[Reader-list] Be ready for a fascist onslaught, says CPI(Maoist)

[Nagraj Adve]

Having commented rather severely on the CPI (Maoist) statement, it's only
fair that I put across what I think. At the cost of some repetition of
earlier mails from me, here's what I feel, briefly:
1. People at large have largely voted for a mainstream pattern of
development. This runs against much of what activists like us have argued
for politically for years. This vote for 'development' is much wider than
the 31% vote share cornered by the BJP. This message is accentuated by the
fact that for the first time in a number of elections there were a number
of candidates from social movements - Medha, Lingaraj, Uday Kumar, a number
of others in different states - who presented at least a clear critique of
the dominant trajectory, had a very high reputation for integrity, had
worked hard among people for years and decades, and yet were all decisively
not voted for. There are complex reasons why this is the case besides
people opting for mainstream development, but we cannot be blind to this
rejection.
2. The vote was more a vote for Modi than the BJP per se and is reflected,
contrarily, in a number of BJP candidates winning who otherwise would not
have.
3. As much as his and the BJP's Hindu majoritarian history and politics,
even more so people voted for what they perceived as Modi's role in
governance and 'development'. Much as fine empirical analysis by Dreze and
others pointed out that the Gujarat model was at best mediocre, millions of
voters - and the over 100 million young first time voters in particular
possibly - voted based on their sense of his experience, however limited or
flawed their reading may be. This was a wave but it was not generated by
MNCs or landlords alone or other social forces the CPI (Maoist) quoted
statement mentions. Much as we may not like Modi's message, his
articulation of what he stood for on a number of issues was remarkably
lucid. The people at large were very clear about what they were voting for.
4. It is EXTREMELY disturbing that people at large in India seem to vote
broadly for the Right rather than the Left at times of economic crises. It
is particularly disturbing as economic crises are going to accentuate in
the near future as capitalism is possibly in its worst crisis ever,
economic, in resources (peak oil and minerals constraints) and ecological
(climate change, loss of biodiversity, etc), all of which are going to
worsen.
5. Our situation (by 'our' I mean the broad Left in this country, both
non-Party and Party left across the Left spectrum) is made even more feeble
by the fact that there seems to be no *economic *alternative on the scale
necessary. Political alternatives exist (like in Latin America and
elsewhere) but they do not pose economic alternatives to capitalism and its
logic.
This mail is already too long so I will keep it short though much remains
to be said. If true, the above - and the fact that repression on
resistance, on workers and the Left in general will surely increase (it
already has: Rajasthan govt's new take on workers' rights; possibly greater
military role against Maoist movements) - should influence our future
politics. At the bare minimum, it merits serious introspection and honest
but frank, non-polemical discussion among all of us even as we recover from
this and plunge back into our political work.
Nagraj



On 10 June 2014 17:05, Nagraj Adve <nagraj.adve at gmail.com> wrote:

> This press release as has been quoted just misses the point in hiding
> behind the Party's old rhetoric. I can never fathom why the Maoist party -
> and much analysis by others - assumes that people are naive fools. No
> number of "MNCs, imperialists, big landlords" can generate a wave. Putting
> one's head in the sand may be good policy for an ostrich, but it does not
> make for good analysis.
> Nagraj
>
>
> On 10 June 2014 13:13, Vivek Sundara. <viveksundara at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Date: 10 June 2014
>> Subject: Be ready for a fascist onslaught, says CPI(Maoist) - The Hindu
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/be-ready-for-a-fascist-onslaught-says-cpimaoist/article6099546.ece#.U5a2TwFXJmA.gmail
>>    Today's Paper >> NATIONAL
>>   RAIPUR, June 10, 2014
>> Be ready for a fascist onslaught, says CPI(Maoist)
>>
>> Pavan Dahat
>>
>>
>> The outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) has said that the new
>> National Democratic Alliance government will be no different from the
>> previous United Progressive Alliance government and will implement the
>> "same neo-liberal policies."
>>
>> In its first reaction to the formation of a new dispensation at the
>> Centre, the CPI (Maoist), in a press note signed by its central committee
>> spokesperson, Abhay, said: "The victory of the BJP under [Narendra] Modi
>> indicates the intensification of exploitation, oppression and fascism in
>> the country."
>>
>> "The real meaning of the Gujarat Model, which will now extend to the
>> whole country, is the suppression of all forms of dissent, including that
>> of workers, peasants, religious minorities, particularly Muslims, and other
>> exploited and oppressed sections of society," the note said.
>>
>> "The NDA's clear majority in Parliament, the absence of a strong
>> parliamentary opposition, and most importantly, the RSS-BJP's Hindutva
>> agenda are indications of the coming fascist onslaught."
>>
>> The note appealed for building "a widespread struggle to fight back the
>> threat from Brahmanical Hindu-fascists by uniting all revolutionary and
>> democratic forces."
>>
>> The BJP won "by using the people's pent-up anger against the Congress."
>> Criticising the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the note said: "The RSS played
>> a central role in orchestrating anti-Muslim attacks and stirring up Hindu
>> religious chauvinism, particularly through the attacks in Muzaffarnagar."
>>
>> The CPI(Maoist) said the election manifesto of the BJP did not forget to
>> present its anti-Muslim, anti-Kashmir and Hindutva agenda, and promised to
>> scrap Article 370, impose a Uniform Civil Code and build a Ram temple.
>>
>> The Modi-wave, the CPI(Maoist) said, "has been put forward by the
>> imperialists, the MNCs and big landlords to divert the people's wrath
>> against the neo-liberal policies of the ruling classes and usher in fascism
>> as Hitler did to serve their interests more effectively."
>>
>> Cautioning people on their "illusion of good days under Modi," the party
>> said the condition of the masses would deteriorate further on all fronts.
>>
>> *The real meaning of the Gujarat Model, which will now extend to the
>> whole country, is the suppression of all forms of dissent*
>>
>> --
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>
>