The Ideology of Winning

The way political leaders of West Bengal are changing their camps is not only funny but also disturbing. It shows that there is no such thing called political ideology left in today’s Bengal. The fall of the Soviet Union ended socialism and positioned free-market capitalism as the automatic winner. After 30 years of the Soviet Union’s dissolution, we are at a crossroads.

There is a leader in Bengal who recently joined BJP. Her previous party was TMC. Before that, she was a CPI (M) member. She started her political career as a communist when she was with CPI (M). Later, she changed her camp and joined TMC- claims to be a liberal party and believes in a welfare economy. So she turned a liberal from a communist. And now she has joined BJP, a right-wing party that believes in free-market capitalism. So she has made a complete 180⁰ shift- from communism to capitalism.

Is this a global phenomenon? I mean the changing of political camps. Did she carefully study world politics and changed her politics? It may seem that she has changed her political camps keeping in mind what is happening globally. Like her, few others have joined Bengal BJP after their stint with the communists or liberal parties. But I doubt if they studied global politics and have joined BJP. The reason is something else.

I think it’s not because they realized the advantages of free-market capitalism or found the flaws in Marxist ideology. They joined BJP for power. They are aware that in a country like India where politics seeps through every aspect of society, it is better to stay close to the incumbent party.

So like her, many were communists when CPI (M) was in power in Bengal. Then they became liberal with TMC in power. And now it seems they are preparing to become free-market capitalists in the future.

Now, this piece is not a sarcastic jibe at their political understanding or ideology. If this is the global trend, then the people of Bengal should follow it without a doubt. We can’t ignore that globally there is an emergence of right-wing politics. Be it Britain or Turkey or Brazil. People are leaning towards right-wing or conservative politics.

But my concern is that will these people be able to deliver what free-market capitalism offers. These are the people who believe in ‘hobe na’ culture. These don’t have an ideology which is quite alright but they are also bad executors.  They can execute 'hobe na' dharna but can't execute a project smoothly. They also have to take the responsibility of turning West Bengal financially weak and socially backward. It is quite clear to us that these politicians will not bring any good to us because they intend to stay close to power. If tomorrow a new party, stronger and bolder than BJP, emerges then they will join that new party.

So are they good for us?