Author: Kay Benedict
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: June 25, 2003
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030625/asp/nation/story_2102588.asp
An embarrassed CPM leadership in
Kerala has decided to "publicly censure" party veteran and ideologue P.
Govinda Pillai for "grave indiscipline" in criticising the late E.M.S.
Namboodiripad, who headed the world's first elected communist government.
The CPM state committee met yesterday
to discuss Pillai's comments on the Indian communist icon. Taking into
account Pillai's contribution and standing, the party decided to spare
him "higher punishment".
Pillai said EMS, who became Kerala
chief minister in 1957 after a groundbreaking communist poll victory, was
"overrated", suffered from ideological confusion, easily succumbed to pressure
from the party's central leadership and lacked political courage and insight.
The ideologue said ruling communists
had forgotten that people craved for more than just bread. Stressing the
need to go beyond dialectical materialism, Pillai called for a change in
CPM's attitude towards religion. He said the numbers of believers were
increasing worldwide and that the party should consider the implications.
Popularly known as PG and first
elected to the Kerala Assembly in 1952, Pillai has been described by Mohit
Sen as a "rebel communist" in his biography.
A scholar and former editor of party
mouthpiece Deshabhimani, Pillai criticised the CPM stand on religion in
a recent interview with Bhashaposhini, a literary magazine.
In his wide-ranging interview, the
ideologue touched upon several issues, including politics and religion.
"Dominance of a mechanical, materialist trend is responsible for the deteriorating
communist movement. If only bread is needed, what is the difference between
man and animals?" he asks in the course of the interview.
"Man does not live by bread alone,"
says Pillai, adding that there is something more to it: "Our consciousness,
our system of values, our sense of beauty, our art, our philosophy...,
without these, communism can not be sustained. Ruling communist parties
have forgotten this," he adds.
Pillai's criticism of EMS is:
* The late leader did not have the
courage for political changes and was not bold enough to theorise on it.
Even if EMS was bold, he was not sure about his convictions
* The veteran was not dynamic and
easily gave in to the party's central leadership which did not understand
the dynamics of Kerala's social and political landscape
* He did nothing to stop the exodus
of several top leaders from the CPM to the CPI after the Communist Party
split
* EMS did not handle the 1969 crisis
properly. (He resigned following corruption charges against a Cabinet minister,
resulting in the collapse of the CPM government.) The veteran should not
have succumbed to central pressure
* "Consciousness" can interpret
the world, but several communists, including EMS, did not understand this
* Ajay Ghosh, general secretary
of the unified Communist Party, had deep insight and was sharper than EMS
* The veteran leader did not have
the insight of Basava Punnaiah, another communist stalwart. Though the
party created history by seizing power through the ballot in Kerala, EMS
failed to theorise on this and take the communist movement forward
* EMS' writings were no match for
CPI leader .E. Balaram's, which were more original.
The veteran Marxist said human consciousness
and action could remedy injustices. He said this was possible because of
man's innate goodness. "The injustices which go back thousands of years
can not be removed instantly even if Harkishen Singh Surjeet replaces Atal
Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister...," Pillai said.
Pillai says three books he has read
of late - Religion and Globalisation, Religion in the Modern World and
Religion and Politics - agree that the number of believers is swelling
rapidly.
"One of the most surprising factors
of the 20th century, especially its last decades, is the unexpected development
of religious consciousness all over the world. How has it happened?" he
asks.
Talking about the need to change
the communist perception of religion, Pillai said: "A human life is nothing
if it does not have a philosophy, if it does not have a value system or
concepts like art and beauty."
The veteran Marxist said human consciousness
and action could remedy injustices. He said this was possible because of
man's innate goodness.
"The injustices which go back thousands
of years can not be removed instantly even if Harkishen Singh Surjeet replaces
Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister or E.K. Nayanar replaces A.K. Antony
as chief minister," Pillai said.
