Communists have been in the forefront among various parties to periodically analyse and admit their mistakes. Correctional steps might or might not follow. All these are, however, not helping the CPI and the CPI-M to grow. Rather, they are on a downhill ride in recent years to the extent that their presence in parliament is near zero now. This, for a (united) party that acted as the principal opposition in the initial years after Independence is quite a downfall. The CPI-M’s political review report, adopted at the party’s central committee meeting in Delhi in the run-up to the Party Congress in Madurai in April next, is a fresh example of the party’s open admission of the errors in its organisational and tactical approaches.
The report admits that the party’s activities against communalism – mainly at the behest of the BJP-RSS entities – were “confined to conventions and some limited campaigns.” It also noted, rightly, that the RSS is using the growing sense of “religiosity” among the Hindus to “woo them.” The Left parties, it adds, “should have an approach on how to reach out to believers to make them understand how faith is being misused” by Hindutva forces. A problem, however, is that the Communists reached such a pass that they are no longer in a position to wage a campaign, let alone a battle, against the RSS-BJP. Even in the best of times, the Communists were confined to West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala. They retain power and considerable influence in Kerala but lost out almost fully in the other two states – and have not been able to build their organisational heft in any other state. The BJP is strong and running governments in the Hindi belt in particular, and this is where its clout is majorly seen. The Communists are a non-entity in these states. Hence, any campaign against the BJP-RSS and their perceived misuse of religion can be possible only with the help of other like-minded parties. The Congress still has strong secular credentials. But, the Communists are maintaining a distance with the Congress too, rather than joining hands with it to neutralize the RSS-BJP outreach to people on religious lines. Admission of guilt by itself will not take the Communists forward. What is required is solid action and joint fights at the ground level.
The CPI-M report has also pin-pointed the Sangh Parivar’s resort to the outdated Manuvadi concept to deny rights to women and to lower castes among the Hindu framework. Notably, despite claims by the Congress that it upholds secularism as an article of faith, it also is often seen to be soft-pedalling the pro-secular campaigns to avoid irritating the core of the Hindu society in the Hindi belt. United action by secular forces is the need of the hour.
