Telangana polls: What the coming together of Left and Ambedkarite parties means
With the nomination process coming to an end for the Telangana Assembly elections due on December 7, the Telugu media has already declared it a four-cornered contest.
Apart from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Congress (and its allies) and the BJP, a new coalition of four parties which is contesting all the 119 seats is the Bahujan Left Front (BLF) — led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The Communist Party of India (CPI) is going with the Congress and contesting just three out of the 119 seats.
The formation of the BLF — by bringing together the ideologies of BR Ambedkar and Karl Marx with social justice and working class interests (that also include the upper caste poor) as its main goal — is a new experiment in the Indian constitutional democracy.
The CPM has taken this bold step, as the Modi government at the Centre made it realise the importance of an ideological re-positioning.
Nehruvian liberalism combined with Ambedkarite constitutionalism institutionalised democracy and parliamentarianism in India quite firmly. In the past 70 years with all the ups and downs, the Indian citizen has learnt the real meaning of voting and has come to terms with our democratic institutions.
For some time, the Left (in various shades of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism) tried to overthrow the democratic system through armed rebellion, but failed to do so. At the other end, the Right (under the leadership of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) tried to dismantle it by creating conditions for communal violence and genocides.
But they too failed.
As the Left (mainly the CPM and the CPI) with posturing about land reforms came to power in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, it slowly came to terms with the constitutional democratic structures. But in Bengal, it failed to adapt to and capitalise on a globalised market economy. It remained struck in the old Marxist administrative mechanism and lost ground eventually. In Kerala, it proved somewhat better.
Now, in my opinion, it will ultimately follow the Nepali Communist Party model to come to power through ballot by giving up bullet completely.
All communist parties need to come under one platform. The Left also has to re-negotiate with global changes in terms of both capitalist socialist ideologies. The unending neo-liberal rhetoric and colonial-bashing did make them dear to the real working class — Dalits/OBCs/Adivasis. But wherever they ruled, they failed to improve the economy much.
The communist intelligentsia in Delhi must learn how to put its best foot forward in India soil. The best way to do so is to combine Ambedkar and Marx in a creative way. The first step has already been taken in Telangana.It, however, needs to evolve a socialist welfare transformation agenda, which will be different from Nehruvian welfarism. Right now, the BJP is also following the Nehruvian model, albeit with hatred.
The BJP came to power in different states and finally at the Centre in 1999 and 2014. But after the 2014 victory, its communal patriotism and parochial nationalism failed to evolve a viable model of economic development and equal distribution of resources.
Moreover, it tried to rock the Nehruvian liberal democratic institutions without any viable alternative. Hence, the system is in a mess now.
Hardcore Ambedkarites — in the form of Bahujan Samaj Party — have shown both their strength and weakness by ruling Uttar Pradesh several times. Though the BSP's coming to power helped boost the morale of the oppressed castes and restored their self-respect, it could not throw up an alternative economic development model.
In such a situation, communists and Ambedkarites forming a common front in Telangana is a welcome experiment.
The communists have the necessary knowledge of international socialist welfarism, but they need to be combined with Ambedkar’s socialist anti-caste welfarism.
This needs a serious study of Marxism and Ambedkarism in the Indian context based on the aspirations and struggles of the people.
We all know that Nehruvian welfarism drew heavily from liberal democratic and socialist welfarism of the West and the Soviet Union. That did not integrate anti-caste ideology of Ambedkar, as he was not seen as a transformative socioeconomic theoretician at the time. The Marxists and Nehruvians did not take his work seriously. Now, they seem to be willing to do so.
The BLF has realised that it is not just enough to bring all communist and SC/OBC political formations into one fold. There is a need for alternative welfare agenda, which should be more pro-poor/Dalit/OBC.
If we call it ‘social justice welfarism’, a lot of new components to the existing welfare packages should be added while some needs to be dropped.
For example, the state serving the interest of big business and landlords through loan dispersals and write-offs need to be drastically cut or completely dropped.
The agrarian sector needs to be supported with more remunerative price mechanisms than loan write-offs.
An immediate attention to school education reforms should become the first priority. There is a need to bring parity to our public and private school system in terms of medium of instruction (uniform English and regional language instruction from KG to Class 12) and common syllabus.
We must evolve a good and common teacher training mechanism and provide good infrastructure to government schools. The Aam Aadmi Patry's model for schools in Delhi could be replicated in Telangana.
As of now, the medium of instruction in government schools is the regional language of the state and it is not enough to equip students to compete at national and global level.
The duel model of public and private school education needs to be done away with over a period of time. Apart from handling the state-level affairs in regional language, all our children and youth must speak and write one national language — that is English. We must understand that English has become an integral part of Indian culture and social life.
The BLF has given stress to this aspect, which both communists and Ambedkarites neglected in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. This alone will provide a solution to the increasing problem of reservation.
The BLF has promised a labour assistance (Coolie Bandhu Pathakam) scheme along with an aid for farmers (Ryotu Bandhu Pathakam) scheme. But it has made it clear that farmers who own more than 15 acres will not be eligible for these schemes.
It has also promised village-level Bahujan Buvva (Bhojan) Canteens with breakfast for Rs 3 and lunch for Rs 5. Telangana has 12,000 village Panchayats and each Panchayat will have one such canteen. This will help save the elderly and abandoned population from starvation. The women labour force will also get a relief from cooking when they are sick or need cooked food available in the village.
Every village must have a hospital which is connected to a healthcare system at the mandals and district headquarters. The old age pension of Rs 2,000 per person per month after one crosses the age of 60 and a minimum unemployment allowance of Rs 2,000 per month for a graduate (who is not pursuing further studies) until one gets a viable job are part of the package.
All these schemes need to be properly worked out keeping in mind the state's income and balancing it with long-term developmental projects like irrigation, road, housing and other infrastructure up gradation.
The BLF is looking into all these areas. In this elections, it is taking the idea of social justice welfare door-to-door by fielding more OBC/SC/ST candidates across the state.
This has already raised the hackles of the ruling Velamas and Reddys in the state.