CPM hit by Hinduism & Sanskrit

[Guest guest]

delivering his inaugural speech at Banga Sanskriti Mela. Some two years ago he

surprised us by saying, "My grandfather has authored a book called Purohit

Darpan. This is one book, which every Bengali Hindu priest keeps with him as he

gets help from this book while performing puja. So don't be in a false

impression that I do not know what Hindu Dharma is." And mind you, this

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, when he was Information Minister of West Bengal,

accompanied Jyoti Basu, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, on his

Bangladesh tour and did not enter the Loknath Baba temple where Basu offered

puja and stayed inside the temple for more than an hour. At that point of time

also Buddhadeb took the stand that he was an atheist, so he should not go

inside the temple and in his arrogance, he stayed outside the temple. Anyway

things are changing and in this connection we are reminded of the story of

brigand Ratnakar who

ultimately became the great seer Valmiki. We will not be surprised if such a

transformation takes place in the life of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. But that

would be another story if at all it occurs. For now, Marxists are thinking that

they befool the people by making such contradictory statements. But the fact

remains that the Marxists are in frantic search of a place from where they can

save, not only their face, but their skin as well. In the initial years of

their governance in the late seventies they destroyed education, industries and

agriculture in the state and disturbed order and law in social life with the

hope that out of frustration, people would buy the idea of revolution. But this

did not happen. Then they started rethinking. Indian cultural bondage was so

strong at the grassroot level that they could not make headway without it. In

the meantime they found it very difficult to maintain discipline among the

cadres. Anti-social elements came forward to grab their share in the power game

and they infested the party from top to bottom. There was absolutely no control

of the party over them. Corrupted party leaders and ministers were confronted

with a situation where law and order and security of the state had become the

first victim. Nine hundred thousand unemployed youth, the largest in India, had

made the situation more complicated and unmanageable. In addition to this,

intra-party and inter-party bickerings had raised their ugly head to complicate

the matters further. There were many other problems for which the people in

general had been suffering for the last 28 years under the Left rule in West

Bengal. In the process, first, they had recognised the role of Swami

Vivekananda as a social reformer. When they realised that recognition of Swami

Vivekananda simply meant indirect recognition of Hindu religion, the then Chief

Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, lost no time to clarify that Hindutva

propagated by Vivekananda was different from that of the RSS. With this

attitude they at least stopped abusing Swami Vivekananda. Then they began to

admire almost all the national leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Ramakrishna

Paramahansa, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, etc. In the case of Netaji communists

had used filthiest language possible for his role in freedom movement of India.

They called Netaji `a pet dog of Tojo'. But after realising the strong feelings

of our countrymen on Netaji, the present Chief Minister of West Bengal, Shri

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has, on record, said, "We had misunderstood Netaji. Our

assessment about him was totally wrong." Under this backdrop, one has to

consider the developments that took place in the latest 21st state conference

of the Communist Party of India (Marxists). There were two major areas where

they found

themselves in a difficult situation=97one, in the field of politics and two, in

the field of economy. Through the political resolution, they cautioned the

cadres and party sympathiser that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with

the help of its satellite organisations, the Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram, Vidya

Bharati, etc. had established schools in remote areas of the state and through

these schools they had entrenched themselves among the Vanvasis, refugees and

the poor. According to their own assessment, RSS has been increasing their area

of influence uninterruptedly in many remote areas of the state. They even

mentioned that they were totally opposed to the kind of education the RSS was

imparting. Not only that, they feared that if RSS were allowed to work in this

field, then CPI(M) and other Left parties would fast lose their hold over these

areas. Hence from the platform of the 21st state conference, the CPI(M) gave a

clarion to its cadres and sympathisers to stop this `onslaught' and smash the

growing influence of RSS. On the economic front they were again apologetic,

because the dogmas, they had kept close to their heart for so long were all

proving worthless and had thrown the people of the state in the waste paper

basket of the nation. Active rethinking has been started since Buddhadeb

Bhattacharya became the Chief Minister of West Bengal. While covering the news

of CPM state conference, the Kolkata edition of Hindustan Times on February 12,

2005 wrote: "Hop on board, or we will miss the bus. Streamlining all ideological

boulders on his chosen growth path, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has

made it clear to his hard-line comrades at the CPI(M)'s state conference that

his government would continue to seek foreign investment and loan from the

World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Otherwise the largesse would be

tapped by other states, he warned. Urging the delegates to swim with the tide,

the reformist Chief Minister reminded them that the party had changed its

programme on several previous occasions to keep in step with the changing

times. The tone and content of his impassioned speech silenced even the most

vocal critics of his line=97ending all debate in the party over whether the CPI

(M) was losing its pro-poor character in its rush to keep pace with an

increasingly globalised world." The Statesman of Kolkata on February 12, 2005,

wrote an editorial under the headline, `Reforming Duo'. It said, "Nirupam Sen,

West Bengal's Commerce and Industries Minister, struck a welcome note of

realism at the CPI (M) state conference at Kamarhati, when he pointed out the

Left Front government's manifold failures in key areas of public policy, such

as healthcare, literacy and employment while mentioning successes in land

reforms. Even

presuming that land reforms have been successful, this will not in itself lead

to rising standards for the poor in a sustainable way, given Bengal's

burgeoning population; it only means that land tenures are getting more

fragmented. Performance in key areas like health, education, employment and the

proper functioning of Panchayats is essential and Sen is right to focus on the

Left Front's dismal records here. He had been a hard-liner with the party

imprimatur against musty dialectical formulas of Sitaram Yechury, Prakash

Karat, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, A. B. Bardhan and company." The fact remains

the same as the CPI (M) has been playing to the gallery all the time, i.e.

capturing power by hook or by crook. Former Central HRD Minister, Dr Murli

Manohar Joshi had ridiculed the role of CPI (M) and accused the party of double

standards, charging it with `fooling' the people of West Bengal. Dr Joshi came

to the city to

attend a marriage ceremony on February 11, 2005. "I am delighted to know that

the Left Front government is welcoming foreign investment in West Bengal. But

they are opposing it at the Centre," the BJP leader said. "This shows double

standards and surprisingly, the Marxists have always been vocal about their

socialistic ideologies." Publication: Organiser March 20, 2005 URL:

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=3DContent&pa=3Dshowpage&pid=3D69&page=3D24