Socialists were the original anti-Congress forces in the country and it is they who upheld and struggled fearlessly all hard to counter hegemony of one party.
But due to a plethora of reasons, they lost space and enthusiasm and thus came in their bitter rival the right wing BJP and the saffron outfit could capture power.
Lately there was a mega convention of the socialists in Pune and among others it was attended also by 100-year-old former MP Pt. Ram Kishan Sharma.
He was elected from Rajasthan in 1977 Lok Sabha election. He also served as a member of the Rajasthan Assembly four tenure and was famous for taking up the cause(s) of tribals, Dalits and the poor.
In 2018 in the run up to the assembly elections in Rajasthan, I had interviewed him in his Bharatpur residence. The interaction went more than frank and often candid as he did not mind being an "affectionate uncle" as his son Sanjay Sharma has been my colleague in the Press Trust of India (PTI) in Delhi and Chandigarh.
He did diagnose some of the problems of socialists' movement in India but would like most of our conversation confined to 'family talks'.
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| former CM Ashok Gehlot and Ram Kishan Sharma |
But essentially he admitted -
1. The Socialist leaders have often "deviated from their ideological moorings" to gain electoral success and capture power. This has resulted in a dilution of socialist messaging and a blurring of lines with other political parties.
2. Secondly, he had said -- "prominence given to identity politics" - often centered on caste and religion, had sidelined traditional socialist platforms.
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| Blogger - campaign trail 2018 - Kota station |
Many other issues were discussed but those could not be written then nor can be mentioned even today. But some parts of our discussions were also about alleged double standards of the BJP (or Jan Sangh leaders) and the manner Rahul Gandhi was "mishandling" some of the campaign journey vis-a-vis the larger battle of 2019.
On Sept 29th (2018) for UNI wires/web -- my story went like this -
"Sep 29 (UNI) Veteran socialist and former MP Pt. Ram Kishan has strongly disapproved Rahul Gandhi calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a ‘chor (thief)’ on Rafale row and counselled Congress leader Ashok Gehlot to pass the message to the Congress President".
“This morning itself, we spoke....Ashok Gehlot is an old hand in Rajasthan politics. So I told him using such strong word is meaningless as it would only give an opportunity to use the remark and turn the merit of the debate,” Mr Kishan told UNI in an interview here (Bharatpur).
He was 92 then and the oldest surviving socialist had clarified he had no sympathies for Mr Modi at least on the Rafale row.
But he maintained that using such a word would only help the BJP to “divert the direction of the debate”.
(Ultimately that happened in 2019 polls and one factor which gave a bigger mandate to Modi than in 2014 was the large scale disapproval of such unpalatable description for a Prime Minister in office.
In 2019 - the BJP had crossed 300 mark and could pick up 303 Lok Sabha seats as against 282 in 2014 when Modi had become Prime Minister for the first time.
He had pointed out that in 2007; BJP and Modi did exploit the phrase ‘Maut ka saudagar (merchant of death)’ used against the then Gujarat Chief Minister for the post-Godhra mayhem.
Answering questions, he had said (in 2018) the fundamental political issue before all non-BJP forces in the country is that the saffron party should not return to power either in Rajasthan or at the national level also.
“If we say so, it goes without saying that all should work united. There has to be a strong alliance against BJP. Therefore, we are advocating an alliance between Congress, BSP and Samajwadi Party in Rajasthan polls also. We do not want to contest just as a vote cutter party,” Pt Ramkishan had said.
To a question, he said if BJP returns to power in the centre after 2019 general elections, the saffron pary would push for introducing a Presidential form of government replacing the parliamentary system.
“This I am saying also from very personal experience...I was jailed during Emergency along with BJP stalwarts such as Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in Ajmer and in Jaipur. The Jan Sangh leaders used to strongly advocate for Presidential form of government,” he said.
He said even from socialist-ideological point of view the BJP ought to be fought tooth and nail. “In last four years (between 2014 and 2018), you must have noticed there is increase in number of neo-rich...crorepatis. They are slowly pushing for a capitalist form”.
He maintained that right from the beginning – the Jan Sangh days – the right wing politics has always thrived on the idea of changing slogans and changing goal posts.
“I say, BJP is the only party in the world which keeps changing its goal posts. In 1952, the Jan Sangh slogan was ‘Hindu, Hindi, Hindustan – Fateh Karenge Pakistan’ but it was soon forgotten”. Similarly, in 1962 they brought in ‘Gaay hamara mata hae’ but when they came to power with socialists in 1975 – all these were forgotten, he said.
He was also skeptical of the BJP's Ayodhya agenda. (UNI/DEVN) -- 2018
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Of course, it's a different matter that the votaries of right wing politics were able to get the Ram temple by Jan 2024.
Cross Current and changing Dymamincs
India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru studied modern history from the University of Oxford. He based the post-independent India on the Western concepts of democracy, secularism, and so called liberal socialism.
Under Narendra Modi since 2014, India has been trying to come out of this 'colonial shadow and Nehruvian idea' despite Indian liberals criticizing it as a Hindu hardliner move.
The new assertive India under Modi’s leadership wants to re-establish India’s rightful place in the world with its thousands of years of "civilizational history", not just as a nation that emerged after the British left seven decades ago.
Socialists do not agree. But socialists have turned into family-run politics almost in a typical feudal and neo-corporate style.
Ram Vilas Paswan, prominent Dalit face among the socialists, left his LJP legacy to son Chirag Paswan and brothers. They fought for a while and Chirag is very much part of the NDA family now.
In Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar split and fought bitterly and came back together at times. But most of the politics in Bihar is based on caste wars.
In Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav floated Samajwadi Party and now his son Akhilesh is a force. He won more seats than the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha seats and hence 2027 assembly elections will redefine Indian polity yet again.
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