November 29, 2015
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Thinking Together

Our electoral policy in Bihar should be subject to strong scrutiny. Left parties should have contested a minimum number of seats, say 50, and supported the Grand Alliance in the remaining193 seats. By contesting in all seats, we have indirectly made the NDA path smoother. The Grand Alliance defeated the NDA on their own strength. Why do we forget the words of Dimitrov given in 1930s when fighting against the world's largest communal, fascist and repressive force, the Sangh Parivar? Your comments are expected. Sathya Kumar, Trivandrum, Kerala We recently concluded our 21st Party Congress at Visakhapatnam. At the Congress, we adopted a Resolution on the Political-Tactical Line for the Party. In this Resolution, we set out the importance of building a strong Party and of strengthening Left unity. This we felt was essential in order to carry out the major task before the Party which is to organise and unleash class and mass movements and, through these, to develop the Left and Democratic Front. In the Congress, we also reviewed our growing weakness even in those areas (states and pockets) where we had had a strong presence. One of the important reasons for this weakness identified by us was the electoral alliances and adjustments that we had entered into with various regional parties and supporting their governments in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar on the plea that they were secular. By this, we compromised the identity and independent role of our Party because these regional parties, especially after they formed governments at the state and at the central level, became as committed to the implementation of neo-liberal, anti-people policies, as the Congress and the BJP. We did oppose these policies and also organised campaigns and some struggles against them. In Bihar, land struggles led by us had to face the police repression of the RJD government and many comrades were killed. Despite this, however, we could not gain the people’s confidence. Peoples’ discontent was, in fact, utilised and capitalised by the BJP time and again, most spectacularly in 2014 when it made its greatest gains at the expense of not only the Congress but also of the JD(U) and the RJD. This reality has exposed the danger of a weakened CPI(M) and Left. The Bihar election took place soon after our Party Congress. In Bihar, the CPI(M) had already forged an alliance with the main Left Parties before the last assembly election and united struggles had been launched on issues of land distribution, workers’ struggles, communal violence, etc. It was necessary that this united Left movement be taken forward in the electoral arena also so that its strength and capacity to fight the anti-people policies and to fight the steps taken by the centre and by whichever bourgeois formation that came to power in the state, is increased. Only the Left advocates land reforms and struggles for land distribution, which is vital for the future progress of the people of Bihar but which was opposed by the regional party governments. The tremendous danger posed by a resurgent BJP in power on its own at the centre and leaving no stone unturned to win assembly elections was recognised by the Party and the Left in Bihar. At the same time, it was our understanding that to effectively fight the communal forces, a strong Left was necessary. During the election campaign, the Left and its leaders identified the communal threat to people’s unity and their democratic rights as the main danger facing them and reiterated its commitment to relentless and uncompromising struggle against this. It also took up people’s burning issues like land reforms, violence against women and dalits, attacks on working people etc. This campaign received good support from the common people. While this did not translate into electoral victories, it certainly created a confidence among them that a strong force was emerging that could take up their issues and problems in the future. Dimitrov’s advice regarding fighting fascism is misplaced here. Fascism has not set in, in India. There is still scope for organising struggles and movements on peoples’ issues all over the country which will also play an extremely important role in isolating the fascistic Sangh Parivar. The struggle against the Land Acquisition Ordinance and the September 2 All India Industrial Strike are examples of this. It should also be asserted that the charge leveled against the Left in Bihar that they helped the BJP by contesting separately is false and mistaken. The official polling data does not support this contention. In fact, the CPI(ML) won 3 seats defeating the BJP and where the CPI(M) candidate came second in a seat, the BJP alliance candidate was third. In fact, the Left has got nearly 4 percent of the vote and has won three seats in a situation where there was a polarisation between the two main alliances. The three main parties – CPI(ML), CPI and CPI(M) – together polled 13,36,549 votes. This shows that the basis for a strong, independent Left force exists in Bihar. There are not many states in India where such a percentage can be polled by the Left when there is such a polarisation. We believe that the Bihar election and the big victory of the RJD-JD(U) combine has shown that large sections of the people are opposed to the communal polarisation that the BJP is promoting. This is a very encouraging sign which should spur people everywhere to fight this polarisation more vigorously and effectively. This also creates more space for the people’s struggles against the onslaught of neo-liberal policies that is destroying their livelihood and future. The CPI(M) and the Left will make every effort to participate in and strengthen both these kinds of struggles.