Sitaram Yechury: Navigating the Turbulent Landscape of Indian and Global Politics
# Indian and International Political Conditions Sitaram Yechury Has Gone Through
First published Sep 13, 2024, 19:41 IST | Last updated September 13, 2024, 19:57 IST
Sitaram Yechury’s death leaves a void in the secular democratic politics of India. His recent life as the leader of the secular democratic front in India was a life that bridged the crisis faced by the Indian parliamentary communist politics from the field of electoral politics.
Sitaram Yechury played a very important role in leading the opposition front in India. However, overcoming the global crisis of the communist movement and the post-Soviet political situation in Eastern Europe was not so easy. In addition to this, the change in the left-communist political base in India is also important.
The Shift of Productive Life and the Upheaval of the Left Base
The change in productive life has eliminated the secular politics of left politics. For example, the city of Mumbai. A place that was once a large urban working area. But later it will be seen that it will become the base of communal politics. From this situation, the task of developing a left communal politics in India was inevitable.
This is what post-India mainstream democratic politics has proposed. Today this is exactly what Rahul Gandhi proposes. This is where caste census and caste politics come into play. Remember this is also a major area of contention for communist class politics. The fight against the political supremacy of cultural nationalism (BJP) is very different from the fight against the Congress system.
This collapse had eliminated the Communist Party itself in many places. Meanwhile, the electoral victories brought this left-wing parliamentary politics in India to the attention of the world. These were communist victories in democratic politics. The victories in the states of Kerala, Bengal, and Tripura (left front and left tripartite governments) attracted the attention of the world. The subsequent assembly election victory in Kerala is very important in this case. There has been much discussion about the containment of Covid, which is also a communist victory. One communist party that has been talked about is also the South African Communist Party (SACP).
However, Bengal and Tripura were left out of the administration, and today the Communist Party is in power only in Kerala. The successive reigns of Bengal and its subsequent decline have been debated around the world. It turns out that the continued rule of democracy and the electoral dictatorship it creates are also new communist lessons. Sitaram Yechury’s life is inextricably linked to such experiences.
The Rise of Conservatism in World Politics
At the same time, changes in world politics, the new political supremacy achieved by imperialist politics, and the growth of national orthodoxy in it, have called into question the politics of the left and its traditional communist politics. This is the experience of Western societies, from Portugal to France. Communist parties once had a decisive influence on world civil and political society. While today it is very marginalized in parliamentary politics. New Age democratic assemblies are becoming very critical. It is also noteworthy that it cannot be satisfied by the top-down organizational form of communist politics.
Sitaram Yechury: A Communist Who Proved That ‘Perfectionists’ Are Not Necessary in Politics
The Political Class in Parliamentary Power
Experiences of parliamentary democracy, such parliamentary activities have given new democratic lessons to communist parties in global societies. These parliamentary functions and their relationship to power create a political class in a liberal democratic structure. This distances the left government from the people.
Sitaram Yechury had to deal with the issue of left governmentality in the ruling party and front sphere. This has been a major issue in recent left politics. The problem of bureaucratic formation in liberal democratic structures through the party structure. The Communist Party of South Africa is facing the same problem.
Class Struggle Politics and Communist Politics
Conducting a class struggle politics from a liberal democratic political structure is more or less a crisis that is facing communist politics and its leadership all over the world. Here, in general, are the challenges and questions raised by the new multi-communal movements. Here the centralization of capital is combined with the liberal democracy of nationalism. These political realities were reflected in the life of Sitaram Yechury and the confrontation with them.
Caste is Problematic
This relationship between caste and class is the biggest political problem facing the communist left in India. Phule Ambedkarist The Marxist politics advanced by Sharad Patil in Maharashtra in the 1970s was a major turning point. This change is visible not only in the history of the CPI(M) but also in the politics of the Indian left and in Indian democratic politics. The revival of traditional politics in India and the revival of its Indian Dalit Bahujan politics by the implementation of the Mandal Commission report have made communist politics irrelevant in North India.
Caste is a major debate in Bengal today. Phule’s thoughts and the politics of self-respect promoted by him were the highest aspect of the oppressed movement in India. Today Rahul Gandhi has taken up this politics which is the essence of Dalit Bahujan politics in India. Caste today is an international social reality that is being discussed along with race. It is not something that ends with land reforms alone. Caste as a South Asian experience has become pervasive in the world today. Its privilege is the most active topic of discussion. This is possible only with the formation of a critical cast of intelligentsia in a society. This is where reservations become the greatest success of India’s affirmative action policy.