A Letter To Comrades
By Saumya Mohanty
03 April, 2014
Countercurrents.org
Respected Comrades,
It has been thirty years since I started following the left politics in India and I was ten years old then.
The environment in my family had obvious influence on me to make me a left thinker and that has not changed till date. I have seen the rise and fall of left and I come from a eastern state of India where the presence of left is very minimal.
Today after thirty years I am questioning myself why the left in India is not growing after so many years while every thing around the world is growing or advancing. It pains me when I see a party like BJP and a politician like Modi emerging out strongly. It is a pity that the communal outfits are trying to call the shot today. As a left thinker I would blame the left and left movement for this. Since years the left has not advanced beyond three states. The left has not identified a state which could be their fourth state electorally. There are several left parties in the country and several break away left groups. There is a strong need for these left parties to merge or make a front across India . It would definitely send a strong message to the people and the saffron party will start looking weak. I am sure the combined vote share even today will have a greater impact. While all these years the left is dependent on BJD,SP,RJD,TDP,AIADMK in the respective states, they have not done any good to their mass base or electoral numbers by these alliances. Specially in this election they did not show any respect to left value and effort against corruption and communal politics.
There were reasons why the left parties had to face divisions in the past and keep breaking over the period of time and many break away groups are formed . Is it not strong enough a reason now for all the left parties to merge when a politician like Modi with all his dubious records is threatening at the door of parliament today to occupy the top chair . While the bigger left parties have been putting effort to forge alliance with regional parties all the time with no permanent gain for the left , an effort to unite all the left parties will certainly yield results.
The bigger left parties like CPIM and CPI should put effort to unite all the left groups and the smaller parties should oblige reciprocating due respect to all interested groups. This effort should be a continuous one from one election to another to make the front credible. If the left parties can forge alliance with SP ,AIADMK ,RJD who are not of same ideology they can definitely make a front of all the left parties .
Today the situation demands a united left front across the country to defeat the communal forces and corrupt forces. It is time for the left to show solidarity among themselves and adapt a united pan India left front.
This would definitely attract the youth of this country. The left parties arguably are not attracting young new members to their fold across the country in comparison to the other parties .
Left parties are far more issue based and like to do it that way and they are far away from religion and caste based politics. I think this message can only go to masses multifold by the effort and energy of youth cadres with the guidance of experience comrades.
This election has already seen around three hundred left candidates in the fray which is really encouraging.The next logical step should be to create the front. I hope in coming days the bigger parties and committed comrades will campaign for a united left and all the smaller left parties will oblige for the sake of the people in the largest democracy. No one understands the real issues of people than the left and they should execute it on the ground.
Thanks
Saumya Mohanty
Saumya Mohanty is a domicile of India and a professional currently working in an MNC in USA. A keen follower of left politics in India. He can be contacted at [email protected]
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