09-21-2005, 06:20 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Red harlots </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Indians who have come of age after the fall of the Berlin Wall will perhaps find the disclosures contained in The Mitrokhin Archive II mildly shocking, if not outright amusing. Most of them view India's political class as bereft of ethics and morals, so it is unlikely to offend their sensitivities that some of our well-known politicians with a fetish for mouthing socialist clichés were nothing more than harlots of Moscow during the days when red was the dominant colour of what was then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Others are likely to laugh over the fact that comrades and their fellow travellers were happy to settle for such small sums of money that pale into insignificance when compared to the thousands of crore that now change hands for favours doled out by those in power. But for those who grew up during the tumultuous decades of the '60s and '70s, <b>the Mitrokhin exposé brings back memories of how India's politics - and, by extension, policies - were mortgaged to Moscow and sacrificed on the altar of sham ideological commitment. </b>
In the guise of pursuing the path of non-alignment, our politicians of that period deftly led the country into the sphere of Soviet influence; the nation continues to carry the burden of the debris of that disastrous experiment of aping the Soviet model for a fistful of roubles, although the Cold War in which India chose the wrong side is now of no more than academic interest. There was nothing ideological about exercising that choice; it was born of the lure for Moscow's 'gold'.
That leading lights of the Communist movement who aspired to be in the vanguard of the revolution, the path to which Lenin had declared lay through Calcutta and Shanghai but never quite crossed the Great Wall of China, as well as "socialists" in the Congress who proudly displayed the badge of India's poverty to prove their loyalty to the cause, were regularly funded through KGB operatives, therefore, does not come as a surprise. Mitrokhin has merely confirmed what has been known all along.
Which is not to suggest that we need not bother ourselves about the disclosures. While it can be argued that India was not the only country where the inheritors of Stalinism were doling out money to influence the course of politics and the framing of policy, it would be morally wrong to accept the tame defence put up by the Congress, the CPI(M) and the CPI and, to use a favourite Indian expression, let bygones be bygones.
Seen from Moscow's perspective, the handouts were perfectly justified as they were part of official Soviet policy to push the frontiers of Kremlin's control - in east Europe tanks were used to physically dominate territory and people, elsewhere, for instance in India, cash was used to dominate politics. What is unjustified is the ease with which our politicians allowed themselves, and in the process the national interest, to be compromised.
<b>It serves little purpose to name individuals, most of whom have long departed from this world, but those who still fly the red flag or swear allegiance to an ideology that has been discredited and disowned in their 'fatherland' should be exposed for what they are: Defenders of the indefensible who, given a chance, will do what their leaders did. </b>Tragically for them, Moscow has run out of gold and Russia is no longer interested in influencing the course of Indian politics or in feathering the nests of comrades. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Where are those chest beater Roys, Chatterjies and others? FOILies are dead silent after book/report came out.
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Indians who have come of age after the fall of the Berlin Wall will perhaps find the disclosures contained in The Mitrokhin Archive II mildly shocking, if not outright amusing. Most of them view India's political class as bereft of ethics and morals, so it is unlikely to offend their sensitivities that some of our well-known politicians with a fetish for mouthing socialist clichés were nothing more than harlots of Moscow during the days when red was the dominant colour of what was then the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Others are likely to laugh over the fact that comrades and their fellow travellers were happy to settle for such small sums of money that pale into insignificance when compared to the thousands of crore that now change hands for favours doled out by those in power. But for those who grew up during the tumultuous decades of the '60s and '70s, <b>the Mitrokhin exposé brings back memories of how India's politics - and, by extension, policies - were mortgaged to Moscow and sacrificed on the altar of sham ideological commitment. </b>
In the guise of pursuing the path of non-alignment, our politicians of that period deftly led the country into the sphere of Soviet influence; the nation continues to carry the burden of the debris of that disastrous experiment of aping the Soviet model for a fistful of roubles, although the Cold War in which India chose the wrong side is now of no more than academic interest. There was nothing ideological about exercising that choice; it was born of the lure for Moscow's 'gold'.
That leading lights of the Communist movement who aspired to be in the vanguard of the revolution, the path to which Lenin had declared lay through Calcutta and Shanghai but never quite crossed the Great Wall of China, as well as "socialists" in the Congress who proudly displayed the badge of India's poverty to prove their loyalty to the cause, were regularly funded through KGB operatives, therefore, does not come as a surprise. Mitrokhin has merely confirmed what has been known all along.
Which is not to suggest that we need not bother ourselves about the disclosures. While it can be argued that India was not the only country where the inheritors of Stalinism were doling out money to influence the course of politics and the framing of policy, it would be morally wrong to accept the tame defence put up by the Congress, the CPI(M) and the CPI and, to use a favourite Indian expression, let bygones be bygones.
Seen from Moscow's perspective, the handouts were perfectly justified as they were part of official Soviet policy to push the frontiers of Kremlin's control - in east Europe tanks were used to physically dominate territory and people, elsewhere, for instance in India, cash was used to dominate politics. What is unjustified is the ease with which our politicians allowed themselves, and in the process the national interest, to be compromised.
<b>It serves little purpose to name individuals, most of whom have long departed from this world, but those who still fly the red flag or swear allegiance to an ideology that has been discredited and disowned in their 'fatherland' should be exposed for what they are: Defenders of the indefensible who, given a chance, will do what their leaders did. </b>Tragically for them, Moscow has run out of gold and Russia is no longer interested in influencing the course of Indian politics or in feathering the nests of comrades. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Where are those chest beater Roys, Chatterjies and others? FOILies are dead silent after book/report came out.