India, the world’s most populous country, is a major economic and political power in South Asia. Known for its vast linguistic, cultural, and geographic diversity, India has a rich history that spans thousands of years, with deep-rooted traditions in philosophy, science, art, and religion. Its large population and vast history mark its economic and cultural importance.
While India’s civilization can be traced to the Harrapan era, that is, 1400 BCE, its modern political boundaries were established in 1947 when it gained independence from British rule. It is now a federal parliamentary democracy with 28 states and 8 union territories, with New Delhi as its capital. India has a democratic system with a multiparty political landscape, with the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party being the two dominant national parties.
As one of the fastest-growing major economies, India is a global hub for technology, manufacturing, and services, while also being an agrarian powerhouse. It is a nuclear-armed state and plays a key role in regional and global geopolitics, maintaining strategic partnerships with various nations.
India is one of the most ethnically and religiously diverse countries in the world, home to multiple religions, sects, castes, and tribes. It has more than ten-thousand languages and hundreds of regional dialects, with Hindi and English serving as the two of the 22 official languages. Despite economic progress, India faces challenges such as poverty, unemployment, and environmental concerns, alongside managing its complex social fabric and regional disparities.
What about a straight solution ?…..By the way, do follow my work on Anthropological Economics. It is available on the internet.
Yogendra is ignorant of indian realities. So he sided with bjp in Anna movement. Indian lefts are typically higher caste people, who never connected with downtrodden and poor people who are of lower caste. So left as we see developed in theory only. They should have interpreted Marx for indian conditions. The leadership of communist parties re mn aimed beurza, a contrast. They have not abhorred aggression because they feared it. How can we hope for new left when JNUite like Yogendra sided with wrong people and principles. He still not willing to recognize role of congress, with all its frailties, to remain india a Democratic country, especialy the current autocratic dispensation.
We are the New Left!
We want Peace.
Our goal is a state of the world and “a virtue that springs from, a state of mind”. That state of the world and virtue, is a disposition for “benevolence” and “justice”.
Our means for achieving peace is non-violence, i.e. absence of intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, to cause harm either with certainty or with a high likelihood, to oneself or others.
The disposition for benevolence and justice, which peace is all about, implies non-violence as an end in itself as well.
Prof. P.Jacob Kurien
Left & Right have equal share in corruption. The idea of a new left is not that easy. The participatory democracy through Panjayatu Raj
is the best way to achieve the goal.
The communist parties in Kerala grew after fighting social injustices like temple entry, right to cover the breast etc. etc. We must say that organisational matters were discussed as political matters. To be more clear, party organs and forming of electoral frons were construed as politics . The statement of Yogendra Yadav that The Communist Parties or the left in India failed to understand India is cent per ent correct .
Communist parties did not exist when the Upper Cloth agitation took place from 1822 to 1859.
Left is dead long back when it split up… Centerists are new left in this country… If congress has any opportunity to revive itself occupy the space left by left instead of craving to steal a peace of share from BJP in the name of soft hindutva. Cast politics dying next is communal politics though it may take a decade or so… Next big thing is centre left politics
i think in left should be replaced by libertarian politics (or classical liberal if you like).. swatantra bharat paksh, along with the related shetkari sanghatana, is a good effort in this direction.. hope there will be more momentum to the movement
The intellectuals all over the world were impressed by the Marxist analysis of the social strife and were ready to accept the idea that a well defined programme can be implemented for social transformation when revolutions overthrow the feudal imperial regimes. The thought acquired more followers after the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and the advertisements of the changes effected in the society of Soviet Union. But soon those who tried to see the changes on the ground themselves were disillusioned by the repression of individual freedom in the Practice of Marxist theory. Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koesler and many other such books were shocks to the defenders of the Marxist theory. They conviniently accepted that the theory is correct but the implementation in Soviet Union was disastrous because the persons exercising power were bad. But wherever regimes were established in the name of Marxist ideology similar things happened.
In the name of power of the society the rulers exercise it and opponents are crushed. This happens even in traditional conservative societies and political parties. That means absolute power to any ideologically united group is harmful to the freedom of dissenters.
The Leftist parties in India have vanished because they were only parroting the theory from Marxist ideology oriented intellectuals and were neither able to study the real problems of the society where they worked nor could resolve the inherent contradictions in the answers to those problems. Their economic policies failed worldwide and can no longer attract as dreams of future “Achhe Din”. They can only criticise and ridicule others when they also fail. But if they have no programme which can convince the people of implementability, how can leftists of different shades unite to form a Mahagathbandhan of New Left. The agenda can be only destructive: only of defeating somebody or hijackings power from somebody. That is seen as leading to anarchy and chaos in the absence of a programme for future.
India has seen enough of the left. Goodbye left. Now it’s time for- cultural conservative and economic liberal party, cultural liberal and economic liberal party.
I would go one step further. Whatever the political / electoral fate of the Left, some of its worthwhile ideas on social justice should be part of the agenda of national / regional parties. In a country where so many are poor or lower middle class, it cannot be otherwise. Instead, the dogma and aspects of economic doctrine need to be discarded, as China has done to its everlasting success.
/ In a country of so many /
They are ” so many ” bcoz the successive govts both at centre & states pamper them by freeloader policies, reservations. They just love to triple themselves every generation
Social justice is dying in our governance and courts are toothless to defend the Constitution. The weakest link becomes the ministry for minority affairs and disability. Punishment postings for bureaucrats are in these ministries too. The fault lines become more visible and wider when we have majoritarianism taking over all aspects of politics and in turn, have utter disregard to the sustained oppression of the socially and economically weaker sections.
Infrastructure and big business is money and that seems to be the ultimate incentive for those seeking power among the people. A toilet here, a flyover there, and a railway line elsewhere. That seems enough to win back votes while those are part of the job role anyway. Scientific temper, social sciences, critical reasoning, social justice, independent thinking media and other aspects that were critical in the making of a young India are disappearing. The golden age, unfortunately, is the age of socialist policies. Now we just need to stay relevant between China, the US and the Middle East (our oil suppliers). Even the wiser and older folks in our communities are polarised and hardly raise these issues.
Problem of social justice is no one can define it. It means different things to different people
Orthodox Left did incalculable damage to Indian economy and Indian institutions. To say that they helped corruption under check is to ignore the realities all together. The vast bureaucracy to “command and control” the economy comes right out the Leninist playbook and is the leading cause of corruption today. The West Bengal “cut” phenomenon that infects every program was systematized by the left. To call them democratic is also absurd when they themselves said that they were opposed to democracy and wanted a dictatorship. The biggest harm that Left wing ideology did as that it took away India’s best and brightest – normally they would be assets of the nation and turned them into its biggest liabilities. Even this article, with its clear sympathies, shows how our intellectuals continue to flirt and apologize for a movement that left India in tatters. The last thing we need is a “new left”; what we need foremost is an accounting of the damage done by the left before our elites, like this author, take us towards yet another destructive journey.
Left is democratic….???? Where in the world Left was or is democratic….??? Leftist who have more faith in Chinese communist party than in Indian parties or agencies…. History of left in India may be see in Bengal with largest share of their rule….. YY writes…..???? The people have seen that YY is also far away from the ground realities of today’s India like Leftists….. The Gen X with dominant MNC culture needs heavy industrialisation by cutting the non performers….. Bcoz of Leftists Bengal is at the stage of no return…… Nobody wants to listen to YY….
Amit Shah himself has said CPI has internal democracy.
Internal democraacy?
RSS has it as well, provides upward mobility to its members and relies on raw human emotion and early childhood brainwashing to control its cadres
Fact is CPI and CPI(M) both have old leaderships like Sitaram Yechuri and the Karat Couple who have no new ideas, no will and no incentive to do anything except enjoy their comfortable party positions. They have lost touch with the ground, their cadres have deserted them
Next in line of destruction is the private limited copany Congress run by the clueless Rahul Gandhi and his senile mother.
I can see a BJP autocracy taking over India for the coming 30-50 years. Those famed regional satraps sitting in Bihar, Odisha and other states like AP and Telangana will soon sing to BJP’s tune to please the swayamsevaks sitting in the gallery.
We were always a semi feudal society with elections used as a facade to maintain a democratic image, I suppose BJP has only done the inevitable. From independence to 1990’s it was near Congress rule, 25 years of coalitions and now again a 1 party rule. The bad news is that this buff political arm will reinforce the narrow yet dominant cultural ideology of the RSS. Last time an all male sangha prospered it lasted for centuries. Best of luck to the coming generations……