Imagine a high brow, a bush shirt and a great air of intellectual arrogance. One of the great problems of the traditional Left was that they presumed they were right and were averse to criticism. That alienated many individuals in academic circles who were not comfortable toeing a Communist party line. The influence of Communists has been particularly strong in the social sciences and history departments in academia. "They were supposed to be a national force looking out for the people's good," says columnist Swapan Dasgupta. "But they also turned out to be little tyrants. There's an old saying that applies to their current state: first I thought it was only the wife. Now it's the people who don't understand us!"
As a right-winger, Dasgupta would naturally revel in the Left's defeat and be a natural "enemy of the people". But others with no such baggage have been alienated by an attitude of great arrogance and intolerance Left intellectuals assume when they capture certain spaces and academic fora. Says Patna-based economist Saibal Gupta: "Once they get hold of a space, they are not ready to listen to any other point of view. I would say that plurality of knowledge that is a Nehruvian tradition was destroyed by the Left once it got into certain institutions. They'd try and make you persona non grata if you disagreed with them." One also ran the danger of being labelled a "closet knickerwallah" or "anarchist" if one disagreed with the wise men (and a few women) of the Left.
Possibly because they come from a strong ideological tradition, many Left intellectuals have been seen as intolerant and people who talk only to each other. Says an academic from the CPI(M) ranks: "Yes, I would say in some matters the Communists are intolerant. Perhaps that is why till the night before the election defeat in Bengal, they were under the impression they may scrape through!"
Perhaps that's why even those who should be lamenting the diminishing of the Left have little sympathy for them. Today, the CPI(M) brigade is no longer in control of too many institutions. But it turns out that arrogance and petty politics are not things only they're guilty of. Mediocres from the right as well as academics close to the Congress all play their little games. When the high-brow go low, they play dirty.
| ALSO IN THIS STORY |
THE LEFT A few things. For a balance in polity, a source of necessary dissent, they matter. |
LEFT & REFORMS Will the Left's losses lead to a surge in the economic reforms agenda? Not so fast. |
FOREIGN POLICY How actionable is the Left's instinctive anti-Americanism now? |
THE LEFT It would be best for CPI and CPI(M) to unite. Just a thought. |
 OPINION It had been 'Ek dhakka aur do' time ever since 2009 Lok Sabha election —the power punch was delivered last week |
AUTHORS: OUTLOOK
TAGS: LEFT | LEFT FRONT | CPI-M | CPI
SECTION: NATIONAL
SUBSECTION: COVER STORIES
The Left Hand
- NREGA was launched in 2006 keeping in mind the Left's stated goal of universalising employment
- Holding up interest rates for EPF, also fought against linking these investments with the stockmarket
- A steady stream of protests against price rise and corruption has been the hallmark of the Left presence in India
- Protested against displacement of farmers from their land during acquisition for industrial projects. Ironically, did the opposite in West Bengal—with disastrous consequences.
- Discouraging FDI, which put them at loggerheads with former partner Congress. Is also opposed to export-oriented mining.
- The Left has argued for greater investment in agriculture, education, health as a percentage of GDP, though without much success
- Has been strongly opposed to moves to discard the public distribution system
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For seven years, the Left resisted anything that the UPA did, or did not do, to the economy—from courting foreign investment to 'selling off' PSUs to watering down entitlements for the poor. Nothing passed without a good hard look from the Left. Yet, for all its pains, it has finally emerged neither happily in power nor as the genius on the sidelines. After the trauma of Bengal and Kerala slipping through their fingers, Left leaders are emphasising on how losing one election doesn't mean the end of the party in a parliamentary democracy.
Still, those who waited for this moment feel rewarded at last: 'It isn't like the economy depended on them', 'No one really counted on their support' goes some of the refrain. The accusations are many: that the Left held back meaningful reform in the pensions arena; that it stalled education reforms; that it unionised workers which in turn wrecked industry; that it stalled disinvestment in PSUs at the cost of fiscal prudence; that they supported "regressive" anti-poor subsidies for petrol, diesel etc, thus fuelling mafias across the country.
Well the doors are open now and UPA-II does not have to deal with the Communist parties even as any sort of force in the Opposition. Already, there are urgent cries for a quick succession of pending economic reforms. "We need meaningful pension reform right now while demography is in our favour," argues commentator Jerry Rao. The former CEO of software firm MphasiS BFL points out several decisions the government can take, from introducing education vouchers to agreeing to GM foods to double deductions for employer contributions to provident funds. "This last step will be employment-friendly, it will encourage people to create permanent jobs, and encourage greater savings. We need such ideas," he says.
 "The Left took over land forcibly... they blurred the distinctions between them and others." E.A.S. Sarma, Ex-bureaucrat |  "If not for the Left, there'd be a trampling of the majority in the name of economic reform."Surajit Mazumdar, Economist | |
 "The industry's 'self-regulation' is all eyewash. The unions will not reconcile to 'flexible' labour laws." M.K. Pandhe CPI(M) |  "The Left's capitulation to draconian methods in acquiring land has led to this outcome."Dilip Simeon, Historian | |
 "Mistakes have been made, but do not forget the role of the Left as the nation's conscience keeper." D. Raja, CPI |  "The elections were not won over a national issue like liberalisation, except maybe for corruption. It's a factor." R. Jagannathan, Journalist | |
With one of the world's largest populations aged 30 or under and a 500 million-strong workforce, India still has pension cover (or any social security) for less than 1 per cent of the people. Protection of their rights was a strong rallying point for Left leaders everywhere. While unions insist that a majority of companies escape the "compulsory" provident fund net unchecked (and hence should be penalised), reformists are magnetised by pension schemes backed by a mixture of investments in private stock and government bonds. Because of its inherent uncertainty, this is something the Left opposed tooth and nail, and its leaders insist they still will.
Critics say the perception that the Left fuelled economic policy paralysis is because lately they had pursued one line for India—against foreign investment, for instance—and another for Bengal, by tying up with international magnates to invest in specially designed zones. The beating they got at the hustings have Left leaders quite contrite over these decisions. It hasn't helped that the buzz surrounding them after they "saved" India from the global financial crisis—by blocking pension funds liberalisation and deregulation of banking or stockmarkets—has also fizzled out.
"We should have pursued our own system of land acquisition and rehabilitation in Bengal, instead of trying to follow rules set by the Centre," admits CPI leader D. Raja on the state's attempts over 2007-08 to unsuccessfully free land in Singur for the Rs 4,000-crore Tata car production facility. By 2009, CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was saying he regretted the use of police force in Nandigram, another part of the state, where 14 locals were killed in huge protests over land acquisition.
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| Blasted CPI(M) protests against LPG price hike |
That said, with the Centre itself under pressure now from accusations of crony capitalism (a.k.a. India's "robber barons"), there is a rising notion that with the Left's decline the country may have lost a restraining voice in politics and business. Left leaders insist their relevance is unchallenged, and it doesn't matter whether or not they're in power. "We'll still be a force to be reckoned with in coming days," says Raja, citing several ongoing movements, protests and agitations—against the recent fuel price hike, against inflationary exports and against "anti-worker" changes in labour laws—all of which has implications for business.
CPI(M) politburo member M.K. Pandhe says another change has crept up unnoticed, which will reflect on the economy in coming years: a coming together of unions, across party lines, as a counter to a defensive government keen on pursuing reforms. "Not a single union is out of the picture in opposing inflation, fuel price hike, 'hire-and-fire', disinvestments, insurance liberalisation and privatisation of agriculture. Even the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which always stood apart, has joined us," says Pandhe.
Outside politics, as a movement representing the oppressed/exploited people, leftism will grow, predicts labour historian and intellectual Dilip Simeon, referring to the mass movements and networks on issues such as displacement, land alienation, eroding workers' rights, sezs, RTI, NREGA, communal violence, violence against women, child labour, police atrocities and human rights. He says it wasn't just about the Leftists in power pursuing an aggressive land acquisition policy that led to accusations of running a "state-enabled corporate tyranny". In Simeon's words, the state is in "danger of losing its status as the neutral arbiter of social conflict, and emerging as the benefactor of one side".
How this shapes up for business and the pursuit of higher growth rates is anybody's guess—governments that have championed reforms tend to be voted out at first opportunity, whereas the Left gained the largest parliamentary presence in '04 after it consistently opposed reform. Surajit Mazumdar, associate professor of economics at Ambedkar University, Delhi, says, "The assembly poll results may appear to provide an opportunity to push 'reforms', but they certainly don't provide the justification for it."
It's been a long road from 1991, when reforms began, to today. The 'India Shining' narrative of the early 2000s was first replaced by the 'trickledown' theory of growth, which is now giving way to another idea—"inclusive growth". Through each of these, the Left has behaved like a workman who sold off, one by one, all his most important tools—including the consistent application of the ideas it brandishes at the Centre in the states it ruled. This election could be a direct outcome of that selloff, and not really as big a vote for higher GDP growth.
| ALSO IN THIS STORY |
THE LEFT A few things. For a balance in polity, a source of necessary dissent, they matter. |
THE LEFT Done in by their own hubris, Left intellectuals never learned to accept criticism |
FOREIGN POLICY How actionable is the Left's instinctive anti-Americanism now? |
THE LEFT It would be best for CPI and CPI(M) to unite. Just a thought. |
OPINION It had been 'Ek dhakka aur do' time ever since 2009 Lok Sabha election —the power punch was delivered last week |
AUTHORS: PRAGYA SINGH
TAGS: CPI | CPI-M | LEFT | LEFT FRONT | UPA | REFORMS | NREGA | INFLATION / PRICE RISE |FOOD: POLICY-PRICES-PDS-SECURITY ETC
SECTION: NATIONAL | BUSINESS
SUBSECTION: COVER STORIES
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