The phone rang early in the morning, a call from an old friend in Jharkhand. “This is to thank you for having saved me from being part of a sin!” he said.
What sin? What had I done to save my friend? I was confused.
“Don’t you know that the Communist Party of India is fielding 4-5 candidates in Jharkhand?” he said. “Today, breaking away from the anti-BJP INDIA alliance and contesting elections separately is a sin. A sin to do anything to weaken the joint opposition! It is good that I am no longer a member of this party. So I am saved from becoming a part of this sin.”
My friend reminded me that back in the day when we were all in the CPI and he had doubts about remaining a member, our discussions had played a role in his decision to quit.
When old CPI members talk among themselves about the party, there are often only complaints. Unlike us, my wife Purwa has never been a party member. She jokes that we keep complaining “like old jilted lovers”.
When I decided not to renew my CPI membership some 30 years ago, many arguments were given to dissuade me. I was told not to run away from the battlefield. The inner party struggle must not be given up. But after struggling within the party for some nine years, I had come to the realisation that it was better to use my strength and time in external struggle.
Many of my friends remained in the party after I quit. The one who phoned me was among them. He fought for what he believed but when the party made it impossible for him to continue, he parted ways. With a pain in his heart that has not gone away till now. The party also gradually lost its sheen and relevance. Only the stories of its magnificent past remain.
There was a time in undivided Bihar and today’s Jharkhand when politics could never be discussed without also talking about the CPI. Gradually, that place was taken by CPI-ML-Liberation. But the CPI recalls that glorious history to assert its political significance for contemporary politics. Even after caste-based politics and Hindutva became dominant in Bihar and Jharkhand, the trace of leftist ideas remained. Therefore, despite having lost electoral relevance, the CPI, as the oldest communist party in India, is given respect by other democratic parties. Nevertheless, an election is an election. If you do not have the numbers, you cannot be given a seat because of your ‘ideological superiority’! If you have always been in third or fourth position in the past four elections, then the CPI’s alliance partners will not give up seats in deference to its political age or seniority.
It is not that the party lacks this self-awareness. It has offices in almost every district or block but how many party members are left there to visit them? And how many voters even remember that there is a party called the CPI? This question is not even asked because everyone knows the answer. Still, as elections approach, the old urge to have the party symbol on the ballot raises its head. The truth of one’s irrelevance stares at party leaders in the face but they look away. However, others cannot be fooled. It is true that in almost all constituencies, the party has lost its mass base. It does not have a sufficient number of voters to even make a claim. It definitely does not have the capacity to transfer votes. But it still has its leaders and their temptation to have a seat at the table.
Even if we set all this aside, the CPI itself has been saying that right now the fight is with fascism. In a way, this is a battle of life and death for Indian democracy. Then where does the question of selfishness, of one’s share, arise? What should matter is who is in a position to defeat the BJP. Today’s duty is to fully support the party or candidate with the best chance of defeating the BJP in each and every constituency – without any condition.
My friend is agitated, “What is the CPI’s logic in fielding candidates on five seats in Jharkhand? It has neither organisation nor public support. It may believe it has a scientific ideology that can explain every social phenomenon but in elections you need voters!”
Like the bourgeois parties, the CPI also keeps in mind the social equations of caste and religion while contesting elections. Even from this realistic angle, the party leaders know well that the party does not stand a chance in those constituencies.
If Congress must sacrifice to stop fascism, then why should a party like the CPI not also sacrifice its illusions? Of course, the two parties are fighting each other in Kerala, but while there may be strategic reasons for this, given the politics of that state, the situation in Jharkhand is very different. The BJP is a strong political force there. In 2019, the BJP and its ally AJSU won 12 out of 14 seats with a 56% vote share. Its challenge can be met only by combining all opposition forces. But the CPI, at this crucial juncture, has decided to break away from the INDIA coalition. It has done this when each and every vote matters, as even 100 votes can make a difference.
“Imagine the CPI gets a few thousand votes on these seats and the BJP wins by almost the same margin. Then who will be responsible for the increase in fascist power? And, is this less than a sin?” my friend asks.
Although he has long left the party, people still remember his relationship with it. The party leadership might ignore him but there are still party members who do listen to him. So he and some other friends associated with the CPI held a press conference and appealed to the party to withdraw its candidates. It is certain that the party will not listen to him. But by making this appeal, he was also addressing the party’s members and sympathisers. He said that he has spoken to many party members who would vote for the anti-BJP INDIA alliance and not for their own party. Does the party leadership not know this? If CPI’s leaders nevertheless want to field candidates in constituencies where they have no chance, there must be some other reason. But this has nothing to do with the fight against fascism.
The question one of my friends asked in their typically Daltenganji Hindi: Agar aapko batasha nahi mile to mandir shah deejiyega? (‘If you do not get the prasad, will you demolish the temple itself?’) This is the question the CPI leadership has to answer.
