PRAGOTI

I think Mr. Anonymous, you have taken my reply very personally and your approach is more concentrated on 'persons' rather than a need to focus on larger politico-ideological struggle to revamp the Left movement in India, which I was arguing in both my obituary to Com. Jyoti Basu and on your reply. You have first accused late Jyoti Babu, his daughter-in-law and now a number of CPI(M) leaders. Nobody is defending the Chinese case and the CPI(M) has its own criticisms on China. But Alas! you seem to be extremely hostile/frustrated about CPI(M) and cannot think beyond your foreclosed mindset.

Look, when the Left Front government goes for Private-Public partnership, it openly declares with a transparent approach that since the states don't have enough money, we are compelled to have such an arrangement. They tell this thing openly in public and tries to convince them without hiding anything. But Mamata's Railways is a central government enterprise with huge amount of resources and is a profit making enterprise unlike the welfare sectors of health and education, which needs subsidy. Railways doesn't need any such private-public partnership for it is self-sufficient, unless Mamata is planning to put money in the pockets of private players. This is not new in her approach. She has already argued that land for industrialization should be directly bought over from the peasants by the private players/corporates. That means, no scope of any bargaining with land sharks/mafia who would deal as middlemen for this transaction. In Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, MP and Chattisgarh, such middlemen have earned thousands of crores. In fact, the major problem with Mamata and Kabir Suman was precisely on this patron-client relationship and on the question of Trinamul MP LAD funds to be utilized through contractors close to the party. Criticizing that approach, Kabir Suman has written an interesting line in one of his song in his new album Chattrodharer Gaan: "Jongol tumi kaar? Shorashtro montronaloy, naaki beniya-r thikedaar...na dawler paonadaar" (Jungle, who are you for? for Home Ministry, or for traders, contractors...or for party’s owners).

The state doesn't have enough money to subsidize partly because of lopsided centre-state financial mechanisms, centre's discrimination towards states---which was Jyoti Babu's prime argument and partly because of aggressive neoliberal policies, withdrawal of subsidy and fiscal management on the part of central government, which also made a huge impact on each and every state's coffers including Bengal. Of course, you can believe in a postmodern third stream politics of neither with CPI(M) nor with Maoist although you are silent on Trinamul and rather seems to be pro-Mamata (correct me with your intimidating language, if I am wrong). By the way, can you write a piece on "independent revolutionary socialist road of self emancipation of the working class against neoliberalism"? I think we would be very interested to know what it actually means. Since, pragoti is a collective to promote critical and progressive thinking, you never know, you can be lucky to get published! At least we can all know your name/identity rather than hiding yourself like the Maoist Kishanji behind the veil. “The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare…”—Karl Marx and Frederich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, 1848.