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Does the Indian Communist have a future?

C: R Guha

In the April I found myself in Kerala. The Lok Sabha results were due in a few weeks; it seemed clear that, for the first time since Independence, the communists would be in single digits in the lower House of Parliament. It thus so happened that I was in India’s sole Left-ruled state on the eve of their eclipse as a national force.

If, in electoral terms, 2019 marks the nadir of the communist movement in India, the high point was 2004, when the communist parties had more than 60 seats in Parliament. Bengalis still lament Jyoti Basu not becoming prime minister in 1996. But, in retrospect, a far greater mistake was committed in 2004, when the CPI(M) and the Communist Party of India did not join the United Progressive Alliance government headed by Manmohan Singh. The United Front government of 1996-98 was in a minority, and even if Jyoti Basu had headed it, it would still have fallen within a couple of years . On the other hand, the UPA government ran for two full terms; had the communists joined the cabinet, and taken charge of such portfolios as education, health, and rural development, they could have helped improve people’s lives, while increasing the party’s visibility and profile across the country. Tragically, the CPI(M) was bound by Leninist dogma, which did not permit it to take up a supporting role in a ‘bourgeois government’.

At the national level, the parliamentary communists have descended from the high of 2004 to the low of 2019. Meanwhile, they are now out of office in Tripura and West Bengal, and are extremely unlikely to regain power in either of these states. Since Kerala usually alternates between the Left and the Congress, when assembly elections are next held the communists should find themselves in Opposition here as well.

In India today, some famous writers and artists think of themselves as being on the Left. So do some established scholars. However, in terms of its influence on politics and public life, the Indian Left has never been in a worse place. Can this change? Or is this political decline irreversible?

As I write this, against the backdrop of their near-rout in the last Lok Sabha elections, it is hard to think of the Left ever regaining the political salience it once had. But history acts in odd and unexpected ways. Who would have imagined that socialism would experience a resurgence in that most capitalist of countries, the United States of America? India remains a land marked by pervasive social inequalities. In theory, if not in practice, it remains fertile ground for the Left.

If the Left in India hopes or wishes to rise up from the ashes, then the first thing it must do is to become more Indian. In 1920, shortly before the Communist Party of India was established, the Mumbai Marxist, S.A. Dange wrote a pamphlet exalting Lenin over Gandhi. Ever since, Indian communists have found their heroes in a country other than India. They have venerated, in turn, the Germans Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the Russians V.I. Lenin and Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong of China, Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, the Cuban Fidel Castro, and the Venezuelan Hugo Chávez.

The problem with these foreigners is not just that they were foreigners. They were also totalitarians, who believed in a one-party State run by themselves. The likes of Lenin and Mao had no understanding of India or of Indian society; nor an appreciation of the virtues of multiparty democracy either. By worshipping them at the expense of home-grown thinkers such as Gandhi and Ambedkar, the communists found themselves out of sync with Indian realities.

Younger readers may not be aware that, parallel to the growth of communism in the 1920s, an indigenous socialist tradition also took shape in India. Its exemplars included Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Rammanohar Lohia, and Jayaprakash Narayan, all of whom had a more original understanding of Indian society than their communist contemporaries. The thinking of Kamaladevi on gender, of Lohia on class, of JP on political decentralization, was far sharper than of S.A. Dange or E.M.S. Namboodiripad on these subjects. This is because the socialists took their clues from what they observed on the ground, whereas the communists mechanically followed the path laid down by Lenin and Stalin.

Is it too late for Indian communists to learn from the heritage of Indian socialists? They can likewise seek to indigenize themselves, and perhaps even adopt the ‘socialist’ label. To the 21st-century mind, the word ‘communist’ is indelibly associated with tyranny and authoritarianism. On the other hand, the word ‘socialist’ is more benign. True, it has currently been misappropriated by a family firm run by Yadavs in Uttar Pradesh. But it may be worth the effort to recapture the label, and rework it to more worthy ends.

In the wake of the Lok Sabha elections, there is talk of the need to ‘unify’ the different communist parties, and bring them under one platform. Were that to happen, the new, unified, party would need a new name. I suggest it junk the word ‘communist’, and characterize itself as ‘democratic socialist’ instead. That might be a modest first step towards a renewal of the Left, opening out for it a future in Indian politics, whereas at present it only has a past.

ಜೋಯಿಡಾದ ಕಾಡ ಗರ್ಭದ ಘಾಡ ಮೌನದಲ್ಲಿ ಟಿಸಿಲೊಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆಯಾ ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ ಆತ್ಮಚರಿತ್ರೆ ?!

ದೇಶದಲ್ಲೇ ಮೊತ್ತ ಮೊದಲ ಸ್ಟಾರ್ ಪತ್ರಕರ್ತನಾಗಿ ಗುರುತಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದ ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ ತನ್ನ ಆತ್ಮಚರಿತ್ರೆ ಬರೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರಾ? ಅವರ ಅವಿಷ್ಟೂ ಖಾಸ್ ಬಾತ್ ಒಂದು ನಿಲುಕಿಗೆ ಸಿಗದಂತವು. ನೋವು,ಅವಮಾನ,ಹಿಂಸೆ, ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನೂ ಮೀರಿ, ಪದೇ ಪದೆ ಬಡಿದ ಬದುಕಿನ ಜೊತೆಗೇ ಬಡಿದಾಡಿ ಸೋಲಿಗೂ ಮಿಗಿಲು ಬೆಳೆದು ’ಹೆಂಗೆ ಬೆಳೆದಾ ನೋಡು ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ’ ಅಂತನ್ನಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಬೆಳೆಯುತ್ತಲೇ, ಬದುಕುತ್ತಲೇ ನಡೆದು ಬಂದ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯ ಬದುಕೊಂದು ಶುದ್ದ ಯುದ್ದ! ನಡು ನಡುವೆ ವಿರಾಮ ಮತ್ತೆ ಅದೇ ಸಂಗ್ರಾಮ.

ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯನ್ನ ದೇಶದಲ್ಲೇ ಮೊತ್ತ ಮೊದಲ ಸ್ಟಾರ್ ಪತ್ರಕರ್ತ ಅಂದೆ  ಇದು ಅತಿಶಯೋಕ್ತಿ ಅಂತನ್ನಿಸಿತಾ? ನನಗೆ ಉತ್ತರ ಬೇಕಿದೆ. ದೇಶದ ಯಾವ ಪತ್ರಕರ್ತನ ಹಸ್ತಾಕ್ಷರಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಜನ ಮುಗಿ ಬೀಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು? ದೇಶದ ಯಾವ ಪತ್ರಕರ್ತನ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಬಿಡುಗಡೆಗೆ ಪೊಲೀಸ್ ಬಂದೋ ಬಸ್ತ್ ಹಾಕಬೇಕಿತ್ತು? ದೇಶದ ಯಾವ ಪತ್ರಕರ್ತನ ಸುತ್ತುವರಿಯುವ ಅಭಿಮಾನಿಗಳ ದಂಡನ್ನು ಚದುರಿಸಲು ಜನ ಮಾನವ ಸರಪಣಿ ಮಾಡಬೇಕಿತ್ತು? ಅದೆಲ್ಲವನ್ನೂ ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ ನೋಡಿದ್ದರು! ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ ಇಂದು ಕೋರ್ಟಿಗೆ ಬರುತ್ತಾರೆ ಎಂದರೆ ಕೋರ್ಟಿನ ತುಂಬಾ ಸಾವಿರಾರು ಜನ ಜಾತ್ರೆ ನೆರೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಕಾಲವಿತ್ತು! ಶಿವಮೊಗ್ಗದ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮವೊಂದರಲ್ಲಿ ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ ತನ್ನ ಕಾರು ಹತ್ತಲೂ ಅವರ ಆಪ್ತ ಅಭಿಮಾನಿಗಳು ಮಾನವ ಸರಪಣಿಯಾಗಿ ಜನರನ್ನ ಚದುರಿಸಬೇಕಾಗಿ ಬಂತು! ದಟ್ ಇಸ್ ಬೆಳ್ಗೆರೇ!

ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯ ಪಾಪಿಗಳ ಲೋಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಪುಸ್ತಕವೇ ನೂರಾರು ಸಿನೇಮಾಗಳಿಗೆ ಪ್ರೇರಣೆಯಾಯಿತು. ಕನ್ನಡದ ಹಲವು ದಾಖಲೆಯ ಚಿತ್ರ ಓಂ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯ ಪಾಪಿಗಳ ಲೋಕ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಪ್ರೇರಣೆಯಿಂದ ಹುಟ್ಟಿದ್ದು! ಇವತ್ತಿಗೂ ಓಂ ಚಿತ್ರ ರಿಲೀಸ್ ಆದರೆ ಭರ್ತಿ ಟಾಕೀಸು ವಾರಗಟ್ಟಲೆ ಓಡುತ್ತವೆ. ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ ಬರೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಕಥೆಗಳಾದರೂ ಎಂಥವು? ದೇಶದಲ್ಲೇ ಪತ್ರಕರ್ತನೊಬ್ಬನ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಆ ಪಾಟಿ ಮಾರಾಟವಾಗಿದ್ದೆಂದರೆ ಅನುಮಾನವೇ ಬೇಡ ಅದು ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯದ್ದು ಮಾತ್ರ! ಒಂದು ಹಿಮಾಲಯನ್ ಬ್ಲಂಡರ್ ಪ್ರಿಂಟಾಗಿ ಮಾರುಕಟ್ಟೆಗೆ ಬಿದ್ದ ತಿಂಗಳೊಪ್ಪತ್ತಿನಲ್ಲೇ ಖಲಾಸ್! ಪ್ರತಿಗಳೇ ಮುಗಿದು ಹೋಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದವು..

ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯವರನ್ನ ಠೀಕಿಸಲು ಹಲವು ಕಾರಣ ಸಿಗಬಹುದು. ಹಾಗೆ ಧಿಕ್ಕರಿಸುವವರೂ ಕಿಕ್ಕಿರಿದಿರಬಹುದು ಆದರೆ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯ ಬರಹದ ಆಕರ್ಷಣೆಯನ್ನ, ರಾಕ್ಷಸ ಪ್ರತಿಭೆಯನ್ನ ಯಾರಿಂದಲೂ ಅಲ್ಲಗಳೆಯುವುದು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ!. ಇವತ್ತಿನ ವಿರೋಧಗಳು ನಾಳೆಗೂ ಉಳಿದಿರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಇಂದಿನ ವಿವಾಧಗಳು ನಾಳೆಗೆಲ್ಲೋ ಸಾಯುತ್ತವೆ. ಇವತ್ತಿನ ಶತ್ರು ನಾಡಿದ್ದಿಗೆ ಬಂದು ಕೈ ಚಾಚುತ್ತಾನೆ ಆದರೆ  ಬೆಳೆಗೆರೆಯ ಕಾಲದಾಚೆಗೂ ಆ ಪುಸ್ತಕಗಳು ಉಳಿದಿರುತ್ತವೆ. ಬಂಗಾರದಂತಹ ಆಕರ್ಷಕ ಶೈಲಿಯನ್ನ ಯಾರಿಂದಲೂ ಅಳಿಸೋದು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ! ಮೂರು ದಶಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೋಟ್ಯಾಂತರ ಜನರನ್ನ ಪ್ರಭಾವಿಸಿ ಲಕ್ಷಾಂತರ ಜನರನ್ನ ಅಕ್ಷರಲೋಕದತ್ತ ಸೆಳೆದು ಸದಾ ಪ್ರೇರಣೆಯಾಗಿ ನಡೆದು ಬಂದ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯರಿಗೆ ಇದು ಆತ್ಮಚರಿತ್ರೆ ಬರೆಯುವ ಸಮಯವಾ?

ಇನ್ನೇನು ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ ಮುಗಿದೇ ಹೋದ ಕಣ್ರೋ ಎಂದು ಗುಹಾಪ್ರಲಾಪದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದವರೆಲ್ಲರನ್ನ ನಿಬ್ಬೆರಗಾಗಿಸಿ ಪುಲ್ವಾಮಕ್ಕೆ, ಬಾಲಾಕೋಟಿಗೆ ಹೋಗಿ ಯುದ್ದ ವಿಮಾನಗಳ ಹಾರಾಟ ನೋಡುತ್ತಾ, ಬಾಂಬುಗಳ ಆಕಳಿಕೆಗೆ ನಡುಗದೇ ನಿಂತು ವರದಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಬರುತ್ತಾರೆ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ.. ಮಗನಿಗೆ ಅದೊಂದು ಸ್ಕೂಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಕೇವಲ ’ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ ಮಗ ಎನ್ನುವ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕೆ ಸೀಟು ಕೊಡದಿದ್ದಾಗ ಅದೇ ಸೆಡವಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಅದ್ಭುತವಾದೊಂದು ಸ್ಕೂಲನ್ನ ಕಟ್ಟಿ ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥನಾ ಎಂದು ಹೆಸರಿಟ್ಟು ಇಂದು ಅನಾಮತ್ತು ಎಂಟು ಸಾವಿರ ವಿಧ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳು ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದೇ ಒಂದು ರೂಪಾಯಿ ಡೊನೇಶನ್ ಕೊಡದೆ ಓದುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾರೆ! ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯ ಬದುಕು ನಿಚ್ಚಳವಾಗಿ ಒಂದು ಪಾಠ! ಅಲ್ಲಿ ತಪ್ಪುಗಳೂ ಇವೆ ಮತ್ತು ಸರಿಯೂ ಇವೆ. ಅಂಥಹದ್ದೂಂದು ತೂಕದ ಕೃತಿ ಕಾಡ ಘಾಡ ಮೌನದಲ್ಲಿ ಟಿಸಿಲೊಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದೆಯಾ ?

ನಿಮಗೆ ತ.ರಾ.ಸು. ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳು ಗೊತ್ತು, ಕಾರಂತರ ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳೂ ಗೊತ್ತು! ಆದರೆ ಅವರು ಬದುಕಿದ್ದಾಗಿನ ವೈರುಧ್ಯಗಳನ್ನ ಹೇಳಿ ನೋಡೋಣ? ಸಾಧ್ಯವೇ ಇಲ್ಲ.. ಯಾರೋ ಎಲ್ಲೋ ನಿಂತು ಹೇಳಿದ್ದಕ್ಕಿಂತಲೂ, ಹೇಳುವುದಕ್ಕಿಂತಲೂ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯೇ ತನ್ನ ಬದುಕಿನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಬರೆಯಬೇಕು. ತನ್ನ ಸೋಲು ಮತ್ತು ಸೋಲನ್ನ ಸೋಲಿಸಿ ಗೆದ್ದದ್ದು ಆ ಗೆಲುವಿನ ಗೆಲ್ಲು ತಲುಪಲು ಹೆಣಗಿದ್ದು ಇದೆಲ್ಲವನ್ನೂ ದಾಖಲಿಸಬೇಕು. ಹಾಗಿನದ್ದೊಂದು ರವಿ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆ ಆತ್ಮಚರಿತ್ರೆ ಈ ಮಳೆಗಾಲದಿಂದ ಜೋಯಿಡಾದ ಕಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಮೊಳಕೆಯಾಗಲಿದೆಯಾ?

ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಕಾಯಿರಿ, ಉತ್ತರ ಬೆಳಗೆರೆಯೇ ಕೊಡಲಿದ್ದಾರೆ..

‘Fire and the Rain’: 13 pages of the last scene from ‘Agni Mattu Male’ which Girish Karnad translated

When Girish Karnad was named as World Theatre Ambassador of UNESCO’s international theatre institute in 2008, he bemoaned the lack of good translators.

“I may write in Kannada but the world only knows me through my English translations. I am an exceptional case in that I translate my own works into English. But Indian literature needs good translations — and translations are particularly important for plays and poetry,” he told The Hindu.

***

In Sirigannada, a collection of contemporary Kannada writings edited byVivek Shanbag and published in 2010 by Tranquebar, Girish Karnad masterfully translates the last scene from Agni Mattu Male.

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The amazing rise and dramatic fall of Ravi Prakash, a competent but colourful journalist who built one of India’s biggest, most influential news networks: TV9

©Churumuri

TV9 “chairman, CEO and editor” Ravi Prakash, who was sharing the stage with prime minister Narendra Modi at the launch of ‘TV9 Bharatvarsh’ just 40 days ago has been shown the door by the network’s new owners whom he, ironically, brought in to buy the company from its original promoter six months ago.

An official spokesman (see statement, above) confirmed that the board of directors, under the new management, had okayed the “removal” of Ravi Prakash as wholetime director on May 8, and an EGM of shareholders on May 10, had consented to the move.

Ravi Prakash reportedly did not attend either meeting.

Ravi Prakash, who owns 8.5 per cent in the holding company, Associated Broadcasting Company Pvt Ltd (ABCPL), however, shot off a “resignation” letter to the board in which he lashed  out at them, calling them “representatives of political honchos who are out there to devour “EVERY” journalist and independent media house today”.

It is not clear who the “political honchos” Ravi Prakash refers to are—whether they are in Hyderabad or Delhi—but the removal/resignation of the pioneering TV journalist caps a dramatic couple of days in one of India’s most successful news networks, which has a presence in Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati and English.

***

On Thursday, May 9, the residence and offices of Ravi Prakash were searched after two complaints of forgery, cheating and conspiracy had been lodged on April 24 and 30.

The headlines in today’s newspapers in Hyderabad said it all:

“Ravi Prakash out of TV9“, screams the Telugu daily Sakshi.

“TV9 CEO booked for forgery, quizzed,” reads The Times of India.

“TV9 CEO forged papers, gave false info,” says Telangana Today.

“Forgery case: cops conduct searches at TV9 office,” says The New Indian Express.

The police searches had been followed by rumours of Ravi Prakash absconding; of his arrest; of his seeking anticipatory bail; of his passport being seized. But he put paid to those rumours by appearing ‘live’ on air on Thursday night to assert that he was very much in charge.

***

Depending on who you believe, behind the dramatic exit is a boardroom tussle over control of a powerful, multilingual network, with the unseen hands of ambitious politicians and businessmen guiding it from Hyderabad to New Delhi.

TV9 promoter Srini Raju, a cousin of Ramalinga Raju of the now-defunct Satyam Infotech, had been trying to cash out for a long time now. Potential suitors included The Times of India group, NewsX, and the usual suspect, Rajeev Chandrasekhar of Asianet.

The charitable view is that Ravi Prakash, who apparently got the My Home group, and Megha Engineering and Constructions—to shell out Rs 460 crore for a 90 per cent stake, to stave off Rajeev Chandrasekhar, wanted to run the company like he did in the past: independently, without any editorial interference.

The new management in the last six months is believed to have had a hands-off approach like Srini Raju, except that, as an active investor, it wanted its own men on the board, which Ravi Prakash is alleged to have resisted by forging signatures, a charge which even his detractors find it difficult to believe.

“The new owners wanted to know the company better. Ravi was not used to dealing with people like these,” says an insider. The buzz in Hyderabad is that at least one of the new owners is extremely close to the Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS).

TV9 had initially been valued at around Rs 1,200 crore but that valuation was driven down by a boycott of the channel by cable owners in the Hyderabad/Telangana region in protest at the depiction of TRS politicians. Wink, wink.

***

The conspiracy theory is that the change of ownership of TV9 and the change of helmsmanship has all to do with the national ambitions of Telangana politicians. Ravi Prakash, by this reading, had been told that he could stay on for six months but he was now insistent on clinging on.

The backdated sale of shares to Telugu actor Sivaji, who did a sting operation titled ‘Operation Garuda‘ to show how the BJP was trying to overthrow the Andhra Pradesh government by buying up MLAs like in Karnataka, seems to have muddied the waters further.

The matter is now before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and likely to come up on May 16.

***

Against this background buzz, TV9 launched its Hindi channel TV9 Bharatvarsh on March 31, where Narendra Modi came and spoke. The new owners, according to one source, was either not informed of, or invited to, the new channel’s launch.

Modi was received by Ravi Prakash (second from right, in picture), and editorial consultant Hemant Sharma who had left Rajat Sharma‘s India TV under the cloud of the medical college scam.

As the PM and CEO walk into the venue, Modi tells Ravi Prakash that he had recruited people whose are congenitally ill-disposed towards him.

“We are bringing in changes.” replies Ravi Prakash.

To that extent, the removal/resignation marks a stunning denouement for a competent but colourful journalist.

TV9 Kannada head Mahendra Mishra has been appointed TV9 interim CEO.