Seriously Sandeep

Prakash Karat has finally admitted that China is the Fatherland.

CPM general secretary Prakash Karat vowed to oppose a strategic alliance between India and the United States claiming that such a move was meant to “counter-balance” and “encircle” China.

The context in which he uttered this rhetoric is hilarious only if it was not so grave.

Speaking at a CPM function here to mark the 90th anniversary of the Soviet Revolution, Karat made no mention of the nuclear deal but underlined his ideological opposition: “We shall not rest in our fight till strategic ties with the US are snapped.”

I’m unaware if Russia itself is celebrating the failed “revolution.” Ideologically-inclined Indians should win some sort of award. In terms of zeal, they outdo the founding fathers of the ideology. China slowly abandoned some of Mao’s more violent policies. But our violent worthies, the Naxals, now go by the Maoist sobriquet. A Western missionary converts a village. Out of the rubble arises a Paul Dhinakaran or a John Dayal, more committed conversionists than the Pope himself.

Karat is one of the most visible faces of the ugliness that surrounds us. I find it distressing that none in the political class is able to produce a single person capable of shaping policy directed towards India’s own national interest. We are either allied with somebody we perceive as more powerful than ourselves. China’s historical example proves illuminating. Recall the way it tried to usurp the “communist leader of the world” role during the heydays of the USSR’s might.

What explains the inexplicable disconnect we see in India today: the economy is booming but we have thugs and murderers as rulers. Our business class hasn’t still overcome the fear the political class instilled during the golden socialist years. A sadder commentary is hard to find: the only alternatives for our businessmen to secure their business interests is by either becoming Rajya Sabha MPs or by constantly sucking up to political thugs. You can only shudder at the consequences if Karat and his cronies came to power. Offstumped gives a fictional glimpse into the horror that awaits us if it happens.

Jyoti Basu had famously declared that he’d call for West Bengal’s secession from India if the BJP came to power. He has mellowed much since that performance. He is now content to have power without responsibility, something we all knew. But he only admits it now.

Basu said the CPM was supporting the Congress-led UPA solely to isolate and defeat the BJP. “Our party was not for joining the government but we decided to support the Congress-led government so that the required numbers for a majority are ensured. It was our task to isolate and defeat the BJP,” he said.

India has millions of valuable lessons in her antiquity if only we care to unearth them. A few hundreds of years ago, Chanakya had realized the importance of money as the most powerful motive power. One of his stricter policy recommendations was to let people make money to build and sustain a powerful state. His Dharmasya moolam artham (the root of dharma is wealth) is a treatise waiting to be explored in detail. Karat and his ilk would call him a rabid Hindu communalist.