‘Cadres,people like fish,water… Can’t be a shark’

“In the course of that (Left rule),the behaviour and lifestyle of cadres has altered considerably. Communist modesty,communist simplicity gave way to arrogance and bossism. And the tendency to interfere in all aspects of life of the common people — even in a club,even a school committee. This has caused resentment in the people,” Bardhan said.

It is a matter the CPI has raised with the CPM before,Bardhan said. He also said that the onus of change must lie primarily with the CPM,the largest partner in the Left Fronts that rule Bengal and Kerala.

“Left unity is a must. And all of us have to change and correct ourselves. But the bigger party has to change the most.”

Bardhan does not,however,let the CPI off completely. “To a much smaller extent this could be seen in cadres of other Left parties,” he said. “They were not regarded as the bosses in social and political life”.

For Bardhan,the challenge of repairing the cadres’ equation with the people must figure prominently in any course correction by the Left. “According to me,one of the first things we will have to change — primarily CPM,as the largest party — is the behaviour and approach that cadres have towards the people.”

The founders of socialism had envisaged the relationship between cadres and people as one between “fish and water”,Bardhan said. “You cannot become sharks.”

In Lalgarh,for example,despite the fact that adivasi peasants benefited from land reforms and panchayats were in place,“power (went) to the heads of cadres,who were also drawn from among the adivasis. Instead of being with the people,you (the cadres) became above the people.”

Bardhan pointed to CPM “unilateralism” in dealings with other Left parties. In Kerala,he said,the CPM has been “encroaching” on seats that used to be contested by other Left partners. “In this way,the CPM which used to contest 11 out of 20 seats in Kerala,contested 14 this time.”

His candour on the Left’s internal challenge,Bardhan said,is “with a view to improve the relationship between Left parties and also between party cadres and the people. Left unity is a must in this country if the Left has to make a mark against other parties.”

On the question of the nuclear deal and the Left,the CPI general secretary said the Left parties should not have withdrawn support to the government — even though they were right to oppose the deal.

In discussions within the Left Front before the decision was taken last July,the CPI had warned the CPM of the perils of taking the issue to the people,Bardhan said.

“We had our doubts. We had told the CPM at that time that this is an issue,the nuclear deal involves so many technicalities,it is difficult to explain purely on the basis of anti-imperialism. We didn’t think it would become an issue for the elections. Our point of view was that there were a number of problems affecting the livelihood of the people — kisan’s issues,price rise,non-availability of food. Those were issues that could be explained to the people. The nuclear deal wasn’t.”

Despite the fact that the CPI finally went along with the pullout decision,“in the preamble of the letter we gave for the pullout we mentioned the economic issues. The nuclear deal,we said,has made it impossible to go along with the government.”