Is this the ultimate irony? Or are the winds of perestroika finally blowing across our comrades in red? According to a report, the CPI(M) plans to turn cab aggregator in Kochi to take on the likes of Uber, Ola and Meru, which are driving business away from the conventional yellow taxis. The trial run of the proposed call-taxi service is scheduled at the end of local body elections in Kerala this week. The comrades hope to give the web-based taxi aggregators a run for their money by being proper in collecting fares according to the meter. Also on the cards is skills-upgradation of the drivers — inter-personal skills, technology and so on.

Well, well, that’s interesting indeed. Who would have ever imagined the Communist party starting a business, even if it’s only to help taxi-driver comrades! Surprise apart, it’s refreshing to see the Kochi unit of the CPI(M) taking a pragmatic approach to the threat from ‘capitalist’ market forces. The usual tactic would have been to sit in hartal and stop the Ubers and Olas from plying, even using violence, if necessary. That would have hardly helped the conventional taxi-drivers who already appear obsolete in comparison to the Olas and Ubers. Such protests would also have alienated the party from the people who have benefited from the convenience, comfort and affordability of the app-based taxi aggregators.

The move to jump into business is a positive one that will help conventional taxi-drivers to take on the competition. Veterans may disapprove of a party of workers itself being in business. Isn’t that a dilution of the Communist party’s core principles? Yet the fact is, if the party is able to pull it off by transforming conventional taxi-drivers into a modern force and helping to sustain their livelihoods, it would have fulfilled its core objective of protecting the interests of workers. Only the means to that end would be different.

Associate Editor

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