The Great Long March

180 kilometres in 6 days from rural areas to the financial capital is indeed one of the greatest marches by our kisans. Swelled foot, bleeding toes, wrinkled faces and dusty hands marched all their way towards the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan. Wrapped in red under the banner of All India Kisan Sabha, all are determined to make their demands get accepted from the ruling RSS-BJP government.
             I was pretty upset after the Left's humiliating defeat in Tripura and was seeing it as one of the worst electoral scenarios for the Left after Independence. But even though, there was a weakening feeling in Tripura, the AIKS strengthened me and showed all of us the strength of Left. It is only through these types of grassroot movements can India's Left get into the hearts of the citizens.
            Agrarian distress has been continuously haunting our country and with years passing by, there has been a steep increase in the case of farmer suicides especially in the states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka. Farmers have been facing the wrath of the lack of supporting and adequate policies from successive governments on the issues such as increasing the MSP, immediate implementation of the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission, waivering of farm loans and compensation for crop losses due to unfavourable climatic conditions. All these distressing circumstances forced the farmers of Maharashtra to act, regardless of the losses which they would suffer on losing a day's farming. They have set aside all their losses and marched along collectively with their bare feet braving the scorching heat. This March can be termed as one of the historical movements on the part of our farmers.
             As I had said earlier, that for the present situation in our country, India's Left is the only viable alternative and it is only if the Left organizes such mass movements, will they reach the hearts of every common man. These are the so called grassroot level activities which will never be seen from the RSS which has been working in the grassroot level to spread hatred among various communities using the age old method of "Divide and Rule" used by the Europeans. Right through its history, there has never been any instance when the RSS has played a pivotal role in any peasant movements.
            Witnessing the massive support which our farmers have got from the Mumbai residents, one thing is sure - that there is a farmer inside every Indian as most of the "Urbaners" are the harvest of the rural seeds sown years ago.

Apathy of India's Left !!!!

It was yet another setback for India's Left with yesterday's verdict in Tripura. The left which had been ruling Tripura uninterruptedly for the last 25 years was decimated to a mere 16 seats by the saffron party. Being a left supporter, it was heartbreaking for me to digest this verdict. In the morning, when I saw Left leading (though with meagre seats) I was somewhat satisfied thinking that party may retain the power, but when as time went by the seat share started falling rapidly and I was awestruck. I kept on looking at the screen hoping that some miracle might happen and hoped for any final twist in the tale. Some may say that, BJP ate Congress's vote share but it is not as simple as that. Yes, it is a factor that the BJP ate into the Congress's vote share, but if we take into consideration the scale of campaigning which the BJP did, a  handsome part of left's vote share has gone into BJP's kitty also. Simply, going with the first factor, can be seen as an utter ignorance of the true situation.

Yesterday's verdict was a repetition of what was done by the Trinamool in West Bengal in 2011. Yet, there is a lack of introspection inside the left. Being a leftist, I feel deeply sad at the rapid dwindling of supporters in the country. A party which was once regarded as the party for the masses, is now reduced to mere conferences, meeting halls and plenums. Lack of interaction with the common man has been the main factor behind the fall. A gap has been created between the thinkers of the party and the grass root level workers which will ever widen if we will not look into the mistakes. In the era, where the fascist forces are on the rise, instead of joining hands with the like minded secular parties, the party has decided to go alone in the national level. Votes can only be bagged by constant work at the grass root levels for a considerable period of time. Unless and until, this disconnect between the party and the common man is removed, the party will keep on facing such setbacks and will become vulnerable of getting stripped off the national party status.

The present situation is clearly depicted in a malayalam movie "Sandesham" where the party members are introspecting on the loss which they suffered in an election. In the scene, when asked about an opinion regarding the loss, one member stood and spoke the truth of this same disconnect between the party and the mass. Even though, the whole scene was shot in a humorous manner, it was/is the hard truth behind the present status. Left was once known for its mass movements be it, for the labour class or for the downtrodden. It created a viable alternative in the Indian politics for the people. But now it has been reduced to only opinions which its leaders give on various issues. Majority of people in the country do not have any idea about what does the left ideology stand for. They don't know, that it is only the left ideology which is utmost required for the present situation of our country. A time in which major part of the wealth is in the hands of a few billionaires, a time in which many fascist forces are gaining strength, a time in which industrialist absconders are absconding from the country without paying huge sums of loans and a time in which more than half of our country is still kept in the dark, it is during these times that left ideology will become the best alternative. But, time and again, if the same mistakes are committed by the left, the gap or the disconnect will continue to widen.