Prabhat advises Left not to shun poor

NEW DELHI: At a time when the Left is reassessing its political identity in the wake of unprecedented election losses, economist and communist ideologue Prabhat Patnaik has argued against the Left abandoning anti-imperialism while linking this to its poor election showing in Bengal.

Mr Patnaik holds that the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government in Bengal lost the support of rural poor as a result of pursuing a ���development��� agenda within the ���neo-liberal��� framework (a reference to land acquisition for industry in Singur and Nandigram). But it also failed to attract urban middle class (whom, the author says, the Left tried to woo with pictures of the Nano car and the story of ���thwarted industrialisation��� to make up for the loss of rural votes).

The middle class, he says, could not accept the Left���s decision to oppose the ���imperialist��� Indo-US nuclear deal and the severing of ties with the UPA government.

Talking about reasons for the reverses in Kerala, Mr Patnaik says the Left���s stand on the SNC Lavalin corruption case ���carried little credibility���. CPM has been maintaining that the case involving Kerala state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan is ���politically motivated���. It has said the case will be fought ���politically and legally���.
Mr Patnaik���s comments are important as they highlight some of the dominant themes of discussion within CPM and the Left. The economist���s comments on anti-imperialism echo those of ideological purists in the Marxist party, including general secretary Prakash Karat.

It would, however, weigh against those such as Mr Bhattacharjee, who has been leading the calls for change as opposed to Kerala CM V S Achuthanandan. Also, Mr Patnaik���s stand on the Lavalin case is bound to buttress the growing demands within the party to have another look at the graft case on which the balance of power in faction-ridden Kerala unit of the party currently hinges.

Writing about ���Reflections on the Left��� for the International Development Economics Associates, an international grouping of Left-leaning economists, Mr Patnaik says the ���actual extent of the Left���s loss (in LS polls) has been quite staggering��� and goes on to argue that the most common prescription to the Left for recouping from this condition is to ���stop making a fuss over imperialism���.

He, however, posits by citing the example of both West Bengal and Kerala that ���accepting the advice given to it to overcome its ���outdated��� opposition to imperialism and to the neo-liberal policies promoted by it will amount to self-annihilation by the Left���.

He adds if Left had managed to increase or even retain its support among ���workers, peasants, petty producers and the rural poor���, there might have been no or little loss in the elections.

���Notwithstanding its opposition to imperialism, it did not have an alternative policy on development, different from what the neo-liberal paradigm dictated,��� Mr Patnaik writes. He says the Bengal government pursued policies of ���development��� similar to the other states and competed with them which, in polls, led to ���crucial erosion of the class base of the Left���. Talking about the need for an ���alternative economic policy���, Mr Patnaik has echoed CPM���s election assessment, which calls for a new industrial policy in Bengal.