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The old man and his sad tale

Is it possible to feel sorry for a man who has been the chief minister of a major Indian state for almost 22 years? It is tough, but I can't help feeling that Jyoti Basu, patriarch of West Bengal, is beginning to cut a pathetic picture.

The venerable Marxist is spending the twilight of his life waging a battle on behalf of the Congress. Three years ago, he came within an inch of becoming prime minister. Today, the best he can do is to plead for the Congress -- meaning Sonia Gandhi -- to take the lead in forming an alternative to the Vajpayee ministry. That is pretty sad of course, but there is more. The old man -- he has clocked well over four score years -- finds that his socialist philosophy has failed to take root even in his own household. And two events in Calcutta proved just how bankrupt Indian Marxism has become.

The Communists, once the largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha, have given up all hope of ruling India in their own right. The CPI-M is confined to West Bengal, Kerala, and Tripura. The United Front and National Front experiments came crashing down. If the CPI-M wants any say in Delhi, it can only be as a Congress poodle.

But Sonia Gandhi doesn't have any vacancies in the kennels at 10, Janpath. She took time off recently to fly down to Calcutta for a day, and there she publicly reaffirmed the Pachmarhi position that the Congress wasn't interested in alliances with other parties. I can imagine Jyoti Basu's detectors within his own party sharpening their knives at this. Many CPI-M men had always been unhappy at the thought of an informal alliance with the Congress; they might have kept quiet if the Basu line had been successful, but why should they do so now?

In a way, it might be better for the old man if his colleagues do stab in the back. History could judge him more kindly in that case than if he simply faded away into obscurity. And there is every chance of that happening, given that Basu has so significantly failed to change West Bengal for the better. The much-touted land reforms have ended in the old landlords giving way to new, well-connected, landlords. In 1996, the education minister confessed that the Left Front government hadn't put up a single primary school in 10 years. And just a few weeks ago, the home minister of West Bengal declared that illegal migration from Bangladesh was out of control.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the same open-mouthed home minister, also stated that criminal elements had entered the CPI-M. He tried to cover it up by saying that the same thing had happened to every other party, but then what else could he say?

One man who knows all about the lumpenisation of West Bengal is Chandan Basu, the chief minister's son. The junior Basu is no stranger to controversy, having spurned politics for the more lucrative paths of business. For several years Calcutta has been buzzing with rumours about his deal-making abilities.

This time, however, it isn't his work that has brought him into the line. Some days ago, some men -- allegedly from Mamata Bannerjee's Trinamul Congress -- stormed into his house. Several costly objects were damaged, including the expensive Toyota Lexus and Mercedes-Benz cars in which Chandan Basu travels. The mission was obviously to point to the luxurious lifestyle enjoyed by the chief minister's son.

Chandan Basu fell right into that trap. He could have shut up in the knowledge that he could repair the damage with some other deals. Instead, he came out with a public statement that VIPs should be given better protection by the police!

Hmm, let's see, here is the father who has been preaching the virtues of a classless society for the past 60 years, someone who has sneered at the Congress as a party that worshipped a dynasty. Yet here is the son who openly proclaims that his father's policemen are duty-bound to protect him. But the only thing that makes Chandan Basu a VIP is his dynasty. You don't see, say, the Tatas, or Birlas, or Ambanis asking for police protection in that fashion!

"You're a great revolutionary!" President Nixon told Chairman Mao. "No," the answer came, "I have only succeeded in changing the names of a few places around Peking."

Jyoti Basu succeeded in ensuring that the American consulate in Calcutta stood on Ho Chi Minh Sarani, but there is precious little else to show.

T V R Shenoy