Failure to deal with economic, agrarian crises has heightened BJP’s authoritarianism: Karat

On a day when the headquarters of the CPI(M) was attacked and protests against the police crackdown on JNU students spread, party leader Prakash Karat tells BusinessLine that it is the government’s inability to handle the deepening economic and agrarian crisis that has led it to advance authoritarianism and the RSS’ Hindutva agenda. A former president of the JNU Students’ Union, Karat says the government’s popularity is on the wane and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been unable to deliver on promises. Excerpts from an interview:

Do you perceive a change in the way the BJP is trying to shape the political narrative – from development to hard-line Hindutva?

Let me put it this way, when the BJP assumed power, they had a two-point agenda – corporate-led development and furthering the Hindutva agenda. They were supposed to advance together. In the 21 months since then, it is clear to everyone that the development agenda is failing – ‘Make in India’ is ironically reflected in falling exports and extremely weak industrial production and core sector growth. Even the industry which backed them [the BJP] is disappointed.

The biggest failure of Narendra Modi, in my opinion, is the inability to grasp the depth of the agrarian crisis. The BJP cannot come up with remedial measures because they simply lack the resources to understand what is happening.

But there is no let up in the other agenda; the RSS has made sure of that. So, from the top, you have the Human Resource Development Minister, the Culture Minister imposing certain measures which are backed at the lower rung by the RSS, which targets not just the minorities but anyone who thinks differently.

So the chasm between Modi’s promise and delivery is sought to be bridged by the RSS’ extraneous agenda?

People’s hopes have been dashed rather rapidly. The disappointment is showing in the election results. The BJP lost heavily in Bihar and significantly, even in the Panchayat elections in Gujarat, they did poorly. It is inevitable that in the absence of anything positive to showcase, they will start resorting to mobilisation on ideological grounds.

You see, they do not have the intellectual wherewithal to fight the battle of ideas. So they depend on the kind of authoritarianism that is currently being exhibited, to counter the backlash that comes from a disappointed electorate.

There is unrest in FTII, Hyderabad Central University and now JNU. Given the inherent conservatism in the BJP’s ideological make-up, do you see campuses becoming the focal point for a larger political assertion? If so, what role is the Left going to play in this mobilisation?

Recent events in different university campuses, in Hyderabad and now in JNU, show a similar pattern. In Hyderabad, you had the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya branding Rohith Vemula as an anti-national. In JNU too, it is the ABVP and the Home Minister who are using the tag anti-national to target students.

They have a very narrow view of nationalism that is essentially hostile to Dalits, minorities and anyone who thinks differently. In the name of disciplining students and enforcing a hardline but narrow definition of nationalism, the university administration and the police are being used to target student bodies and groups like the JNUSU and the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle in IIT Madras. It is a highly sectarian, limited worldview that the RSS is pushing through because they have a pracharak as Prime Minister.

As I said, the BJP lacks the intellectual resources to fight the battle of ideas. That is why their presence is thin in institutions of learning. JNU is part of the RSS’ myth-making because they are mystified by the robust nature of political discourse on the campus. Despite the ABVP trying for so many years, they have never been able to make any inroads into the JNU student community. So, they are trying to discredit the union. They have targeted the Union President and now, I am given to understand, even the General Secretary is sought to be arrested.

The Left has a long-term agenda, which is to build its strength in popular, people’s movements. We are naturally going to be part of any student assertion, especially against the authoritarian and sectarian agenda of the BJP.

One effect of globalisation is that people are far more conscious of their individual freedoms. Do you see the inherent conservatism of the BJP’s ideological make-up further facilitating the students’ struggle?

Yes. Consciousness about individual freedom does lead to resentment against authoritarianism and social conservatism. Among young people in campuses, it can manifest itself in political assertion. At the same time, globalisation has, across the world, led to religious revivalism and rise of extreme right-wing forces. In Turkey, for instance, you have a right-wing Islamic government which resorts to a war with the Kurds to win elections. The BJP has presented a similar model here.

The kind of crackdown we are witnessing in JNU is being compared to the Emergency. Do you see similarities between Modi and Indira Gandhi?

The BJP’s agenda is far more ambitious than the kind of political authoritarianism we experienced during the Emergency. They have a vision for a Hindu Rashtra which is at variance with the Constitutional norms and the idea of the Indian State.

The Left’s long-term agenda seems to be in contradiction with its short-term political gains. In Bihar, for instance, you chose to fight independently of the Grand Alliance and did not find much success.

Short-term electoral gains need not be at variance with our long-term plans. Bihar, for instance, was a State with a strong Left presence. But short-term alliances wiped out that popular base. We are not against issue-based alliances. As you can see in JNU, it is the BJP against all other parties, including the Left. On secularism, we have forged broad alliances in the past. But we need to be clear about building our strength organisationally, and that can only happen if we are standing with people in livelihood struggles, in the struggle for land. Even here, we were able to build alliances with other parties on the question of the Land Acquisition Act.

The alliance with Congress in Bengal, is it happening?

There is a discussion about it. The State committee has taken a view while the 21st Party Congress had decided against an alliance with the Congress. At the same time, there is a political situation in West Bengal. All these issues will be discussed.

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