Hey folks! Back after a long gap. Been busy with a personal project which I will reveal when the time is ripe. With the elections just over and the "bangla jatra" or the theatrics of bengal politics already begun I thought its time to dwell upon some aspects of equation of power in Bengal and eventualities.
Bengalis have been inherently passionate as well as emotional for politics. And for a few generations politics has been synonymous to CPM. But not anymore.
The CPM has resorted to various means of holding onto power over the years. I must appreciate the shrewdness of their planning and deadly accurate implementation helped by the inadequacies of a strong opposition to be successful in their attemp till now. But too much of virtue is a vice. Hence the same qualities has propelled the same party towards its downfall. We have grown tired of the rhetorics.
What are the achievement of the CPM? Well it had done a commendable job in the land reforms and hence rightfully gained power. It had stood by the farmers and taken away the land from zamindars and distributed it among the farmers. Who doesnt love Robin Hoods?
CPM had stood by employees of private firms and resorted to unionism. Strikes, Bandhs, lockouts. It made the companies to come down to its knees before the workers. The rich were tamed and the poor were given a comrade's support. A hand they could rely on. Another Robin Hood act.
With their success in Bengal the Left parties started throwing up tantrums at the centre. The centre found it a pain to deal with Leftists as they(Congress) had their own agendas (to be discussed later).
Why did these Robin Hood acts not benefit Bangla then? Firstly, you dont stab the hen laying golden eggs. Even if you are a Robin Hood the hen dies. It turned out that the workers unions were headed by the muscle men of CPM and the only poor it supported were those poor at brains and skills. The non-performers. The Doers were ridiculed, threatened, given the workload of the non-performers, virtually no stone was unturned to bring about equality. But this sinister equality had a stinking quality. It was not the equality brought about by the upliftment of the lesser but with the forceful downgradement of the able. So with the non-performers obliged, the obvious eventuality took place. The industry slowly perished. Since the industry is based on cost factors and deadlines, with the perishing and moving out of one industry the ancilliary industries had little options but to shut down or move their operations to outside bengal wherever their parent industry existed. And anyway it was good riddance of the strike and bandh loving climate in Bengal for them. Slowly unemployment and discontment among the able and educated grew. But they are of the indomitable spirit and refused to compromise. Those of the ables who were not able to find job in Bengal charted out their own course in new waters....in other states.
Who did this benefit then? Ofcourse the CPM. With the idle non-performers now it could fill up its cadre ranks. It could channelise the impotency of these non-performers into whichever direction it suited them. It started breeding these non-performers as hyenas intended to attack the lone Tigers (doers) who stayed back in Bengal. But the Doers were scattered and could be poached if the hyenas were in adequate numbers. These non-performers christened cadres were the new weapon of an impotent system. Mediocrity was encouraged and considered humane. Brilliance which attracted wealth was considered an evil and fit to be punished by cadres. The Doers were given an option to tow the party line or face the consequences.
Then how come this impotent system succeeded for 30 years? It had left its farmers untouched, unscathed by this monstrosity. The rural Bengal still supported it. As did its cadre-army in the cities.
But the educated and able doers in the city wanted a change. Only that they were scattered, disorganised and could not afford to go into politics to bring about the change itself. Voices of dissent rose in the previously industrialised cities and towns which were quickly addressed brutally by the new weapon of CPM - its cadre army. What was the opposition Congress doing during that time? Congress has throughout been a particular family oriented party. And the interests of that family has been at the centre and not in state-level politics. And the congress in Bangla had over the years degenrated into a party for time-pass politicians who were not too bothered by the scheme of things. They had not come into politics after facing the difficulties, harrasments, frustrations and insults of the cadres. They were from within the cadres. They were a portion of disgruntled cadre leaders who were not appeased by the CPM. So people could not really rely on them. What was the alternative? None at that point of time. Hence CPM flourished. But the seed of disconent had been planted.
The CPM had done a self-sustained goodwill generating act in rural Bengal. Farmers were indebted to CPM for the land-reforms and would always vote for them irrespective of oppositions. But for cities the CPM would have to devise some agenda to cover up the fiasco of closed industries. Also it had to generate its own revenue for the activities of the party. It started imposing upon the existing industries to either finance the party or to reduce the price of its products so that the people would feel the government was functioning towards its benefit. Either way it benefited the party. Wherever trouble erupted the cadre-army was deployed to appear as common man voicing their support for the govenrment action and the industry made to look like acting against the common man.
I must say the thinktanks of the policies of the party had been ingenuous in their scheme and the implementation could not go wrong for the sheer numbers of the cadre-army. But two things happened which paved the way for a light of hope for the apolitical, scattered, harrased and victimised real common man.
Next in Part II.
Bengalis have been inherently passionate as well as emotional for politics. And for a few generations politics has been synonymous to CPM. But not anymore.
The CPM has resorted to various means of holding onto power over the years. I must appreciate the shrewdness of their planning and deadly accurate implementation helped by the inadequacies of a strong opposition to be successful in their attemp till now. But too much of virtue is a vice. Hence the same qualities has propelled the same party towards its downfall. We have grown tired of the rhetorics.
What are the achievement of the CPM? Well it had done a commendable job in the land reforms and hence rightfully gained power. It had stood by the farmers and taken away the land from zamindars and distributed it among the farmers. Who doesnt love Robin Hoods?
CPM had stood by employees of private firms and resorted to unionism. Strikes, Bandhs, lockouts. It made the companies to come down to its knees before the workers. The rich were tamed and the poor were given a comrade's support. A hand they could rely on. Another Robin Hood act.
With their success in Bengal the Left parties started throwing up tantrums at the centre. The centre found it a pain to deal with Leftists as they(Congress) had their own agendas (to be discussed later).
Why did these Robin Hood acts not benefit Bangla then? Firstly, you dont stab the hen laying golden eggs. Even if you are a Robin Hood the hen dies. It turned out that the workers unions were headed by the muscle men of CPM and the only poor it supported were those poor at brains and skills. The non-performers. The Doers were ridiculed, threatened, given the workload of the non-performers, virtually no stone was unturned to bring about equality. But this sinister equality had a stinking quality. It was not the equality brought about by the upliftment of the lesser but with the forceful downgradement of the able. So with the non-performers obliged, the obvious eventuality took place. The industry slowly perished. Since the industry is based on cost factors and deadlines, with the perishing and moving out of one industry the ancilliary industries had little options but to shut down or move their operations to outside bengal wherever their parent industry existed. And anyway it was good riddance of the strike and bandh loving climate in Bengal for them. Slowly unemployment and discontment among the able and educated grew. But they are of the indomitable spirit and refused to compromise. Those of the ables who were not able to find job in Bengal charted out their own course in new waters....in other states.
Who did this benefit then? Ofcourse the CPM. With the idle non-performers now it could fill up its cadre ranks. It could channelise the impotency of these non-performers into whichever direction it suited them. It started breeding these non-performers as hyenas intended to attack the lone Tigers (doers) who stayed back in Bengal. But the Doers were scattered and could be poached if the hyenas were in adequate numbers. These non-performers christened cadres were the new weapon of an impotent system. Mediocrity was encouraged and considered humane. Brilliance which attracted wealth was considered an evil and fit to be punished by cadres. The Doers were given an option to tow the party line or face the consequences.
Then how come this impotent system succeeded for 30 years? It had left its farmers untouched, unscathed by this monstrosity. The rural Bengal still supported it. As did its cadre-army in the cities.
But the educated and able doers in the city wanted a change. Only that they were scattered, disorganised and could not afford to go into politics to bring about the change itself. Voices of dissent rose in the previously industrialised cities and towns which were quickly addressed brutally by the new weapon of CPM - its cadre army. What was the opposition Congress doing during that time? Congress has throughout been a particular family oriented party. And the interests of that family has been at the centre and not in state-level politics. And the congress in Bangla had over the years degenrated into a party for time-pass politicians who were not too bothered by the scheme of things. They had not come into politics after facing the difficulties, harrasments, frustrations and insults of the cadres. They were from within the cadres. They were a portion of disgruntled cadre leaders who were not appeased by the CPM. So people could not really rely on them. What was the alternative? None at that point of time. Hence CPM flourished. But the seed of disconent had been planted.
The CPM had done a self-sustained goodwill generating act in rural Bengal. Farmers were indebted to CPM for the land-reforms and would always vote for them irrespective of oppositions. But for cities the CPM would have to devise some agenda to cover up the fiasco of closed industries. Also it had to generate its own revenue for the activities of the party. It started imposing upon the existing industries to either finance the party or to reduce the price of its products so that the people would feel the government was functioning towards its benefit. Either way it benefited the party. Wherever trouble erupted the cadre-army was deployed to appear as common man voicing their support for the govenrment action and the industry made to look like acting against the common man.
I must say the thinktanks of the policies of the party had been ingenuous in their scheme and the implementation could not go wrong for the sheer numbers of the cadre-army. But two things happened which paved the way for a light of hope for the apolitical, scattered, harrased and victimised real common man.
Next in Part II.
Posts
