[Reader-list] Fw: CPI(M)

[Tapas Ray]

As one who lives in West Bengal, I largely share Ramaswamy's sentiments. It 
is the practice that finally counts, and by that measure the CPI-M is worse 
than a failure - it's a disaster that has broken the spine of large sections 
of the state's people through its unique techniques of power that Ramaswamy 
describes. Even if "the Party" (as it is ominously called here in West 
Bengal) loses power, which is unlikely in the near future, or turns honest 
and democratic one fine morning, which is even less likely - not the least 
because, as a Leninist party it believes in clinging to power at any cost - 
it will take many decades for the people of West Bengal to repair the 
psychological and cultural damage they have suffered and are suffering as we 
speak.

However, I would like to differ with Ramaswamy on one minor point - the 
banning of rickshaws may have less to do with parochialism than with "the 
Party's" desperate attempt at giving Calcutta a facelift, without which it 
may have to forgo the substantial foreign development funds that seem to be 
within its reach, and without which it also is likely to lose large chunks 
of middle-class vote sooner or later. (Assembly polls are due next year.) 
"Scientific" and not-so-scientific rigging, of which it has been 
consistently accused by the opposition, may not see it through forever. It 
has to be remembered that, in spite of its (in)famously efficient "election 
machinery", the CPI-M and its partners have never won a really large victory 
over their opponents in terms of percentage of votes polled, and a moderate 
swing can upset the party cadres' gravy train. If they have still ruled 
without a break since 1977, they have India's first-past-the-post electoral 
system to thank. Since their margin of victory in terms of percentage of the 
vote has not been large, they would have fared much worse in a proportional 
representation system.

Tapas


> Living in West Bengal, through 28 years of CPI(M) rule - has revealed that 
> the real practice of the > CPI(M) is as abhorrent as anything else, if not 
> worse! The party in West Bengal is today hostage to > the lumpen cadres 
> and promoters who have entrenched themselves in positions of power. 
> Corruption is > endemic. The party is an enemy of the right to 
> information, and thrives on disisinformation and
> concealment of the truth. It is an enemy of democracy, which goes entirely 
> against the culture of
> non-accountable centralised power that the party is associated with.

> Best regards
>
> Ramaswamy