Communal challenge

For the Left, one of the reasons for the recent electoral successes of the BJP is its aggressive Hindutva plank, which it expects will also be used in the coming state elections.

For the Left, one of the reasons for the recent electoral successes of the BJP is its aggressive 8216;prakhar8217; Hindutva plank, which it expects will also be used in the coming state elections. Evidently, the CPM believes that precious little is being done to counter this even though the National Common Minimum Programme promises to enforce a law preventing the stoking of communal hatred and violence. As a front page editorial in the latest issue of People8217;s Democracy points out, there was no reference to recent communal incidents in President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam8217;s address to the joint session of Parliament.

The editorial describes this as a 8220;serious omission8221;, also because the address was made on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the 8220;state sponsored communal carnage in Gujarat8221;. It says communal incidents in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and eastern UP are part of an RSS-BJP design to revive its political base through a sharpened political polarisation. While the editorial says that till February only 13 convictions had taken place in Gujarat, it also blames the UPA government for not doing enough on the issue of tackling communalism. 8220;The UPA8217;s raison d8217;etre is the safeguarding of India8217;s secular democratic foundations. If this task is not seriously undertaken, then the UPA would be reduced to a coalition with no character,8221; is the party8217;s view.

Patently for business

The Mashelkar Committee report continues to anger the Left, as the article 8216;Novartis and Mashelkar: Tripping up on patents8217; by Prabir Purkayastha in People8217;s Democracy bears out. He refers to two 8220;major developments8221;: The challenge from pharma company Novartis on Section 3 d of the Indian Patents Act 8220;on what is not patentable on the grounds initially of not being TRIPS compatible8221; and the Mashelkar report that took up the question whether it was TRIPS compatible to exclude new chemical entities from patenting and whether India was required under TRIPS to allow patenting of micro-organisms. 8220;The surprise is not that Mashelkar committee has gone with an expanded understanding of TRIPS, but that he has lifted the operative part of his recommendations, lock, stock and barrel, from one of the submissions!8221; claims Purkayastha, adding that the committee took up none of the patent issues it was supposed to. 8220;Mashelkar of course nowhere refers to the people8217;s needs for cheap medicines and therefore the need for limiting patent monopoly. For him, national interest is synonymous with Indian big business, a weakness he shares with the current UPA government,8221; he says.

Revisiting 1857

What was the revolt of 1857 about? According to veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu, who writes an article in the current series on the revolt in People8217;s Democracy, it is 8220;unfortunate8221; that earlier historians never understood the national or popular character of the revolt. He says it had a far stronger popular base even when compared to the anti-imperialist uprisings of the 19th century in Latin America. The veteran leader believes that one important lesson from the revolt was the 8220;importance of fighting imperialism at all costs8230;The 1857 rebels fought and died for a cause 8212;- the cause of national liberation from an alien rule8221;. Basu says the commemoration of the revolt should also be used to 8220;correct any distorted understanding of the great event8221; and publish credible accounts in the vernacular to enable all people to understand its significance.

Incidentally, Basu himself attempts to correct one distorted understanding of the revolt. 8220;Although traditionally believed that Bengal remained aloof from the tumult, I understand that recent historians in Bengal are demonstrating that the English in Bengal were also panic-stricken and the area, too, was seething with unrest,8221; he says.

Compiled by Ananda Majumdar