Opinion Useful idiots

Marxists are dreamy people. They read books,debate arcane matters about what He said and wait patiently for socialism to arrive

June 2, 2013 12:19 AM IST First published on: Jun 2, 2013 at 12:19 AM IST

Marxists are dreamy people. They read books,debate arcane matters about what He said and wait patiently for socialism to arrive. Leninists are honest and decent when out of power. It is when they have power that they turn cruel and wreck the economy. This is because Lenin took a wager on the collapse of Capitalism and within the twentieth century lost the bet. Capitalism survived; the Leninist stateUSSRcollapsed. But Leninists go on believing in the imminent collapse of Capitalism,somewhat like those who believe Christ will come again.

Maoists are the worst of the lot. They are interested only in power. They will beguile the useful idiots who fall for their propaganda and think that the Maoists care about the poor. But they only use the poor to win power and then abandon them. Mao was the best example of this. Once the Maoists had come to power,he wrecked the Chinese economy in his fantasy of the Great Leap Forward,which led to the largest famine in history where between 30 to 40 million Chinese died.

When I first went to China in 1973,I was a useful idiot. I thought Mao was a great man who was interested in the poor and wanted an egalitarian society. We did not know about the famine then but the Cultural Revolution was causing havoc. Deng Xiao Ping abandoned the Maoist fallacy but carefully went on paying homage to him. China was at the same level of per capita income as India in 1975. It was after Mao that real progress came.

All this is prefatory to the question of how to respond to the latest atrocity committed by Maoists in Chhattisgarh. There are no doubt people who believe the Naxalites were right; that the founder of the Salwa Judum deserved to die. There is no shortage of useful idiots. There may even be some at the highest level in the NAC,for all I know. The feeble response is to say that Naxalites can only be countered by combining inclusive development with counter terrorism. But inclusive development is good with or without Naxalites.

The Naxalites have a political agendato win power at the national level. India did not succumb to the Khalistan threat. Indira Gandhi did not argue for development as a counter to Bhindranwale. Why then treat Naxalites with kid gloves? India has fought the Naga rebellion to a standstill and overcome them over the last 65 years. The Nagaland struggle is a sub-national one,much as the Khalistan one was. The Naxalites do not have a territorial demand. They want power over all of India.

India is full of sentimental leftists who believe killings by Naxalites are justified by the evils of the system. But then,how is that different from Islamist terrorism? The Naxalites care no more about Marx or Lenin than the Islamists care about Islam. The need is for a clear-eyed policy which says that any threat to the integrity of India and its democratic way of life has to be eliminated with the maximum force possible.

Of course,no one wants to say this. Half of the Congress party does not even believe in it. Indira Gandhi would have no doubt about what to do. But UPA2 seems to have lost the will to govern. The Home Minister did not even cancel his US trip despite the shocking incident where his own party members were killed. There is a pathetic attempt to make a party quarrel and blame the BJP for this. A moments reflection will show that when the convoys plans were altered,someone no doubt was informing the Naxalites. The Naxalites as a guerrilla war outfit would have their informants everywhere. So the convoy was doomed once it changed its plans.

Nothing will happen as far as this government is concerned. It has no time left to do much and even less will. But somewhere in the many trivial disputes which will figure in the forthcoming election,someone ought to ask the question to each political party: What is your plan to win back Dandakaranya from Indias enemies? The party which replies credibly should come to power.