Sunday, November 25, 2007

The Indian Communist's ideology

I am intrigued by the events of Nandigram and the sudden violence that has rocked Kolkata due to the Taslima Nasreen controversy. The Communists ruling W.Bengal, it appears, are facing their biggest test yet in the last 30 years. Would be interesting to see how they handle it, although recent events seem to suggest they are losing it. And quite badly at that.

Let's see...the Communists world over pride themselves to be anti-capitalists, atheists and therefore, secular. This would automatically suggest that they would come down hard on fundamentalist groups. But they way the ruling party in W.Bengal has buckled under pressure to a little-known right-wing group suggests otherwise.

In India, the Communists follow a unique ideology. For example:
  • They will be anti-American and oppose the central government's proposed nuclear deal with the USA, despite being a part of the government, but will send their representative to the "evil nation" to woo investors.
  • In India, they will consistently attack large corporations, thereby keeping their vote bank intact, but will invite the very same organisations to set up shop in W.Bengal.
  • They, along with sympathisers, will organise protest marches and dharnas against curtailing of religious freedom in Gujarat when right-wing goons rough up an artist for "hurting" religious sentiments. But will be conspicuously silent when Taslima Nasreen gets roughed up in Hyderabad by goons belonging to another religious outfit rough up and threaten to "behead" her if she comes to the city again.
  • They will protest about the treatment of minorities in different parts of the country. But turn a blind eye when China, the world's largest communist country, tramples upon the rights of minority Tibetans and their aspirations for autonomy.
There is a name for such an ideology. It is pretty commonly adopted by people all over the world, and not just in politics. It is called Hypocrisy.

2 comments:

Teesu (very very Indian, very very good) said...

Good One!

Siddharth said...

what you say is true.but i still feel men like karat have their heart in the right place.i feel the left are lesser hypocrates then some of the other outfits.but they need to do a lot of soul searching.your criticism is unbiasd and balanced.