The '50s of
the twentieth century was the romantic period of the communist movement. The
reasons were many. In geopolitics, the Soviet Union with the communist
bloc held sway, and in India, for the first time, a communist government came
to power in a tiny state in southern India -Kerala under EMS Namboodhirpad. The
Kerala Agrarian Relation Bill which the first communist State in India enacted
took away ownership rights from landlords having excess land and transferred
the same to the tenants and agriculture laborers. In the same period, the
communists got the West Bengal Land Reforms Act 1955 passed with a
similar ceiling on the holding of land. Both these Acts were enacted based on
contemporary Marxist narratives to give land to the land less a good intention
but history proved that land reforms did not create an inclusive industrial
development in both states but only trade unionism and lack of capital
formation. In Kerala, land reforms had a retributive reaction in the form of ''
Vimochana Samaram'' a larger movement led by the Nair/Menon community in Kerala
under the able leadership of their leader, Sri Mannath Padmanabha Menon and
duly supported by the Congress Party and the influential church. The outcome-
The Nehru government dismissed the EMS Govt in Kerala in 1959. However,
the communists held themselves as a National Political party since then running
governments in West Bengal, Tripura, and intermittently in Kerala, much
propelled by the proximity of the Indian State to the Soviet Union in the Cold
War era.
The 21st
Century was a period of nemesis to the Marxian narratives. Dismantling of the
communist bloc and the emergence of a globalized world order, the triumph of the free
market economy, and communists in China leading a market-led growth, among
many, progressively resulted in a situation where the communist party was
disqualified from the label of a National Party in 2023 by the Election
Commission of India. During the eve of the elections to the 18th LokSabaha,
today in the 17th Loksabha they bite their toes with a paltry 5 MPs.
After the
first decade of the twenty-first century, a new form of nationalist aspirations
started sweeping the world marked by nativism, protectionism, and right-wing
narratives started sweeping the world with its own reflection in India under
the leadership of Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Interestingly
western intelligentsia and press, tacitly observing nationalist
re-assertions in Western democracies were the first to cry foul on nationalist
reassertion in India which echoed with the slogan Sabke Saat Sab Ka
Vishwas and sab ka Prayas, an inclusive political narrative albeit
centered around the Hindu cultural and civilization pride. Sensing this the
Economist wrote “All societies draw on nationalism of one sort
or another to define relations between the state, the citizen, and the outside
world, and new nationalists are riding high on promises to close borders
and restore societies to a past homogeneity. The Western press laments this
so-called ‘'de-democratization of India'' and the essence of this rhetoric is
only due to the loss of a soft power that they enjoyed by creating convenient
narratives piggybacked over the so-called intellectual left in India. This was
well articulated by India's foreign minister to the Western press when he said
"The West has a bad habit of commenting on others and they somehow
think that it is their right".
It is in these contours that we need to understand the antitheism of the
left narratives against nationalism and understand its genesis. The origin of
the disinterest of the Left in national aspirations through cultural revival
starts with Antonio Gramsci who developed the concept
of ‘’cultural hegemony’’ as a derivative of the Marxian theory of ‘’dominant
ideology of society’’ which reflects the beliefs and interests of the ruling
class. The
hegemony of a singular culture as a ‘’ superstructure’’ above that, is according
to Gramsci the greatest impediment to establishing the rule of the proletariat.
Hence unless cultural hegemony is challenged there is no loophole for a
revolution in the society . In India, the earlier communists had realized
that the superstructure is indeed India’s long-connected history and the soul
of the nation. Later years Deen Dayal Upadhyay a nationalist ideologue in India
called this wholeness CHITI which forms the essence of our nationhood, Chitti
is nontangible and is indeed the personality of the nation, and destroying this
superstructure is indeed the first step to be taken for a revolution of the
proletariat in India.
CHITI the superstructure being nonphysical and composed of beliefs
attitudes emotions and feelings can be dismembered only through an ideological
narrative of redefinition of whatever contributes to CHITI. Here
comes the Marxian view of India of defining our society culture and history through a dismantling narrative which was first attempted by Marx himself but later carried on by his comrades
in India. This dismantling through new narratives has been the genetic code of
all leftist analysis be it sociological historical or political.
On the political side, it has two objectives. Firstly it was through affiliation with a movement of Islamists in the early 20s of the centuries called mujahirs who believed in creating the Islamic State of India and fighting colonial rule. MN Roy the earliest communist ideologue was instrumental in assimilating disgruntled mujahirs who left India and formed the communist party. Since then a global unholy alliance of leftists with Islamists is now well-researched and documented which was started by MN Roy in India and the Bolsheviks in Russia. The best alliance that can happen in a country like India, is an alliance with a counterforce that successfully ruled the Indian subcontinent for 500 years.
The communist support for the division of India where PC Joshi declared
that an anti-imperialist organization like the muslim league expressing the
freedom urge of the Muslim people that its demand for Pakistan was a demand for
self-determination is another example. This unholy alliance was very much reflected in
the later writings of communist ideologues when they were caricaturing Maplah's
Violence of the genocide of Hindus in Kerala into a freedom movement of Muslim
peasant struggle against the British. Sir C Shankaran Nair in his book Gandhi
and Anarchy systematically explains the atrocities committed against
Hindus, particularly from Nair /Namboothiri communities. I also recall the oral
testimony of my paternal grandfather whose family history traces forced
migration from Malabar to Kochi. This unholy alliance continues even today and
the central government's banning of the PFI and the tacit communist backing for
them is well known through the media
The second political narrative is in dismantling the idea of a singular
nation. In 1942 the communist party while supporting the two-nation theory of the Muslim League, declared that India couldn’t claim to be a single
nation. Later published by its general secretary G Adhikari the narrative goes
that every section of the Indian society has the right to self-declaration ‘’
based on common language culture and psychological makeup”
Creating a history that emphasizes India’s underbelly to be hollow, with
the systemic glorification of invasion and negation of local resistance is one
aspect. Defining Indian feudalism through the prism of Marxian definitions, and
undermining the developments of science and philosophy in India was another.
Securing positions in academic institutions and self-proclaiming itself as
Liberal left and ensuring those narratives be part of the national curriculum
was indeed part of this counter to the hegemony of the culture
Since this is not a research paper, covering enormous such cases of
dismantling the hegemony systematically asserted by the left is beyond the
purpose of this essay. However, what is significant is in the era of
neo-globalization and as we have seen in the COVID times enhancing the CHITI
and converting that energy to national development and reasserting our
nationhood is paramount as human existence is under threat from pandemics and
climate change. A strong nation with hard and soft power and with a
civilizational history of amalgamation of cultures and considering the world as
one as Vasudaiva kudumbakam is the need of the hour. Political
and Social movements irrespective of the nomenclature of the party should be
singular in protecting our national oneness and we ensure that we move away
from the left-right narrative. Dismantling the leftist ecosystem in India is
hence should be the priority of each citizen as we approach elections
