Monitoring World Left/liberal/communists

[ramana]

‘The CPI-M is in a Catch-22 situation’


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UDAY BASU in conversation with Guy Sorman, noted French political commentator and India observer
<b>India needs Mahatma Gandhi and not Karl Marx, though the current cohabitation of the Congress and the Marxists at the Centre may prove beneficial for globalising the country’s economy. </b>
This is how Guy Sorman, French political observer and member of the French National Commission for Human Rights, would like to interpret the implications of the latest political developments in the country.
<b>Sorman has been avidly following the developments in India for the past few decades and extending his mite in helping the French establishment improve its understanding of the problems and possibilities of India.</b>
That India’s French connections are yielding better results in terms of investment and technology transfer can be gauged from the change in the general perception of the country among the French public.
“It’s not long ago that the image ordinary French people had about India was that of a country of elephants and peacocks. Popular magazines used to churn out a few typical pictures of India’s fauna and flora. It’s not so now,” Sorman said.
Sorman modestly admits his contribution in this change of perception is only un peau (a little). But he has been a steady apologist for India.
Sorman became a teacher of economics at the University of Paris when he was only 25 and was a supporter of Manmohanomics when the Prime Minister was Union finance minister.
<b>“The recent Lok Sabha poll has been a triumph of sorts for democracy. The change of power has been effected silently and smoothly by a knowledgeable and tolerant electorate. This is the hallmark of democracy and this puts India ahead of China where state power and not plurality of views is supreme,” he said.
How does France accept Indian Marxists’ back seat driving at the Centre?
“You call them Marxists?” asked Sorman with a twinkle in his eyes. “Well, they are home-grown Marxist-Leninists and they have nothing to do with the Russian experience of Marxism. They don’t believe in armed revolution and are rather like the members of the British Labour Party. In fact, when I interviewed Jyoti Basu some 20 years ago, he did refer to the contributions of the Labour Party to the development of the Indian Marxists,” Sorman said.
The CPI-M today, he is convinced, is in a Catch-22 situation. “I have followed the progress of the Marxists both in West Bengal and Kerala and appreciate their land reforms movement. But, now they are in a dilemma. They know globalisation and reforms alone can usher in growth and development in the country, yet their ideological rhetoric prevents them from giving the globalisation devil its due,” he said.
On the whole, however, Sorman believes the Marxists’ presence in the corridors of power in Delhi is not wholly unwelcome. “Globalisation has also brought in its train distress for a sizable section of the people. While pursuing the irreversible reforms process, measures have also to be taken to alleviate the sufferings of these people. The noise the Marxists are making in this regard is not wholly bad for the success of globalisation,” he said.
Having said this, Sorman has no illusion about the efficacy of Marxism. “India needs Gandhi and not Marx,” he said emphatically.
The Marxists, however, would not like to enter into any debate on this issue. For example, Anil Biswas, CPI-M state secretary, said Sorman has the liberty to have his opinion, “but we believe Gandhi is for the uplift of the rich and Marx is for the poor and the toiling masses.”
The CPI-M, Sorman contended, has to accept globalisation as the world is dependent on it and India is not outside the world. </b>
“We do believe globalisation is the apotheosis of the Capitalists and it has its own contradictions and crises. We want to take advantage of the good components of globalisation, as we can’t wish away this process, but we are opposed to for its inherent weaknesses,” Biswas said.
As for Sorman’s view of the Indian Marxists, Biswas said there is no basic difference between the British Labour Party and the Conservative Party, as both “protect the interests of the rich.”
“Neither Marx and Lenin nor Marxian scholars have suggested that armed revolution is the only way to end the sufferings of the poor and the downtrodden. We believe in democracy for the majority and are working towards that end,” Biswas explained.
However, away from polemics, Sorman is aware of the ruffled feelings of the Sikhs and Muslims in India in the wake of the ban on the use of turbans by the Sikh and veils by Muslim students in French schools.
“As a member of the French National Commission for Human Rights, I am not happy with the ban. Secularism is our religion, though we know interested groups take advantage of this position for ulterior motives. Again, Islamic fundamentalists try to use the veil for their terrorist acts. Both tendencies have to be fought. But that doesn’t mean there should be any arbitrary use of the law. My information is efforts are being made towards evolving a formula that would respect the sentiments of the Sikhs and the Muslims and at the same time prevent subversive acts,” Sorman said.

(The interviewer is Special Representative of The Statesman, Kolkata.)
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