11-14-2006, 11:47 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Marxist doublespeak </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
<b>Islamism bad only in Kerala </b> <!--emo&
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Reports that the recent bomb blasts in Koddal, Kerala, have exacerbated the antagonism between the Islamist National Development Front (NDF) and the CPI(M) make apparent the wrenching internal crisis that confronts Indian Communism. When it comes to anti-American sloganeering - or even gathering crowds for public meetings to protest against the US President's visit to India - the CPI(M) turns to extreme Muslim groups. <b>When the Congress-NCP Government in Maharashtra takes steps to check the radicalisation of Muslim youth, the Communists protest against police "high-handedness". When Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of West Bengal talks of the need for madarsa reform, his proposal is vetoed by the central office. Yet, when the CPI(M) support base in Kerala finds itself under threat from the NDF, </b>the party responds by calling the Front a threat to "the entire society". Sooner or later, as its Government comes to grips with the internal security risks that a creeping growth of fundamentalism in Kerala presents to the State and to the rest of the country, the CPI(M) will have to choose between running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. It cannot have the best of both worlds: Tacitly backing radicals elsewhere while seeking to curb them at home.
Nevertheless,<b> the CPI(M)'s double-face is a minor story. The real cause for worry is that Islamism and its volatile mix of violence and perversion of faith are finding fertile ground in Kerala.</b> The CPI(M) is concerned because it finds Muslim youth, drawn to it traditionally, moving to a religio-political group the Left is finding "hard to fight ... ideologically". The party would be well advised to practice economic determinism. The stagnation of Kerala's economy has meant few job avenues for its young, Muslims not excluded.<b> Having resisted reform and growth-driven economics, hardline Marxists in Kerala are hoist with their own petard</b>. To take on the NDF - and wean away angry young Muslims from the seductive but ultimately destructive philosophies of the Islamists - the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front Government has to re-configure its world view. The antidote to the NDF is not more politically correct slogans and a condescending attitude towards domestic security. It calls for pragmatic economic policies that put Kerala on the fast-growth trajectory of many of its neighbouring States - and it requires hard policing. It is one of the ironies of Kerala's history that a Communist Government is required to fulfil this task. The bigger message is perhaps for the central leadership of the CPI(M), which draws heavily from Kerala and the so-called "Kerala line". It has to answer why it mocks at investigations that speak of an Islamist terror plot to assassinate, say, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, but seeks to make political capital of an NDF activist's arrest while making a bomb to kill a CPI(M) leader.
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
<b>Islamism bad only in Kerala </b> <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Reports that the recent bomb blasts in Koddal, Kerala, have exacerbated the antagonism between the Islamist National Development Front (NDF) and the CPI(M) make apparent the wrenching internal crisis that confronts Indian Communism. When it comes to anti-American sloganeering - or even gathering crowds for public meetings to protest against the US President's visit to India - the CPI(M) turns to extreme Muslim groups. <b>When the Congress-NCP Government in Maharashtra takes steps to check the radicalisation of Muslim youth, the Communists protest against police "high-handedness". When Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of West Bengal talks of the need for madarsa reform, his proposal is vetoed by the central office. Yet, when the CPI(M) support base in Kerala finds itself under threat from the NDF, </b>the party responds by calling the Front a threat to "the entire society". Sooner or later, as its Government comes to grips with the internal security risks that a creeping growth of fundamentalism in Kerala presents to the State and to the rest of the country, the CPI(M) will have to choose between running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. It cannot have the best of both worlds: Tacitly backing radicals elsewhere while seeking to curb them at home.
Nevertheless,<b> the CPI(M)'s double-face is a minor story. The real cause for worry is that Islamism and its volatile mix of violence and perversion of faith are finding fertile ground in Kerala.</b> The CPI(M) is concerned because it finds Muslim youth, drawn to it traditionally, moving to a religio-political group the Left is finding "hard to fight ... ideologically". The party would be well advised to practice economic determinism. The stagnation of Kerala's economy has meant few job avenues for its young, Muslims not excluded.<b> Having resisted reform and growth-driven economics, hardline Marxists in Kerala are hoist with their own petard</b>. To take on the NDF - and wean away angry young Muslims from the seductive but ultimately destructive philosophies of the Islamists - the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front Government has to re-configure its world view. The antidote to the NDF is not more politically correct slogans and a condescending attitude towards domestic security. It calls for pragmatic economic policies that put Kerala on the fast-growth trajectory of many of its neighbouring States - and it requires hard policing. It is one of the ironies of Kerala's history that a Communist Government is required to fulfil this task. The bigger message is perhaps for the central leadership of the CPI(M), which draws heavily from Kerala and the so-called "Kerala line". It has to answer why it mocks at investigations that speak of an Islamist terror plot to assassinate, say, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, but seeks to make political capital of an NDF activist's arrest while making a bomb to kill a CPI(M) leader.
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