- Rajesh Tyagi/10.9.2017
Students' Union Poll results in JNU are out!
There is clear lead for the Left but coupled with comparatively sharper decrease in its vote share than that of the two right-wing organisations- ABVP and BAPSA.
Though, any victory, is always an occasion to applaud and celebrate and we must congratulate the students in JNU for it, those who voted for the Left in opposition to the Right, yet a discreet analysis of the polls would reveal that far from an occasion to rejoice, this is the crucial moment of serious concern for the left to analyze the steep fall in its support among the students.
Despite the fact that this time a combine of three left student organisations-SFI, AISA & DSF-has contested in unison as compared to the two- SFI & AISA- last year, the left combine failed to retain its vote share that it had polled last year. For example, for the post of President, the SFI-AISA combine had polled 1954 votes in 2016, while in 2017, the united platform of SFI-AISA-DSF, could poll only 1506 votes. That means a whopping loss of 448 votes and more. Against this loss for the left, BAPSA has lost 610, as it polled 935 this year as compared to 1545 last year. ABVP is the real gainer as it lost marginally 6 votes, retaining 1042 out of 1048 last year.
The win for the left Panel, however, reflects the unremitting support from the radical youth and students for the left and a clear rejection of the right-wingers. The lesser fall in their vote share as compared to that of the left, however is the direct result of the false policies lived out for long by the capitulationist leadership of the left.
There is clear lead for the Left but coupled with comparatively sharper decrease in its vote share than that of the two right-wing organisations- ABVP and BAPSA.
Though, any victory, is always an occasion to applaud and celebrate and we must congratulate the students in JNU for it, those who voted for the Left in opposition to the Right, yet a discreet analysis of the polls would reveal that far from an occasion to rejoice, this is the crucial moment of serious concern for the left to analyze the steep fall in its support among the students.
Despite the fact that this time a combine of three left student organisations-SFI, AISA & DSF-has contested in unison as compared to the two- SFI & AISA- last year, the left combine failed to retain its vote share that it had polled last year. For example, for the post of President, the SFI-AISA combine had polled 1954 votes in 2016, while in 2017, the united platform of SFI-AISA-DSF, could poll only 1506 votes. That means a whopping loss of 448 votes and more. Against this loss for the left, BAPSA has lost 610, as it polled 935 this year as compared to 1545 last year. ABVP is the real gainer as it lost marginally 6 votes, retaining 1042 out of 1048 last year.
The win for the left Panel, however, reflects the unremitting support from the radical youth and students for the left and a clear rejection of the right-wingers. The lesser fall in their vote share as compared to that of the left, however is the direct result of the false policies lived out for long by the capitulationist leadership of the left.
In its poll campaigns, BAPSA, the right-wing, rabidly caste-ist, Ambedkarite organization, targeted and attacked the left instead of Sanghis. In fact, it had been acting in tacit understanding with its right-wing nationalist cousins, the saffron ABVP.
Ambedkarites are most ardent supporters of the regime of the bourgeoisie-the bourgeois democracy, and are equally hostile to Marxism, class struggle, proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the working class. Sitting on the tail of the regime of capitalists, Ambedkar remained the most determined opponent to Marxism. So remain the Ambedkarites of today! Despite that Ambedkar may be embedded in the backward consciousness of a section of the downtrodden mass, the task of Marxists is not to eulogise and embrace Ambedkar, but to work earnestly for convincing them against it and scratch away its last traces from the mass consciousness.
But, instead of mounting a serious and all out offensive against Ambedkarism, opportunist and ideologically bankrupt Stalinist leaders found the easiest, pragmatic route to embrace Ambedkarism and reconcile it with revolutionary Marxism. Idiot Stalinist leaders, instead of launching an in-and-out struggle against right-wing Ambedkar and Ambedkarism, cut down Marx and Bhagat Singh to its size. Their shameful slogans like ‘Lal Katori-Neeli Katori’ and ‘Jai Bheem-Lal Salam’ prepared the ground for free play of Ambedkarites who exhorted all through the campaign, "Lal aur Bhagwa ek hain, Sare Communist fake hain".
Stalinists have permitted the ranks of their organisations and parties to be occupied by those having a leaning to Ambedkarism and its identity based reactionary politics. They have played the role of bricklayers for Ambedkarites. They have invited BAPSA to take the ready field in JNU after leveling the same. In this election too, while blue fascists of BAPSA hand in hand with saffrons, carried out ferocious campaign against the left, the Stalinist leaders prevented left students to open a counter attack against this blue cancer. Many left students opposed BAPSA but only in open defiance to these stalinist leaders.
Adherence of Stalinists to Amebdkarism, however, is not without reason or logic. In fact, like Ambedkarites, Stalinists are also opponents of the very idea of dictatorship of the working class and socialist revolution. Like Amebdkarites, Stalinists also argue that the working class should not fight for power or to establish its dictatorship as the stage of revolution is not socialist but democratic. Stalinists agree with Ambedkarites that the working class must support the democracy of the bourgeoisie till it gets mature tomorrow for a socialist revolution.
During the fascist assault on JNU during February last year, instead of mounting a counter offensive from proletarian-internationalist perspective, the Stalinist leaders bowed down to nationalism and pledged to defend the tricolor democracy of the big bourgeoisie. This bogus stance confused the youth and students and prevented their further radicalization and mobilization on the road to revolution.
In each of their meetings and student rallies, Stalinists not only unfurled the tricolor with pride, but in few of them, they expressly banned the Red flags, paving free-way to nationalism to thrive at the cost of the left and thereby creating immense confusion among its supporters.
Stalinist leaders have capitulated to nationalism since the very beginning, giving a march-over to the nationalist ABVP. Coining the pseudo-left terms like ‘true nationalism’, ‘peoples nationalism’ and ‘democratic nationalism’ they adhered to nationalism. Nationalism is the ideological platform and a cover-up for capitalism and fascism. Behind all false pretensions, it remains the very same bourgeois nationalism, in essence.
In their bid to become protagonist for nationalism, Stalinists have cultivated the field for nationalism, upon which Sanghis and Ambedkarites conveniently seeded themselves. Adhering to Nationalism and Ambedkarism, Stalinists blurred all lines and demarcations between the left and the right.
Stalinist leaders are no match to the demands of this critical moment in history and to the radical aspirations of the youth and students that supports the left. Consciousness of the mass has far surpassed the consciousness of its false leaders. These leaders are looking backward, while mass impels forward. Leaders are embracing nationalism and Ambedkarism, while mass is rejecting both of them and supporting the red flag. Neither these leaders stand upto the radicalised aspirations of the mass nor they reflect it any manner. On the contrary, they are impediment in the path of its development.
Rise of the far right nationalist-fascist ABVP and its twin caste-ist reactionary BAPSA, is directly attributable to these false policies of Stalinists. ABVP and BAPSA, flourished in JNU on the soils of Nationalism and Ambedkarism respectively, that were well ploughed by Stalinists!
Stalinists cannot draw any credit for the victory of the left in JNU. The victory for the left has come obviously, despite of their false policies, not because of them, that too with a decreased margin of its votes in this traditional bastion of the left. Voting by the students in favour of the left is demonstrative only of the deep-seated aversion of the radical youth to the right-wing fascist ABVP and to the overall policies of the Modi regime in the country.
Even in the face of such strong impulse for left unity in JNU this time, Stalinist leaders failed to rope in all left organizations, leaving out AISF from the alliance for petty dispute over the allocation of seats. This inability of the leaders to unite the left forces, in turn, is offshoot of the deep and sectarian divisions existing inside the left movement, that they themselves have carved out over decades. Inside the vicious strangulation of the false and divisive policies of these leaders, left movement has since remained divided and lifeless and thus unable to pose a serious challenge to capitalism and fascism on the national and international scale.
Nevertheless, Ballot boxes are no answer to violent and predatory fascism. No election victories against fascists are of any real significance and no poll defeats can defeat it. Fascists have no respect and they hoot care for such poll mandates. In the shape of a poll alliance, this left-unity would be meaningless and opportunist. Revolutionary alliance of the left youth and students would be forged only amidst the street fights that would decide the destiny of revolution and counter-revolution in near future. Alongside workers and toilers, the youth and students have an important role to play in these battles of the future to propel the revolution forward, smashing capitalism and fascism both, together.
Needless to say that the mounting offensive of the left against ABVP and BAPSA would force these covert bedfellows to shun all camouflage to embrace each other in full public view. This will be the beginning of an end of the right!
Based on the passionate analysis of the poll results in JNU, left-radical students must draw necessary conclusions of their own. They must set an agenda for the coming year that must include among other- closer unity among the left students and youth against all shades of the right-wing reaction and an uncompromising and decisive fight against nationalism-fascism and its twin Ambedkarism.
Those who wish to promote revolutionary politics must take a decisive break not only from right-wing reaction- nationalism and Ambedkarism- but also from its psuedo-left adherent-Stalinism, and its proponents. This would imply a turn-away from the Stalinist leaders and the bogus, sectarian-nationalist policies promoted by them, towards the perspective of WSP, oriented to and based upon proletarian internationalism. In turn, it means to struggle for the founding of 'Worker-Socialist Movement' on the campuses all over South-Asia.
Ambedkarites are most ardent supporters of the regime of the bourgeoisie-the bourgeois democracy, and are equally hostile to Marxism, class struggle, proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the working class. Sitting on the tail of the regime of capitalists, Ambedkar remained the most determined opponent to Marxism. So remain the Ambedkarites of today! Despite that Ambedkar may be embedded in the backward consciousness of a section of the downtrodden mass, the task of Marxists is not to eulogise and embrace Ambedkar, but to work earnestly for convincing them against it and scratch away its last traces from the mass consciousness.
But, instead of mounting a serious and all out offensive against Ambedkarism, opportunist and ideologically bankrupt Stalinist leaders found the easiest, pragmatic route to embrace Ambedkarism and reconcile it with revolutionary Marxism. Idiot Stalinist leaders, instead of launching an in-and-out struggle against right-wing Ambedkar and Ambedkarism, cut down Marx and Bhagat Singh to its size. Their shameful slogans like ‘Lal Katori-Neeli Katori’ and ‘Jai Bheem-Lal Salam’ prepared the ground for free play of Ambedkarites who exhorted all through the campaign, "Lal aur Bhagwa ek hain, Sare Communist fake hain".
Stalinists have permitted the ranks of their organisations and parties to be occupied by those having a leaning to Ambedkarism and its identity based reactionary politics. They have played the role of bricklayers for Ambedkarites. They have invited BAPSA to take the ready field in JNU after leveling the same. In this election too, while blue fascists of BAPSA hand in hand with saffrons, carried out ferocious campaign against the left, the Stalinist leaders prevented left students to open a counter attack against this blue cancer. Many left students opposed BAPSA but only in open defiance to these stalinist leaders.
Adherence of Stalinists to Amebdkarism, however, is not without reason or logic. In fact, like Ambedkarites, Stalinists are also opponents of the very idea of dictatorship of the working class and socialist revolution. Like Amebdkarites, Stalinists also argue that the working class should not fight for power or to establish its dictatorship as the stage of revolution is not socialist but democratic. Stalinists agree with Ambedkarites that the working class must support the democracy of the bourgeoisie till it gets mature tomorrow for a socialist revolution.
During the fascist assault on JNU during February last year, instead of mounting a counter offensive from proletarian-internationalist perspective, the Stalinist leaders bowed down to nationalism and pledged to defend the tricolor democracy of the big bourgeoisie. This bogus stance confused the youth and students and prevented their further radicalization and mobilization on the road to revolution.
In each of their meetings and student rallies, Stalinists not only unfurled the tricolor with pride, but in few of them, they expressly banned the Red flags, paving free-way to nationalism to thrive at the cost of the left and thereby creating immense confusion among its supporters.
Stalinist leaders have capitulated to nationalism since the very beginning, giving a march-over to the nationalist ABVP. Coining the pseudo-left terms like ‘true nationalism’, ‘peoples nationalism’ and ‘democratic nationalism’ they adhered to nationalism. Nationalism is the ideological platform and a cover-up for capitalism and fascism. Behind all false pretensions, it remains the very same bourgeois nationalism, in essence.
In their bid to become protagonist for nationalism, Stalinists have cultivated the field for nationalism, upon which Sanghis and Ambedkarites conveniently seeded themselves. Adhering to Nationalism and Ambedkarism, Stalinists blurred all lines and demarcations between the left and the right.
Stalinist leaders are no match to the demands of this critical moment in history and to the radical aspirations of the youth and students that supports the left. Consciousness of the mass has far surpassed the consciousness of its false leaders. These leaders are looking backward, while mass impels forward. Leaders are embracing nationalism and Ambedkarism, while mass is rejecting both of them and supporting the red flag. Neither these leaders stand upto the radicalised aspirations of the mass nor they reflect it any manner. On the contrary, they are impediment in the path of its development.
Stalinists cannot draw any credit for the victory of the left in JNU. The victory for the left has come obviously, despite of their false policies, not because of them, that too with a decreased margin of its votes in this traditional bastion of the left. Voting by the students in favour of the left is demonstrative only of the deep-seated aversion of the radical youth to the right-wing fascist ABVP and to the overall policies of the Modi regime in the country.
Even in the face of such strong impulse for left unity in JNU this time, Stalinist leaders failed to rope in all left organizations, leaving out AISF from the alliance for petty dispute over the allocation of seats. This inability of the leaders to unite the left forces, in turn, is offshoot of the deep and sectarian divisions existing inside the left movement, that they themselves have carved out over decades. Inside the vicious strangulation of the false and divisive policies of these leaders, left movement has since remained divided and lifeless and thus unable to pose a serious challenge to capitalism and fascism on the national and international scale.
Nevertheless, Ballot boxes are no answer to violent and predatory fascism. No election victories against fascists are of any real significance and no poll defeats can defeat it. Fascists have no respect and they hoot care for such poll mandates. In the shape of a poll alliance, this left-unity would be meaningless and opportunist. Revolutionary alliance of the left youth and students would be forged only amidst the street fights that would decide the destiny of revolution and counter-revolution in near future. Alongside workers and toilers, the youth and students have an important role to play in these battles of the future to propel the revolution forward, smashing capitalism and fascism both, together.
Needless to say that the mounting offensive of the left against ABVP and BAPSA would force these covert bedfellows to shun all camouflage to embrace each other in full public view. This will be the beginning of an end of the right!
Based on the passionate analysis of the poll results in JNU, left-radical students must draw necessary conclusions of their own. They must set an agenda for the coming year that must include among other- closer unity among the left students and youth against all shades of the right-wing reaction and an uncompromising and decisive fight against nationalism-fascism and its twin Ambedkarism.
Those who wish to promote revolutionary politics must take a decisive break not only from right-wing reaction- nationalism and Ambedkarism- but also from its psuedo-left adherent-Stalinism, and its proponents. This would imply a turn-away from the Stalinist leaders and the bogus, sectarian-nationalist policies promoted by them, towards the perspective of WSP, oriented to and based upon proletarian internationalism. In turn, it means to struggle for the founding of 'Worker-Socialist Movement' on the campuses all over South-Asia.
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