Monday, February 12, 2007

What is the Marxist party trying to prove in Kerala?

Have often wondered why the present leadership of the Marxist party is so bent upon establishing their credentials as
1) the saviours of the working class,
2)the people who do not believe in institutionalised religion, and, of course
3)work over time to prove to the world that 'Communism is alive (in the 'May a hundred flowers bloom' style) and vibrant in Kerala.
Or to put it simply "Communism is dead (in Russia and China)! Long live Communism! "
The media is working overtime wasting newsprint and air time trying to find out if Kodiyeri Balakrishnan did really go to a place of worship. It is high time the 'brave' idealogues stepped out and said to the the citizens, "Ideology is only a means to power." Even if such a statement were to disppoint some in the cadre, many more would start respecting the party for having come out in the open.

We are often busy talking about the strides made by Kerala, thanks to the first democratically elected Communist govt in Kerala. But it is a good twenty years past, the party /front is sitting pretty on past laurels. Now we have a government that does not know what to do with the mandate it got. Wouldn't be harsh to say, "The Left has let down the people of Kerala."

The leaders themselves do not know what they have to do to keep governance in place. That reminds one of a comment by Prabhat Patnaik, that the top posts in the country being held by non-politicians is not a healthy trend! He believes in the dictum, "More the merrier". Statements, counter statements, quoting out of context and a host of tricks up their sleeve can divert the attention of the common man. Now with a PM and President who know when to open their mouth, the scope for misconstruing statements is reduced to a minimum.

Wonder what the Marxists will cook up after the Kodiyeri issue dies down. Of course, they can resume the groupism issue in the party or hit out at the Media or the bureaucrats. The one problem that the BJP and the Marxists (Not the ones in West Bengal) seem to have in common is - they are better in the Opposition, having spent large chunks of their political life as members of parties which had long stints in the Opposition. When they come to power it is "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts ABSOLUTELY." But the question remains can you be Secular, Communist and a ritual observing Hindu? Kodiyeri Balakrishnan should know.