defeated;we werethereforeleftwithsecularismand
liberalism.So, for morethan 200 years, the questionhas
persisted:Canliberalismalone defendsecularism?Is
secularismpossiblewithoutsocialism?
My answeris “No”.Lookat histories of anti-Semitism
andIslamophobiain liberalFrance itself and across all of
liberalEurope.So, as regardsyourquestion: yes,theidea
of secularismis veryimportant.Butyouhaveto havea
genuinely socialist society beforethisideacanbe realised
materially.In present-dayIndia,anytruerealisationof
thisideais impossible.We knowhowpoisonous majorit-
arianism is, but we oftenforgetthatliberalismhas always
betrayed secularismandit alwayswill.
Left movementsare gainingsomemomentumin
differentpartsof the world.Yes, the Left in Indiafaceda
big setbackin the 2019election.But whatis the
relevanceof Left politicsin the presentIndiancontext?
As regards“different partsof the world”, it depends
on whatyoumeanby “Left”andwhich partsof the world
youarereferring to. Therecordis uneven.TheLatin
AmericanLeft—theso-called“PinkTide”—hasbeen
largelycontained.Thelargestcountryin SouthAmerica,
Brazil—Lula’s Brazil—isnowundera Far Righthammer,
arguablymorebrutalthanModi’sIndia. So is Ecuador.
Argentinais underthebootof a somewhat lessbrutal
regimebut onethatis benton reversingall gainsthatthe
working classesmadeunderthetwopreviousadminis-
trations. In Venezuela,theChavistagovernment and
movementsurvivebutsufferfromunspeakablesuffer-
ingsarisingfromtheembargo andstrangulationof the
economyimposedby the U.S.On the otherhand,some
corecountriesof theEuro-Americanzoneshavewit-
nessed a challengefromtheLeftto right-wing govern-
ments, in thecase of theU.S. a challengeto the
governmentof the FarRight.Thistoo needsto be seenin
perspective.
BernieSandersin the U.S.is hardlya socialistin any
meaningfulsense; he is a verydecentkindof NewDeal
Democrat:a higherminimumwagefortheworking
class,a systemof thepublichealthresemblingthatof
Canada andWestern Europeandotherreforms of that
kind—catchingup withverymildformof socialdemo-
cracy.In Britain,[Jeremy] Corbynstillis whathe always
was:a representativeof the left wingof the Labour Party
as it usedto be in the 1950 s and1960s.In France,
Jean-LucMelenchon, a formermemberof thealways
centristbutnow-corruptedSocialistParty, madea re-
markableshowingat thepollswitha moreradically
left-wingprogramme thanFrench presidentialpolitics
has knownin 30 yearsor more.Whostoppedthem? The
DemocraticParty highbrassin the caseof Sanders,the
Blairite wingof the Labour Partyin the caseof Corbyn,
andtherefusalof thenowverymuchreducedSocialist
Party to makecommoncausewithMelenchon in France.
In short,theestablishedliberals’betrayalof themildly
socialisticLeft.An old story!AFATALMOMENT
TheLeftin Indiahas alwaysbeenat a greatdisadvantage.
Since the verybeginningsof the electoral riseof the RSS
in Indian politics,whichactually goesbackto the periodCPI(M)GENERALSECRETARYSitaramYechuryand Polit Bureau memberPrakash Karatwith party colleaguesat the
inauguralsessionof thefive-day-long22nd Congressof the party in Hyderabad on April18, 2018. “If anyone thinksthat the
socialmovements,the NGOs,the little groups here and thereare goingtofill the spacesfrom whichthe Left is being forced
to retreat, that is just not going to happen.”
G.RAMAKRISHNA