Cadre-based ethics

The great leap forward made by the West Bengal CPIM in recent times had raised hopes that it was coming in line with the rest of the worl...

The great leap forward made by the West Bengal CPIM in recent times had raised hopes that it was coming in line with the rest of the world. It transpires that it is but in a totally unexpected manner. The latest fallout of this process: a no-confidence motion though abortive and yet another bandh. Throughout its history, the Left in India has consistently retained only one attribute worthy of approbation: it has never used position to line its pockets. But the Rs 2,500 crore ledger scam shows that it has lost its only redeeming feature and adopted the most reprehensible quality of mainstream politics. No doubt, CPIM leaders will soon be expostulating that they did not siphon off the money for personal gain, merely to make the long journey more comfortable for their fellow travellers. That plea, too, has happy harmonics with mainstream thinking.

Even Narasimha Rao, the chief architect of the nexus between money and politics, once claimed that he debased himself to the level of a coolie, lugging overstuffed suitcases about only for the greater good of his party. Of course, it might be recalled that the West Bengal CPIM has always used the plea of the greater good to excellent effect. It allowed hawkers to turn all of Calcutta into what was arguably the biggest supermarket in the world, on the pretext that it was allowing hundreds of thousands of unemployed people to make an honest living. In reality, it was consolidating a huge urban vote bank, as insurance against the impending revolt of the middle class in a city where life was becoming increasingly unliveable.

Throughout the state, the party allowed its local committees to degenerate into protection rackets that had a finger in every pie, from industry and public transport to real estate. They were originally set up to secure the public good. They are still doing that but for a price. A few years ago, the government started winding up Calcutta8217;s tramway system on the plea that it was a traffic problem, conveniently overlooking the fact that worldwide, the tramcar is regarded as the cheapest, cleanest form of urban surface transport. In reality, the party8217;s cadres were eyeing the huge terminuses, potential real estate that would bring in excellent facilitation fees. In fact, there is no economic unit in West Bengal, right down to the lowly tea-stall, that is beyond the purview of the party as a paid enabling agency. And it is this infiltration by the party cadre that is responsible for the disastrous flight of capital from the state, which was once a commercial powerhouse. In recent times, the CPIM Government has tried to make amends, wooing investors, improving infrastructure and clearing the streets of hawkers. But those hawkers were the party8217;s own people, and in evicting them without providing for their livelihood, it has shown that it has lost touch with the basic humanity of the Left. And that is the lesser tragedy. Forty years ago, in the common man8217;s interest, the Left took to the streets when Calcutta8217;s tram fares were raised by just one paisa.

They set ablaze dozens of tramcars and left the conductor8217;s money-bag hung up in full view among the flames, to prove that no one had pocketed the money. Today, their inheritors think nothing of diverting Rs 2,500 crore of public money. Along with humanity, the CPIM has lost its ethics and all semblance of dignity.