The revolutionary as prophet

It is a significant coincidence that May 22, the day when the first Congress government was sworn in with support of the Left, was also the ...

It is a significant coincidence that May 22, the day when the first Congress government was sworn in with support of the Left, was also the death anniversary of legendary communist leader S A Dange. Dange, a vociferous supporter of CPI8217;s alliance with the Congress, died a hurt and isolated man 13 years ago, after his party rejected his line and expelled him.

From the initial days of its formation to the present, Communists have carried on the debate on its approach towards the Congress. Dange was one man who consistently argued that the Indian communists must cooperate with the Congress, right from the time of Nehru. He believed that the Congress and the Communists had common cause in preventing the emergence of right wing fundamentalism and obscurantist values in Indian public life, among other things.

A section of the Communists who formed the CPI after the party split in 1964 endorsed Dange8217;s view. One among the three major ideological rifts between the groups that split into the CPI and the CPIM in 1964 was the approach towards the Congress, writes Mohit Sen, Dange8217;s co-traveller.

Dange and others in the CPI believed that Congress was broadly a centrist party towards whom the strategy should be that of 8216;8216;unity and struggle.8217;8217; The CPIM considered Congress as the chief party of 8216;8216;counter-revolution8217;8217; that should be destroyed as soon as possible. In other words, the priority of the CPIM was defeating the Congress.

For the CPI, cooperation with the Congress was not only acceptable but even desirable, because leaders like Dange feared the emergence of RSS and Hindu rightwing. Consequently, the CPIM position allowed them to have alliances even with the Jan Sangh in the 1967 elections in order to defeat the Congress in states such as Punjab. In the formation of non-Congress coalition governments in several states after the elections, however, both the CPI and CPIM participated8212;in Bihar along with the Jan Sangh.

But soon, the CPI moved closer to Congress under Indira Gandhi. In 1971 and 1972, both parties had electoral understandings. The position vis-8230;-vis the Congress of these two Communist parties were diametrically opposite through the 70s, the decade of the JP movement and the Emergency. CPI stood strongly by Indira Gandhi and severely criticised the JP movement for its rightwing proclivities. In one its resolutions, the CPI said in the composition of the JP movement was the 8216;8216;roots of Indian fascism.8217;8217; The control of the JP movement by the RSS and the involvement of organisations such as Ananda Marg made the CPI conclude that the JP movement was reactionary and Indira Gandhi must take necessary steps. CPI M was unsure initially but then joined the JP bandwagon. CPI welcomed the Emergency.

But the Emergency was testing times for the CPI-Congress relations. CPI conveyed to Indira Gandhi its opposition to 8216;8216;excesses8217;8217; of emergency but publicly continued to support the emergency. But the Congress rout in the elections following Emergency forced large sections of the CPI to rethink.

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C Rajeshwar Rao and C Achyuthamenon led the group within the party that believed support to the Congress was a mistake and the CPI should join hands with other parties in the Left. The party then went on to support the Charan Singh government and after Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980, articulated that a Congress in in power was not in the interests of the working class. This line won majority; Dange reiterated his stand that the emergency was a regrettable necessity and that the alliance with the Congress not only correct, but should be continued. He was first removed as chairman of the party and then expelled from the party.

From then the entire Left was united in its priority8212;remove the Congress from power, no matter who they ally with. The 1989 grand alliance with V P Singh8217;s Janata Dal and the BJP was in this direction. But BJP shook off from the control of the alliance, as their predecessor Jan Singh did after gaining legitimacy in the JP movement. The Left had to seek alternatives. The support to the Congress is a logical conclusion of this search.

Indian Communists are famous for their late waking up- they resolved in 1947 that Indian freedom was 8216;fake8217; and amended it in 1956 to accept that India had indeed won independence nine years before. Of the recent examples, they agitated that computers would cause unemployment. One just hopes that their refusal to join the government doesn8217;t prove to be the latest in their series of 8216;8216;historical blunders.8217;8217;

But one among them, Dange, had foreseen which way the Indian politics will take. That the Left supported Congress government took over on his death anniversary was an unintended tribute to a man who walked lonely, vilified by his own comrades in his lifetime.