CPI (M), Have You Forgot? – India is a Democracy!

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is not at all bemused with the Prime Minister over the Indo-US nuclear deal and they have told him, in unequivocal terms that they won’t allow the Government to move forward with deal without a political consensus on the issue. And the reason they put forward is the fact that India is a democracy and hence any decision that has an implication on the future of the nation can be taken only with the approval of all political parties considered to be the will of the people - Fair Enough. But in Kerala, the same political party is perhaps feigning ignorance about India being a democratic country or, that is what we ordinary people come to understand after seeing the behaviour and deeds of the members of CPI (M) and their different sister organisations, including the DYFI and the SFI.

For the delight of the opposition parties in Kerala, may it be the Congress led UDF or the BJP, there is no dearth of political controversies in the state. They are voicing their concern, anger and disgust over the issue in both violent and non-violent ways. We are taught that, in a democracy everyone has the right to protest on any issue in non violent ways. So not only the political parties, but also you and I have the right to protest any decision of the ruling government. But things are not working in that manner in Kerala when the CPI (M) led LDF is governing the state. Here, if you protest, against the government, you will be “taught a lesson” by the party cadre and the sister organisations of the party. If you dare to criticise the party, you will be tortured and tormented by the police and by the wild minions of the party. In the recent days, people ranging from activists of the opposition political parties, people from the media and the poor and weak people who were protesting against the land acquisition drive of the government, have all faced the ire of the party and its workers.

Never in the history of the state had there been an occasion where the protesting activists of a political party were confronted by the party activists of the ruling party. But we witnessed that happening in our state some days back. Of course it is natural that the police sometimes have to resort to the use of force to confront the violent protesters, but it is only ludicrous that a party has told its activists to tackle all those who criticise the party in such an uncivilised way. Media people were not spared either by the CPI (M) party activists. It would be good if the CPI (M) Polit bureau members, who recite the mantra of democracy at the centre, take due concern in knowing and stopping deeds of the state party members that are against the spirit of democracy.

Dislike for criticism seems to be in the genetic code of the Communist parties all over the world. They always follow this unique way of wiping out criticism through brute use of force, may it be in China, the undivided USSR or say in West Bengal as what we saw on March 2007 at Nandigram. The Communist parties, it seem, have not undergone the mutation to be able to prosper peacefully under a democratic set up. If you take the political environment of countries where Communism has prospered, you would find that they all have an autocratic style of Communist rule where there is less opposition for the policies that they undertake. In China, though they say there is a democracy, there is no freedom of press and no genuine freedom to criticise the policies of the government. In Russia, though there are four political parties, they all are creations of Kremlin and are working more or less under the guidance of the ruling party, United Russia. During elections, only United Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, gets the coverage from the state media and other parties are allowed to participate in the elections only for Russia to claim that they have a democratically elected government. Things are not any different in the countries like Cuba and Venezuela either.

In Kerala, this is the best time to be a CPI (M) supporter and the worse time to be a critic of the party. Party supporters can do any crime and can walk freely, unperturbed by legal actions against them. They can attack their critics, even if he or she is in the police van or in a police station, and can even give vent to their rage on any policeman and can still walk unscathed. Party critics should keep a very low profile and should never dare to voice their opinion against the party lest they will be subjected to harassment and life threatening ordeals.

It would be wise for the CPI (M) to always remember that India is a democratic country and hence we Indians have the constitutional right to resort to lawful protests against any policies that their governments take. Crushing such protests with brute force won’t augment well for the party as they have found out during the local body elections in places like Nandigram after the genocide committed by the members of the party. The CPI (M) in the state should jettison such violent attacks on the people and should understand that they are not the opposition party but is the ruling party and hence responsible for the life and property of the people. Even now it is not late for them to prove that they are capable of good governance, though I have no such hopes.