The Surreal Pragmatist

So I am just back from a trip to Kolkatta and every time I have been there the city has spoken to me. Some voices I have heard out of preoccupation and some out of contemplation. But all in all I have come across several thoughts every time I think of this indigenously grown microcosm of center left and extreme left wing ideologies. Its in the heart of this city that an organism named Indian Marxism has bred over several of the past decades and every time you look for opinions you are surprised. On many of my past trips to the city and being in Kharagpur myself, I have talked to many people, commoners mostly about how they felt about the state of affairs in West Bengal. I mean anyone who has been in the IIT campus has learnt how to criticize the communists for having ruined a major part of their college life.But I have been curious about how people who have put these leftists in power feel about their leaders and what possesses them that they have elected leftist leaders for the past 33 years now.

Today's protagonist is the poster boy for the Bengali affair with Marxism. In fact he is the mascot for Indian version of Communism. Our dear Jyoti Babu was the longest serving Chief Minister in the history of Indian Democracy, serving for 23 years straight,he shall always be remembered as the pioneer of Pragmatism in India. But his following is on a fall among the populists today and he is accused of having traded economic development at the cost of forced equity.

Jyotendra Basu was an urbane born to upper middle class parents in Calcutta in 1914. He studied at the London School of Economics where he was inspired by his Professor Harold Laski.Jyoti Basu was inspired by Marxism and he returned to India and joined the Indian Communist Movement as part of the CPI. In the 1964 split of the CPI Basu became one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India(Marxist). In 1967 and again in 1969 Basu became the Deputy Chief Minister of West Bengal in a coalition government led by Bangla Congress's Leader Ajoy Mukherjee. But along with power came the responsibility to fulfill commitments. The CPM was the political party for all of extreme left wing activists who now believed that with Basu in power now was their time to get rid of the feudal system of land ownership. But caught in the battle between ideology and reality the CPM could not support the farmers(Sharecroppers) claim. This is when unrest started in a village called Naxalbari in the district of Darjeeling which started a whole new movement of armed revolution.

Naxalbari today is perhaps the most infamous place is India because any uprising against the state today is termed as Naksalwaad or Naxalite movement. The extremists under Charu Mazumdar formed a new party called the CPI(ML) and they included the name of the great revolutionist Lenin from the Soviet union along with Marx. Anyhow, moving on with our Jyoti Babu, the man was far from over yet. He grew in strength even as the state of West Bengal was turmoiled by the Naxalite upsurge. The CPM came into power for the first time in 1977 and Jyoti Basu was sworn into the office which he would hold for more than two decades. Basu lived up to the promises he had made in his election manifesto and initiated land reforms as soon he came into power. The operation Barga remains one of the most successful land reforms in the Indian history wherein the farmers where given there share out of the feudal landowners . This remains a primary reason why even today the farmers are so loyal to the communist party. The reforms ensured that the farmer would be self sufficient.

Basu continued to lead the government of West Bengal but in his urge to become pragmatist he lost count of the reality and surreality started occupying the primary place in the socialist ideology. The state of Bengal lost its sheen as the primary center for trade and commerce as more and more firms started shutting down their operations in the state partly because of the government policies and partly because of the terror that the Naxalites/Maoists had reigned. All in all the economic conditions worsened and development of infrastructure recieved a major setback.

Basu though remained a prime figure in the Indian Politics. Circa 1996 Basu was chosen as the consensus leader to become the Prime Minister of India in the United Front government. But the Politburo of CPM decided not to take part in government and Jyoti Basu,(8 years before Sonia Gandhi would do the same ) refused the supreme post. Basu later termed it as a "historic blunder".

Basu continued as the CM of West Bengal and retired from power in 2000. He played a major role as an architect of the first UPA government which was supported by the CPM from outside. Jyoti Babu retired from the CPM poltiburo in 2008 and remained a permanent politburo invitee till his death in 2010.

Basu marked the beginning of a new governance ideology in India, one driven with good conscience perhaps but one which resulted in blunders one after the other. His pro Chinese stance on foreign policies has been criticized by many and even termed as anti-Indian. He was always a loyal supporter of the Chinese and the Chinese always reciprocated with great respect and admiration for their fellow comrade.

Just as West Bengal perhaps looks to introduce reforms in economy and governance their is another storm that is being raised. This one led by Didi who is doing just what Jyoti Basu did when he was at his political peak. The Singur and Nandigram movement has already painted the CPM government in wrong shades in the eyes of their most loyal and trusted Farmers. So looks like industrial development and modernization is something that is still very far-fetched for this great state.

This is the biggest irony of India, we have leaders who want to deliver from the past, others who are just interested in the projection of a Superpower like future. Lost in the midst of all this is the present of our country. This is perfectly voiced in one of the lines from Rang de Basanti :

" ik pair past mein ta ik pair future mein, tabhi toh hum aaj par moot rahe hain"

Reference:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyoti_Basu
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_India_(Marxist)
3. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/i-still-think-it-was-a-historic-blunder.-because-such-an-opportunity-to-become-pm-does-not-come-often/568465/
4. http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article82177.ece
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalbari
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barga
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_India_Trinamool_Congress

P.S. : and the conspiracy theory special is hard to find for this one because Basu was openly loyal to the Chinese. :P