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Dalits see hypocrisy behind CPM’s support
Prominent Dalit organizations and intellectuals in Kerala are refusing to accept as genuine the support offered to them by the CPI(M) in the draft political resolution it has p repared for presentation at the 20 the party congress to be held in Kozhikode in April
Most of such organizations are viewing the “newfound love for Dalits” (as an intellectual puts it) of the Marxists as a hypocritical posture it has been forced to adopt in the context of unprecedented erosion in its working class and middle class base.
The draft political resolution of the CPI(M) for the congress says “The fight against untouchability and caste oppression of Dalits has to be actively taken up by the party”. But a prominent Dalit intellectual asked, “What were the Marxists doing all these decades? Is it that they came to know of the oppression of the Dalits only now?”
He said the CPI(M) had “never ever even pretended” in the recent past that they were worried about the Dalits’ suffering. “When we were agitating for land to live on and to cultivate, the CPI(M) masters were more worried about the protection of the lands of their middle class supporters,” he said.
A leader of the Sadhujana Vimochana Samyuktha Vedi, a Dalit forum which had spearheaded a four-year-long, arduous agitation for land to live on when the CPI(M)-led LDF was in power in Kerala, said the “Marxist masters” had even threatened to send police with teeth and claw to quell the struggle. “They are now asking us to trust them,” he said.
Pointing out that the draft resolution of the CPI(M) had identified “landlessness and denial of access to water supply, public roads and other services” as factors that affected Dalits’ lives”, the Dalit leader said the party was perhaps for the first time understanding why it had lost West Bengal to Mamata and Maoists”.
“As far as we are concerned, there is no difference between the CPI(M) and the Congress-led Government in the Centre. Their approach to us – and also the Adivasis – is the same in Kerala as well as in the national level. The Marxists are now worried because we are beginning to identify our inner strength, which is detrimental to their interests,” he said.
Dalit leaders say that the CPI(M) has not yet been able to understand the value of identity politics in India, a country of complex religious, caste and cultural systems. Dalit intellectual Soman of Alappuzha said the Marxists were still living in “a fool’s paradise” with their reductionist theory that everything in the human world was determined by class war.
Even the draft political resolution itself is saying, “The growth of identity politics based on caste, religion, tribe and ethnicity is posing a major challenge for Left politics in the country. The ruling classes and imperialist finance capital find such politics eminently suitable for their interests.”
Soman said that Marxists in India were still formulating their political programmes on the basis of 19th century theorizations by Karl Marx in that age’s European reality. “They have not yet learned that a society’s politics is determined by its own inner dynamics and dialectics. I think Marx himself would have advised them so if he were alive today,” he said.
Kerala Reds reiterate their 'respect' for Christ
Kerala’s CPI(M) leadership on Friday officially justified the featuring of Jesus Christ as a revolutionary along with Ernesto (Che) Guevara in a party-organized exhibition in Thiruvananthapuram even as protests were aired by Christians against the Marxist act and the Congress party warned that it could hurt the religious sentiments of the believers.
“We respect Jesus Christ as one of the greatest liberation fighters of world history,” State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said on Friday while inaugurating a national seminar in Thiruvananthapuram in connection with the State conference of the party to be held from February 7 in preparation for its 20th national congress in April.
“The Holy Bible itself has described how Jesus had driven out loan sharks and black-marketers from the temple of God by flogging them mercilessly. You can’t prevent the communists from respecting that Christ,” Pinarayi said.
Jesus Christ’s picture is featuring at the CPI(M)’s history exhibition titled “Martyrdom: From Christ to Che”. Observers are of the opinion that the incident could lead to reopening of the confrontation between the CPI(M) and the Church after a long lull.
Meanwhile, State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala warned the CPI(M) against using Christ’s picture for political campaigns, saying it could hurt the sentiments of the believers. ”The Satan had tested Jesus in the desert. Now the Marxists are testing Christ in their exhibition,” Chennithala said.
Activists of the Kerala Catholic Youth Movement (KCYM) held a protest demonstration in Thalassery, Kannur on Friday “against misuse of Christ’ picture” by Marxists for parochial goals and demanding an apology from them.
Prominent Dalit organizations and intellectuals in Kerala are refusing to accept as genuine the support offered to them by the CPI(M) in the draft political resolution it has p repared for presentation at the 20 the party congress to be held in Kozhikode in April
Most of such organizations are viewing the “newfound love for Dalits” (as an intellectual puts it) of the Marxists as a hypocritical posture it has been forced to adopt in the context of unprecedented erosion in its working class and middle class base.
The draft political resolution of the CPI(M) for the congress says “The fight against untouchability and caste oppression of Dalits has to be actively taken up by the party”. But a prominent Dalit intellectual asked, “What were the Marxists doing all these decades? Is it that they came to know of the oppression of the Dalits only now?”
He said the CPI(M) had “never ever even pretended” in the recent past that they were worried about the Dalits’ suffering. “When we were agitating for land to live on and to cultivate, the CPI(M) masters were more worried about the protection of the lands of their middle class supporters,” he said.
A leader of the Sadhujana Vimochana Samyuktha Vedi, a Dalit forum which had spearheaded a four-year-long, arduous agitation for land to live on when the CPI(M)-led LDF was in power in Kerala, said the “Marxist masters” had even threatened to send police with teeth and claw to quell the struggle. “They are now asking us to trust them,” he said.
Pointing out that the draft resolution of the CPI(M) had identified “landlessness and denial of access to water supply, public roads and other services” as factors that affected Dalits’ lives”, the Dalit leader said the party was perhaps for the first time understanding why it had lost West Bengal to Mamata and Maoists”.
“As far as we are concerned, there is no difference between the CPI(M) and the Congress-led Government in the Centre. Their approach to us – and also the Adivasis – is the same in Kerala as well as in the national level. The Marxists are now worried because we are beginning to identify our inner strength, which is detrimental to their interests,” he said.
Dalit leaders say that the CPI(M) has not yet been able to understand the value of identity politics in India, a country of complex religious, caste and cultural systems. Dalit intellectual Soman of Alappuzha said the Marxists were still living in “a fool’s paradise” with their reductionist theory that everything in the human world was determined by class war.
Even the draft political resolution itself is saying, “The growth of identity politics based on caste, religion, tribe and ethnicity is posing a major challenge for Left politics in the country. The ruling classes and imperialist finance capital find such politics eminently suitable for their interests.”
Soman said that Marxists in India were still formulating their political programmes on the basis of 19th century theorizations by Karl Marx in that age’s European reality. “They have not yet learned that a society’s politics is determined by its own inner dynamics and dialectics. I think Marx himself would have advised them so if he were alive today,” he said.
Kerala Reds reiterate their 'respect' for Christ
Kerala’s CPI(M) leadership on Friday officially justified the featuring of Jesus Christ as a revolutionary along with Ernesto (Che) Guevara in a party-organized exhibition in Thiruvananthapuram even as protests were aired by Christians against the Marxist act and the Congress party warned that it could hurt the religious sentiments of the believers.
“We respect Jesus Christ as one of the greatest liberation fighters of world history,” State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said on Friday while inaugurating a national seminar in Thiruvananthapuram in connection with the State conference of the party to be held from February 7 in preparation for its 20th national congress in April.
“The Holy Bible itself has described how Jesus had driven out loan sharks and black-marketers from the temple of God by flogging them mercilessly. You can’t prevent the communists from respecting that Christ,” Pinarayi said.
Jesus Christ’s picture is featuring at the CPI(M)’s history exhibition titled “Martyrdom: From Christ to Che”. Observers are of the opinion that the incident could lead to reopening of the confrontation between the CPI(M) and the Church after a long lull.
Meanwhile, State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala warned the CPI(M) against using Christ’s picture for political campaigns, saying it could hurt the sentiments of the believers. ”The Satan had tested Jesus in the desert. Now the Marxists are testing Christ in their exhibition,” Chennithala said.
Activists of the Kerala Catholic Youth Movement (KCYM) held a protest demonstration in Thalassery, Kannur on Friday “against misuse of Christ’ picture” by Marxists for parochial goals and demanding an apology from them.
