junior partner of the government during its tenure in office with the junior Modi (Sushil) holding the second position after the Chief Minister in the cabinet.
The BJP also released the socio-economic caste census data at the eve of the Bihar election to ensure that the Bihar electoral campaign could help it in weaning a large section of the Dalit voters from the "Grand Alliance" camp by showing a poor performance of Bihar in the sphere of uplifting the ostracised community. However, as a double-edged sword, this has its own repercussions, as the BJP was a partner in the same government, which it plans to take on over the issue of indifference towards the Dalits.
The right wing parties enjoy the support of the feudal landlords and local hoodlums and criminal gangsters, who gain immense political and administrative support from the ruling parties and switch their allegiance accordingly. This axis between the feudal forces-mafia and the rightwing forces calls the shot in each election in Bihar, and other political forces that cannot feed the ever increasing greed of the feudal landlords and mafia, cannot make any difference in the poll-arena of Bihar.
The parliamentary left parties recently formed a grand alliance of their own to counter both BJP and the JD(U)-RJD-Congress alliance. Six parties namely, the CPI, the CPI(M), the CPI(M-L) Liberation, Forward Block, RSP, SUCI (C) came together on 7th September 2015 in a rally at Patna to declare their intention to fight the Bihar election unitedly. This formation of the neo left block is another example of how opportunist the left parties, which swear by parliamentary democracy, can turn, as they have agreed to unite only with a mission to garner more votes and win more seats, rather than with any goal to foster a socio-economic change. These so-called left parties have used all their rhetoric mongering skills to deceive the common left supporters and activists and have turned their focus from fighting the socio-economic evils of the semi feudal and semi colonial production system over which our country stands, to just campaign and fight for electoral gains.
The left forces that have joined hands together, each has a different and diametrically opposite official view on the situation of the country, starting from the nature of the Indian state. Whilst the CPI and CPI (M) considers Indian revolutionary stage to be national and people's democratic one respectively, the SUCI and RSP considers the stage to be socialist. The CPI considers India to be an independent country, followed by the CPI(M), Forward Block, RSP, etc whilst the CPI(M-L) Liberation officially considers India to be a semi colonial and semi feudal country. With such a wide array of views, the only common understanding one political front can reach is - increase vote share and win some seats.
The possibility of any parliamentary left's victory in Bihar through is as much bleak as the scope of colonisation of Mars within 2020. Bihar assembly election, alike the election in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, etc., is ruled by money and muscle power. The feudal landlords, their mafia and private army chiefs primarily decide, which party should win an election in the rural hinterland of Bihar and the poor peasants, mostly from the ostracised and oppressed castes and communities have no other options but to support what their masters command them. The lack of political consciousness of the masses, the lack of militant struggle built by the left forces to counter the feudal forces, has provided the feudal landlords with a free turf to rule upon, unchallenged.
The left forces, rather than forming an alliance for electoral gains, should have formed an alliance to stir up broad militant workers' and peasants' struggle against the policies of the government, at both central and provincial level. The left forces should have rather intensified campaigns for land rights to the tillers, right to food, education and universal health care to the deprived and poverty ridden people of Bihar. Elections, for the Communist forces, is a yardstick to measure the consciousness of the people, a platform to propagate their policies and demands, and to uncover the impotency of the parliamentary system before the masses.
This is what the Leninist teachings on parliamentary democracy teaches those who subscribes to Marxist-Leninist view point. The communists were never allowed to participate in the elections of a bourgeoisie democracy to win seats and form governments, unless one confuse Khrushchev's doctrine with Marxism-Leninism. However, our misfortune is that though our left leaders from the parliamentary sect will love to quote in length from the classics of Marx and Lenin, they will surely overlook the simplified implications of the Marxist-Leninist science in their love for Khrushchev's doctrine.
Bihar assembly election, unlike the predictions of the mainstream corporate media, will not be the litmus test for the future polity of India. As election results always swings within the gap of years and sometime within months and weeks. The political landscape of the country will remain same irrespective of whichever party among the Congress or the BJP led block wins power at the national or provincial level. As they will subscribe to the same policies enacted by the block of international monopoly and financial capital led by the IMF-World Bank - WTO. Even if the left block makes its way to power under any special circumstances through electoral path, they will do nothing different than replicating the experience of West Bengal where they did nothing but emulated the neo liberal policies of the right wing Indian government camouflaging them with leftist rhetoric.
It is imperative for the progressive left and democratic forces of Bihar and elsewhere to shed the parliamentary illusion, which only results into ideological capitulation to the might of foreign monopoly and financial capital and Indian feudalism, bureaucratic and comprador capitalism. Only by strengthening and expanding intensified struggles of the workers and peasants against the ruling classes and their policies, one can build up a huge bastion of the people which can defeat the rule of reaction and establish a true people's representative government. Electoral alliances will only imitate hoax calls and lead the genuine people's struggle to complete astray.
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