Editorial

Wandering In The Wilderness

In India any piece of news that distracts the attention from the political and economic crisis is welcome these days. For a country that has never succeeded in making its presence felt on the positive side in international arena it looks somewhat ludicrous that local satraps who matter in national politics only in times of horse-trading, are trying to create international image hopefully to enhance their stock value in domestic market. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was magnanimous enough to honour visiting Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a special Diwali dinner. Mr Kumar earlier visited China and Bhutan and his week-long trip to Pakistan was for reasons other than India. It’s simply a utopia to nurse any illusion that his mission to Beijing has improved the much sought-after India-China relations. After all he was not in a position to talk boundary with China. Incidentally this October marked the 50th anniversary of India-China border conflict. India-China relations won’t be improved to the desired level in the foreseeable future despite periodic diplomatic hand-shakes and sterile smiles unless China gets territorial disputes settled as per its own plan. The way they are fighting over the suzerainty of Diaoyu islands which the Japanese call Senkaku islands—a legacy left by World War II—speaks volumes about the Chinese stubbornness when it is the question of boundary dispute. In truth China is now at loggerheads with a number of countries, including Vietnam over the sovereignty of a number of small islands in South China sea. The stake is very high because South China sea is possibly a new area of oil boom. In other words these islands pose a new threat to global stability and peace. The Chinese can go to any length to exert their right over a tiny plot and they are ready to sacrifice burgeoning trade relations with Japan for the Diaoyu islands.

Nitish Kumar’s good-will trip to Pakistan was basically aimed at wooing muslim voters in his feudal enclave called Bihar where caste, communalism and all sorts of social prejudices are lucrative items for gaining electoral mileage. Despite being a partner of the so-called national democratic alliance which is hardly national in character, he has mustered the art of selling his brand of secularism while maintaining political equation with the eternal communal villain in Indian polity—Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Earlier his predecessor Lalu Yadav otherwise maverick in his own right tried to influence minority community voters by visiting Pakistan and laying a wreath at the mausoleum of Jinnah in Karachi but all his exercise in escapism failed to produce electoral dividends.

The fact is that a large segment of minority community population from Bihar migrated to Pakistan after partition and politicians with dubious distinction are aware of the sentiments of their relatives who are left behind. Their numbers matter in tilting balance in elections. The Kumars and their ilk know well how to refine ‘minority communalism’ to suit their political agenda. And tragically, it works. People believe they are above communalism. It’s a myth and it cannot be otherwise in a society where progressive thoughts are identified with elitism. And advanced ideology as sold by the traditional left has very few takers across the country. The official left that cannot think anything but parliament has been in the lurch for quite some time. Their decline seems irreversible as it is the case throughout the world. As for the far left, the less said the better. Their ivory tower approach has failed to motivate people. Organisationally they are unlikely to move forward because ideologically they are still in the ’70s. They are repeating blunders after blunders and yet they think they could organise masses in their millions against the system simply by showing muscle power. Militarism is the hallmark of their political plank.

After a prolonged recess the official left is gearing up to move a resolution in the coming session of Parliament to seek withdrawal of the government decision on FDI in retail. But a harmless resolution, rather a mercy petition, is unlikely to go beyond parliamentary debate and they won’t back the Trinamul Congress-moved no-confidence motion. Congress is still unfazed by the no-confidence threat because they are more than certain that their so-called secular allies and casteist outfits that support their government from outside would not finally take the risk of identifying themselves with the BJP in toppling the UPA-II government. Whatever be the outcome of the winter session of parliament, parties, big and small, have now some issues to talk about.

Meanwhile, retail inflation moved closer to the double digit mark at 9.75 percent in October and at 9.73 percent in the previous month. Mere debate in parliament cannot stop the upward swing of retail inflation. The omnipotent market decides the trend and it will continue to decide for decades to come.

The situation is unbearable for ordinary people. And yet nothing is happening. The authorities are not worried about sporadic outbursts here and there. Leftists are themselves to blame for their steady decline and the decline of people’s faith in leftism as well. They are all birds of fair weather. Without massive mobilisation of masses, further margina-lisation of the marginalised cannot be thwarted. Then masses cannot be mobilised in a vacuum. All the on-going mass movements in India are localised with very limited possibility of getting broader solidarity support. The left is pretending to fight for a cause without defining the very cause.

No left party in India is powerful enough to stabilise the political situation to the advantage of the disadvantaged. Again no right party is in a position to offer a viable alternative. So political instability will continue. What all they want is a shortcut route to success which is not there. The left is struggling through an unprecedented political dilemma and the right is making its due contribution.

For one thing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is not a panacea even in China, a favourable investment destination of multinationals even a few years back. For all practical purposes FDI growth in China is facing a gradual showdown. The downward trend has yet to correct itself in 2012. But the policy-makers in India think they could reverse the global trend by allowing the multinationals to loot the country as they please. Amid mounting economic chaos political parties, national, or not so national are losing relevance as they cannot talk of anything else but elections.

At the time of writing Congress looked not so perturbed for the coming no-confidence threat as the number game to defeat the motion was not that disturbing. Meanwhile, US ambassador to India Nancy Powell came forward to bat for the Congress party’s decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail. It was quite natural for her because US retail giants would benefit enormously from India’s open-door policy.   20-11-2012

Frontier
Vol. 45, No. 20, Nov 25-Dec 1, 2012

Your Comment if any