The changes in Soviet policy, which could be understood in relation to Russia, became totally incomprehensible as policies favoured by Communist parties elsewhere. They could only be understood on the basis that what may be good for Russia must necessarily be good for the rest of the world. These parties, though consisting of some able and very earnest people, lost contact with the nationalist sentiments of the people. While the Soviet Union was forging new links with national tradition, the Communist parties of other countries were drifting further away from it.

I cannot speak with much knowledge of what happened elsewhere, but I know that in India the Communist party are completely divorced from, and is ignorant of, the national traditions. It believes that Communism necessarily implies a contempt for the past. So far as it is concerned, the history of the world began on November, 1917, and everything that preceded this was preparatory and leading up to it.

In a country like India, with large numbers of people on the verge of starvation and the economic structure cracking up, Communism should have a wide appeal. In a sense, there is that vague appeal, but the Communist party can't take advantage of it. It remains an energetic, but small group, with no real roots.

These are not the words of a die-hard anti-Communist, for this has been written by none else but by pro-Soviet first Prime Minister of India, in his book Discovery of India (page 516-517). After Independence, the journey of the Congress started under his leadership.

Electoral politics became so important for him that many of his policies drifted away from his own basic thinking. He and his daughter Indira Gandhi slowly implemented Communist programmes and policies like that of nationalization of banks and coal mines. Both were slaves to socialism and secularism.

In the name of secularism, Indira Gandhi handed over education and the task of rewriting the history of India to the Communists. They had an agenda of de-nationalization of Indian-people with a clear target to confuse and disrupt the continuity of Indian civilization. The chief architect of this drift was the then Education Minister, late Nurul Hassan, who in turn promoted the band of Marxist historians like RS Sharma, Irfan Habib and the ilk.

Today, even high school students are ignorant of cultural and traditional continuum. Pandit Nehru in the above quoted book in respect of the distorted vision of Communists about the history wrote that apart from noting that for the Communists history started from 1917, "National progress can, therefore, neither lie in a repetition of the past nor in its denial. New patterns must inevitably be adopted but they must be integrated with the old. Sometimes the new, though very different, appears in terms of pre-existing patterns, and thus creates a feeling of a continuous development from the past, a link in the long chain of the history of the race. Indian history is a striking record of changes introduced in this way, a continuous adaptation of old ideas to a changing environment, of old patterns to new. Because of this there is no sense of cultural break in it and there is that continuity, in spite of repeated change, from the far distant days of Mohenjodaro to our own age." But he and his daughter turned the whole concept of civilisational continuity and its progress up-side down and we are witnessing this scenario just after half a century.

The Communists are important allies of the UPA Government; 61 MPs of the Left outweigh the numerical superiority of the Congress and its other allies. The Left Front led the by CPM is reaping rich political harvest in every conceivable way. The Government stands threatened by Leftists every week right from the day one. Their bloated ego comes out in the form of arrogant statements, like - "when we say sit down the Government will sit down, when we say stand up it will stand up." Thanks to CPM, after six years of industrial peace on labour front, strikes and bandhs have reappeared.

In fact, the momentum provided to national economy by the NDA Government has waned, particularly in the infrastructure sector. The GDP growth of NDA Government in 2003-04 was 8.5 per cent. Now nobody is confident of attaining the same percentage, economists are veering around 7 per cent.

The economics of shortages has again started. Compare it with the problem of plenty during NDA regime. The Communists with their vision of state controls have shadowed the growth of economy. The unimaginable jump in prices is adversely impacting the aam aadmi. On the political front, including internal security, terrorism and handling of foreign affairs, every thing looks in disarray. It was destined to be so, for Congress and Communists cannot rule together. Whatever level of convergence is there, contradictory approaches are weighty enough to imbalance the governance.

Courtesy: dailypioneer.com, September 10, 2006