The victory of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance is the beginning of a new phase of anti-fascist struggle! It is not the time to lose hope and be disheartened!
The results of the #elections for 17th #Loksabha are clear now. #BJP has won absolute majority on its own and it appears that the National Democratic Alliance under its leadership is set to win more than 350 seats. What explains BJP’s thumping victory despite the fact that all the records of unemployment and corruption were broken in the last five years? To understand this, we must remember what Lenin said, that in the ultimate analysis it is politics that is the determining factor and not economics. Both are obviously linked, but there are many factors that determine whether economic factors will get reflected politically or not. Those who fail to understand this are cursing the people of India for bringing back #Modi to power! To such people one can only suggest that they better choose a new people and a new country!
Hence it is important that we undertake a logical analysis of the current electoral outcome and make a concrete strategy for defeating #fascism. It is important to analyse the reasons behind Modi government’s coming back to power despite the unprecedented ruination of workers, peasants, youth, dalits, women and tribals in the last five years, so that the revolutionary forces can counter fascist onslaughts in the next five years and devise a long term strategy to ultimately give a decisive blow to the fascist rise and effectively work on those lines.
The first and foremost reason behind Modi’s victory is the unanimous support of almost the entire big capitalist class. It is proved yet again that in the bourgeois democracy, ultimate victor is the one that has the backing of big capitalist class. We all know that all the big corporate houses of India have given most of their donations to BJP. This amount runs into thousands of crores. Apart from known ways and means, the national and foreign capitalists stood behind the BJP with all their economic might. Other bourgeois parties lagged far behind in this race. In fact the donations received by all the other bourgeois parties put together could not match even one-fourth of the corporate donations received by BJP. In election campaigns, huge sums of money is needed for purchasing votes, cutting the opponent’s vote by fielding fake candidates distributing money and liquor, organized tampering and swapping of EVMs, buying out bureaucracy and judiciary and threatening them. The money power of BJP far exceeds that of any bourgeois party in the entire history of bourgeois democracy in India. BJP has been able to adopt all the above machinations through this money power. Whereas the parties like Congress, SP-BSP alliance, Trinmool Congress etc. are nowhere to be seen in this race. Besides the money power, yet another factor is BJP’s well-structured fascist machinery, organization and modus-operandi. However, the biggest factor remains the unanimous support of the big capitalist class. Behind this unanimous support lies the global capitalist crisis which is being manifested in the form of fall in the rate of profit. In order to increase the rate of profit, the capitalist class is trying to curtail wages, increase the working hours through legal or illegal means and increase the intensity of labour. The capitalist class knows fully well that the working class will not remain a mute spectator but it will carry out resistance and agitation against this. Under such a situation, the capitalist classes in various countries need a regime that could crush this resistance in a despotic manner and disintegrate the resistance by dividing people. This is the reason why the capitalist class is giving its unanimous support to ultra-right wing and fascist forces in several countries including US, Turkey, Philippines, Indonesia, Greece, Hungary and India. BJP has gained massive financial support precisely because of this reason.
The second biggest reason behind BJP’s victory is its difference from other bourgeois parties – it is not any ordinary bourgeois party, but a fascist bourgeois party. There is a massive cadre structure behind this party which is known as Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh. This cadre-structure based on fascist ideology remains the biggest strength of BJP. Other bourgeois parties like Congress, SP-BSP, NCP or TMC, TDP etc. are not cadre-based parties based on a conscious ideology. This is the reason why their organizational structure can never be as disciplined and as effective as that of BJP and Sangh Parivar. The effectivity with which BJP could take its jingoistic and communal propaganda to the grass root level , cannot be matched by any ordinary bourgeois party. The propaganda machinery of BJP fails when, owing to objective and subjective factors, the economic miseries and ruination of the working class and common toiling masses as well as common middle class starts determining their political opinion. In other words, when the masses are politically conscious of their condition and such political forces are present that could make this consciousness effective. The opposition bourgeois parties failed miserably in doing this, even though the objective conditions for it were present. As we have stated above, the biggest reason behind their failure was the lack of support by big capitalist class, though lack of a cadre-based structure also played a role in this.
These are the two principal factors which are behind Modi’s second victory. All other factors are either secondary or are the outcome of these two main factors. For instance, the opposition’s inability to take its propaganda to the grass root level or make it effective (it is because of the lack of support of the capitalist class only); Modi’s charismatic personality and leadership ( we all know that the bourgeois media could present a ignorant and uncultured personality as a charismatic personality); BJP’s success in making nationalism as the key issue and sidelining the real issues (even this is made possible because of the above two factors), etc.
Meanwhile, many reports have surfaced regarding EVM tampering and swapping. The manner in which the Election Commission and BJP were against VVPAT verification, it could be assumed that there is a grain of truth in these reports and #EVM scam is one of the reasons behind the victory of BJP. However, it is not the principal factor. It could have surely led to increase in the margin of BJP’s victory. But it is unlikely that BJP’s victory is only because of EVM manipulation. In its absence, probably BJP would not have reached the majority figure on its own, but the National Democratic Alliance would have somehow managed to attain majority. This seems to be more likely. Still the demand of 100 percent VVPAT verification or the return to Ballot system remains an important demand within the bourgeois democratic framework and we must fully support it.
Modi’s victory has also made it clear that different variety of liberal-Leftists and Left-liberals cannot counter the fascist rise in any way. Many such opportunistic leaders including Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mevani continued to believe that BJP could be defeated by forming some kind of aggregative equations. Most of them were trying to concoct aggregative equation of Dalits, Muslims, Tribals and most backward castes. These so called Leftist and progressive leaders were harbouring the dreams of victory by surrendering in front of the Ambedkarite ideology and politics and appeasing the identity politics. They, too, must realise that fascism cannot be defeated in this manner. Fascism can only be countered by revolutionary communist way. The need of the day is is that of building n all India revolutionary communist party that firmly practices Marxist-Leninist ideology, is carde-based and functions through Bolshevik discipline. Only a militant revolutionary mass movement under the leadership of such a party could decisively defeat fascism. It is a long drawn out task that demands plenty of labour and countless blood, sweat and sacrifices. But whoever tries to seek a shortcut to this long path is bound to fall into the pit of hopelessness and failure.
The fate of the sham communist parties of India, i.e. the revisionist parties was expected. The condition of CPI, CPM and CPI(ML) Liberation, who have abandoned the path of revolution and chosen the path of reformism and economism is worse than ever. In West Bengal, it could be seen that the entire social base of Left front has shifted to BJP. BJP could not manage to break into the base of Trinmool Congress as much as it could manage to grab the base of Left Front. In fact, thiswas the main reason behind the unprecedented performance of BJP in West Bengal. At many places, the cadre and leaders of the Left Front were working overtime to ensure BJP victory in order to bring about TMC’s loss! This is not becoming of a communist party, but surely of a revisionist party; moreover, such a social base is that of a revisionist party and not of a communist party. The reason being that these revisionist parties act in an opportunistic manner to practice economism and reformism and not the revolutionary political propaganda and activity. Consequently, their social base is not organically a political social base and it could easily drift directly towards right wing and fascism at crucial moments. That’s what happened in West Bengal. Even in Kerala, in another form, this was the reason behind the clean sweep by Congress led United Democratic Front of the CPM led Left Democratic Front. In a way, this collapse of revisionism is better for the revolutionary communist politics. It would end the situation of political confusion among the people and would make it easy for the revolutionary forces to carry out their political propaganda and organization building. We would like to give this message to the honest and committed communist activists within the revisionist parties such as CPI and CPM, particularly those working on their student and youth fronts that they must understand revisionism and its betrayal of the working class and embrace revolutionary communism. Today there is a crying need to build a new revolutionary communist party. Only such a party could give a decisive blow to fascism.
The Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India (RWPI) is a beginning of building such an alternative. #RWPI had fielded its candidates in seven Loksabha constituencies: North-East Delhi, North-West Delhi (Delhi), Kurukshetra and Rohtak (Haryana), North-East Mumbai and Ahmadnagar (Maharashtra) and Maharajganj (Uttar Pradesh). In these places, the party carried out the propaganda for its long-term program viz. establishing a socialist system and immediate program viz. immediate solutions and relief to various concrete problems of the masses and took its message to the people. We received positive response and support from people in these campaigns too. In many places, particularly in Ahmadnagar, Maharajganj, Kurukhestra and North-West Delhi, the RWPI candidates managed to get good number of votes as well.We will publish the number of votes received by RWPI once the results are fully out. But in bourgeois democratic elections, as Lenin mentioned, it is not the number of votes that represent the real base and support of a party. Many a times, a strike or movement better reflects this support. RWPI is a newly formed party which intervened in the Loksabha elections for the first time. As of now, it is in the stage of establishing its identity itself. It would take time for it to take its name to the broad cross-section of toiling masses and establish it among them because it is not sustained by the financial contribution from the corporate houses, capitalist electoral trusts, NGO, Funding agencies etc. RWPI carried out all its campaign with the contribution from people and from progressive individuals and it could be understood that it is not possible to fully cover the huge constituencies of Loksabha. In absence of the support of corporate media, it is difficult to take one’s agenda to that population to which one has not been able to go physically. Despite these limitations, RWPI received admirable support from people in its propaganda campaigns and in many Loksabha seats in the form of votes as well. The party would work towards improving this performance in future and would reach the bourgeois parliament as the voice and representative of the working class. RWPI will continue to mobilize and organize the working masses on all their demands and will stand as their political alternative.
