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Let's be honest about Jyoti Basu
Sutanu guru gives 5 reasons why india cannot afford his ideology, politics, economics and legacy

It is a peculiar trait we Indians share: even those we love to hate acquire such a halo after death that we hate to deny we love to hate them. The death of former Prime Minister V.P. Singh was simply crowded out by the traumatic 26/11 attack in 2008. Yet, even then, we preferred to praise the man who should easily be ranked as the worst Prime Minister that India ever had. Something similar seems to be happening with the allegedly best Prime Minister India never had. Yes, I am talking about Jyoti Basu, the bhadralok Marxist whose death seems to have triggered paroxysms of naïve nostalgia and hypocritical hype. The passing of an era is a term that is being bandied about even by his former opponents who hated his guts and ruthlessness. If you go by media reports after his death, Jyoti Basu should be up there with the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru; in fact, some have even compared him with Mother Teresa. Typically Indian, and so typical of our habit and tradition to praise those who have passed on and carp about people who don’t want to hide uncomfortable things under a dusty carpet.

But really, let's face some uncomfortable facts before we pronounce Jyoti Basu as the best Prime Minister that India never had and one of the greatest political figures of modern India. If you think Basu was a leader who cared for the poor and the downtrodden, here is what Magsaysay Award winner, author and activist Mahasweta Devi has to say, “Jyoti Basu did very little for the adivasis of the state. I met him on several occasions and appealed to him. My entreaties fell on deaf ears”. Sure, you might think that the respected Mahasweta Devi is prejudiced because of her single-minded devotion to adivasis and tribals. Sure, you can put blinkers and prefer to ignore opinion. But, can you ignore facts? Here are some facts that even die-hard believers of the ‘Left is Always Right’ dogma need to mull over:

l From being one of most industrialised states till the late 1960s, West Bengal is now one of the most backward. Close to 30,000 industrial enterprises were closed down and more than 27,000 units became ‘sick’ in the hey days of the Basu era of ‘Marxist Pragmatism’.

l Unpaid Provident Fund dues of jute mill workers amounted to Rs 5 crore in 1977. They had shot up to more than Rs 200 crore by 2000, when Jyoti Basu handed over the baton to Buddhadeb Bhattacharya (a sobering history lesson for those who think Basu was busy creating a paradise for workers and the proletariat in West Bengal).

l The worst social development indicators and the worst representation in government jobs for Muslims happens to be in the ‘fanatically’ secular West Bengal (Another deliciously ironical historical nugget here. The devoted Marxist Nurul Islam died in police firing in 1976 during a food agitation. His death played a key role in Marxists coming to power in the state in 1977. His family was subsequently abandoned by the comrades and the brothers of Nurul Islam now actively work with Trinamool Congress!).

At least 13 out of the 18 major districts of West Bengal come in the category of the 100 poorest districts of India.

Not a single medical college was set up during the reign of Jyoti Basu.

Police firings on workers, tribals and farmers were routine during the regime. About 20 enquiry commissions were set up. Only one submitted a report whose recommendations were never implemented.

There is much more that can be proffered as evidence. But we know even voluminous tomes on the misdeeds of the regime will not sway the ideologically blinkered who are convinced that dogma is morally superior to facts. Yet, it is very important to set the record straight. There is no doubt that future historians will marvel at the naiveté of the nostalgic outpourings after the death of Basu when they contrast this with his actual track record. But such nostalgic naiveté can prompt India to make the kind of mistakes that Jyoti Basu and his fellow comrades, willfully or unknowingly, committed in their quest for Red glory. Quite simply, in this 21st century world of rapidly changing dynamics, India simply cannot help but renounce, abjure, condemn and castigate the legacy left behind by Basu and his Red warriors.

Here are five important reasons why:

Party & ideology over nation

Most will remember the visceral and unflinching manner in which Prakash Karat and his fellow comrades opposed the nuclear deal between India and the United States. During the official visit of George Bush to India, they even forgot courtesy while abusing and heckling him (one wonders how many people would have been killed in police firing if demonstrators had abused and heckled Chinse Supremo Hu Jintao during a hypothetical state visit to Kolkata?) But not many will remember that Marxists like Basu always blamed India more than China for the 1962 debacle. Just consider this: The CPI, mentored by the Soviet Union, supported the Emergency because Indira’s India was a Soviet ally; the CPI(M) opposed it vehemently because China was not very fond of Indira’s India. Of course, both supported the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and kept quiet on the Chinese invasion of fellow Marxist state Vietnam in 1979. Under Jyoti Basu, West Bengal always gave more importance to ideology over public interest. Anything that the United States did was wrong, sinful, imperialistic and evil. Anything that the former Soviet Union and China did was far above criticism. This was all right till the 'ideology over national and public interest' line was largely symbolic. But, it had terrible consequences for the state when dogma invaded realpolitik and started affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions of citizens. Mercifully for India, voters now seem far less swayed by ideology and identity politics than they were in the recent past; that perhaps was the biggest message sent out by voters during the 2009 general elections when both the CPI(M) and the BJP were humiliated and humbled.

          

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	Comments
	JAIDEEP CHATTERJEEE From DURGAPORE-- 2/9/2010 8 ARINDAM, TO CUT A LONG STORY IN TO SHORT...YOU HAVE DONE MATICULOUS JOB THANKS,YES HE INDEED PREFERED TO RULE ON IDEOLOGY (MOSTLY IRRELEVANT)THAN THE ACTUAL NEEDS OF GENERAL MASSES. SUCH IDEOLOGY WE COULD NOT OBSERVE IN FLAGE HOISTINGS,AND NON PARTICIPATION IN 1942 MOVEMENTS,THOUGH HE WAS AN ELECTED EXECUTIVE HEAD OF A CONSTIUTIONALLY PROVINCE OF UNION OF INDIA,THOUGH HE NEVER FAILED TO UTILSE THE CONSTIUTIONAL POWER AND POSTS,ORIGINALLY FRAMED BY CONGRESS PARTY!THOUGH HE DID NOT MISS TO USE THE NATIONAL EMBLEM IN HIS ENTIRE CHIEF MINISTERIAL AND OTHER MINISTERIAL INNINGS AND ABOVE ALL ALWAYS FELT HAPPY TO BE RECOGNISED AS THE EAST BENGALEE,DESPITE TOOK BIRTH AT HARRISON ROAD IN KOLKATA..THEN WHAT KIND OF PERSONALITY AND HOW MUCH NATIONALIST HE WAS IS THE MATTER OF FURTHER DISCUSSIONS.. A LONG ARTICLE DULY APPEARED TITTLED OBITUARY WROTE BY ME PERHAPS GONE THROUGH BY ALL. YOU MAY FIND MORE TRUTHS IN THAT WRITINGS, CERTAINLY BENEFITIAL TO DEEP STUDIED READER AND THE MASSES AS WELL. TILL THEN BYE AND CONGRATS TO THE T.S.I.TEAM MEMBERS. YOURS REMAIN JAIDEEP CHATTERJEE,Sr.Faculty,Management,DURGAPORE.
	Bichu Muttathara From Pune-- 1/28/2010 Jyoti Basu was the last Indian Communist ideologue, who was admired by even his die-hard opponents. His political adversaries liked to dislike him as much as watched in disbelief his political masterstrokes. Apparently, the Spartan leader was a true Marxian to the core. Though a Communist by conviction, he was more like a Gandhian in his personal life that would have put even true Congressmen to shame. He firmly attributed to the Marxian thought that the workers were exploited on the strength of the surplus value they created. This very dogma and his unassailable faith in the Marxian theory defeated him while he ruled the state with brute majority and iron hand. This prevented him from adopting pragmatic approach in solving the state’s economic woes. While agrarian reforms, Panchayati Raj, Secular credentials (read Minority Appeasement) were some of the areas where Shri Basu outperformed his counterparts in other states, the state was pushed leagues behind in industrial growth. His rule was also marked for Massive Capital flight from the state. The state also witnessed both decay in education field and astronomical growth in unemployment. In short, Shri Basu failed the state wholesome on economic front during his long 23 years as CM, causing unfathomable damage to the state economy and making the organised labour force of the state lethargic towards productivity and inconsiderate about the common weal of the entire populace that included the unorganised workers too. While assessing the great Communist Patriarch, the history will not only be pitiless but also shall be as baffled as the contemporary leaders of the Indian Communist Party – who are clueless about finding a true successor to Shri Basu who can provide them ideological orientation in the absence of the EMS, BTR et al in the global economy era.
	Swapnil K From Pune-- 1/27/2010 Thanks. At least somebody writes the truth.

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