of the Emergency, andpressedby the necessitiesof our
present,manyon the Lefthavechosento forgetwhosent
thearmedforcesagainstthecommunistsin Telangana
andwhodismissedthe world’sfirst elected[Communist]
governmentin Kerala.Thereare timesin electoralpolit-
ics whenonealignswithoneopponentor the other,but
oneneedsto remember thenatureof thoseopponents.
Weneednotmentionthe Socialists—JP, [RamMano-
har]Lohiaandtheirprogeny—whohatedthe commun-
istsevenmorethantheyhatedthe Congress.Whenthe
crunchcameduringtheEmergency,JP preferredan
alliancewiththeRSSoveran alliancewiththeCPI(M)
[CommunistPartyof India(Marxist)]in the anti-Emer-
gencycoalition,thushelpingensure the veryright-wing
contours of the Janatagovernmentthatemerged outof
theelectionsheldimmediatelyaftertheliftingof the
Emergency—amoment that provedfatalforIndian
politicsin decadesto come. Thatis whenthe RSScame
intoits own,aidedby theSocialists andtheCongress
breakawayssuchas Morarji Desaiandhis gang.Thefact
thatthe powerof the LeftFrontin West Bengalis trace-
ableto thatverymomentof 1977hasservedto occlude
the factthatthe political isolationof the Leftalsostarted
growing at roughlythe sametime.
So, I nowreturnto yourquestionabout the roleof the
Left.Sincewe havebeendiscussing the issueof Hindutva
communalismandmajoritarianism,I willreplyto you
withreferenceto thatveryquestion.In my opinion,the
communistLeftis theonlyforcein Indiathathasa
profound,irreversiblecommitmentto a secularsociety
andpolityin India.All the regionalparties havecollabor-
atedwiththe BJP,a political frontof the RSS,at onetime
or another. As I wasjustsaying,theJP movementand
RSSwereclosecollaborators in theanti-Indira, anti-
Emergencymovements whichthenled to the formation
of the Janatagovernment in whichthe JanSanghcontin-
gentwasthe largestandmostpowerful force.Evenbefore
Independence,therewasalwaysa powerfulcommunal
wingwithin the Mahatma’sownCongress.Hinducom-
munalismhasalwaysbeena majorcurrentin Indian
societyandpolitics.
Thesecularcurrentremaineddominantforsome
decades afterIndependence,partlybecause of the power
andprestigeof the communistmovementin many parts
of thecountryandpartlybecausetherulingCongress
partywasitself identified withthiscurrent,thanks very
largelyto [Jawaharlal]Nehruanda verysmallgroupof
his associates, especiallyafter[Vallabhbhai]Patel died
in 1950. Thatcharacterof the Congressbeganto decline
afterthe Emergency, evenin Indira’stime.By the timeof
[P.V.]Narasimha Rao’srefusalto meaningfully confront
theSanghParivaroverthedestruction of theBabri
Masjid,an elaborate structureof tacitunderstandings
wasin placeamongthe leadershipelitesof all the polit-
icalpartiesexcepttheLeftparties.Youwillrecallthat
Parliament wasnot allowed by theseelitesto evenform-
allydiscusstheGujaratcarnage.Idothink,though,that
the whole package of Hindutvaprecepts andplans is now
much moreacceptableto the Hindu middleclassesthan
everbefore, all overthe country, andnotevenKeralaor
West Bengal,withtheirlongcommunisttraditions,are
immune.So, the Lefthas to do whatit can,but its options
arelimited.Lookat theconstantviolence,yearin and
yearout,thatthe Lefthas to face,at the hands of the RSS
in Kerala andthe Trinamoolin WestBengal.Thedegrad-
ationof Indian politicsat the hands of the RSSbut alsoat
the hands of the liberalsis suchthatthe Lefthas tofirst of
allfightfor its ownsurvivalandthento guide Indian
politics in rational,seculardirectionsas muchas it can.Revoltsagainstneoliberalcapitalismare growingin
manypartsof the world.Do you thinkthat a world
revolutionaryconjunctureis on the horizon?Whatare
the chances,possibilitiesand challengesof socialist
revolutionaryupheaval?
Capitalismis a savageformof masscruelty,particu-
larlyin its neoliberal extremity.Therewillbe revoltsso
longas thesecrueltieslast,andmanyof thoserevoltswill
comefromthe Left.Butno, I don’tthinka world revolu-
tionaryconjuncture is at hand.As a globalphenomenon,
socialismhas beenon the retreatfor a longtime,sincethe
famous Deng[Xiaoping] reforms of thelate1970sin
China. Manypeoplehaverightly invoked for ourtime
Gramsci’s famous characterisation of his own
time—1930s, theascendancy of fascism—asonewhen
the old world wasdyingbut the newwasnot yet bornand
the worldwasthereforebesetby a hostof morbidsymp-
toms.Theriseof racialandreligioushatreds andviolence
is amongthose symptoms,andthesesymptomsariseas
much amongthe victims as amongthe victors.Themost
extreme formsof jehadimadness—the so-calledIslamic
State—got its recruitsoverwhelminglyfromamongthe
victimsof theAmerican invasionof Iraq.TheLeftis
currentlyverymuch on the defensive,in Indiaas wellas
acrossthe world.MARXTODAYThe year 2018was the bicentenaryof Karl Marx.Whatis
the mostimportantcontributionof Marxwhichis ever“ManypeoplehaverightlyinvokedforourtimeGramsci’s
famouscharacterisationofhisowntime...asonewhentheold
worldwasdyingbutthenewwasnotyetborn...”