OdishaPlus Bureau
India’s communist parties have reached the lowest point in 2019 general elections.
A detailed look at the numbers does not look comfortable for the future of the Left. Given its decimation at both state and central elections in West Bengal and Tripura, only Kerala provided the last hope for the two Left parties: Communist Party of India (Marxist) and CPI. Apart from the solitary seat in Kerala, the CPM and CPI got two seats each from, to one’s surprise; Tamil Nadu.They won absolutely no seats in West Bengal and Tripura, their former strongholds in the east.
This is quite shocking. The elections results also tell us that the first time since 1952; the Left Front did not end up with double digits in the general election. Apart from the numbers, the influence and weight that they had wielded in national affairs and policy making has also dwindled to just nothing. Once upon a time, they could claim to provide the moral framework of Manmohan Singh’s government in 2004 and 2009.The communists stressed on welfare measures .
Also, the work of leftist academics loyal to the cause were extensively deployed for steering policies and programme of the UPA government. That was before they let their anti-Americanism get the better of their political sense and withdrew support to the government over the Indo-US nuclear deal. This is one decision the left was unable to explain to the electorate.
That misadventure alone would have exhausted the energy of the cadre, but it was not the first. There are many examples. In 1996, to the dismay of the communist cadres, the Politburo had prevented Jyoti Basu from becoming prime minister of the United Front government. And in 2008, Somnath Chatterjee was expelled by the CPM for being more loyal to Parliament than to his party.
’Historical blunder’ was what this stupidity was termed by the CPM-leaders belonging to the liberal group. Ever since, the left has been almost shouldered off the electoral field and had retreated to the orchards of the academic world. Surely, the communist parties ventured out of that safe haven this year to do contest in Begusarai, and lost one of the most closely watched elections. Undoubtedly, this would only embolden the BJP to proceed with its declared plan to clear universities of left influence. Of course, success in this initiative would also deprive it of a favorite exasperation – that it had been excluded from academia and the writing of history by left-wing intellectuals. But that would be a small price to pay, now that it has demonstrated its declining electoral prowess beyond doubt.
The left movement has lost relevance because it is overtaken and outclassed. Its politics is based on the notion of class, whose contours have changed over time. Historically, it was also constrained by its decision to interpret caste through the lens of class. It doesn’t really matter anymore, because Hindu pride may have, in many ways, trumped caste, too, in this election. The eclipse of the left may be a historical necessity, but which of India’s political parties will be capable of filling the moral vacuum the communists will leave behind? The left’s commitment to welfare and to the centrality of the poorest is going to be things of the past. That is the most worrying part.
