On CPI(M) Politics

The Party Plenum of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] held in Kolkata at the end of December 2015 gives an idea of the recent trajectory of its politics. On the eve of the plenum, the party organised a big public rally. The party leaders strongly criticised the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government for its mal-governance and failures. They also promised that if the CPI(M) comes back to power, industries will be constructed in Singur and Salboni, the areas which witnessed strong resistance movements against the party’s industrialisation drive and contributed to the fall of the Left Front government in West Bengal. The leaders were silent about the state violence associated with that industrialisation drive. Coincidentally, a few days after this rally, Amartya Sen, while addressing a seminar, stated, “In West Bengal, industry is needed. Earlier, there were many industries in our state. The Left ruined industry in the state and when it realised this, it was too late.”

The fundamental question which remains unasked is whether “industrialisation” is the panacea for all evils, and whether we can think of an alternative concept of industrialisation beyond the neo-liberal paradigm.