COMMUNISM IN INDIA

As I watched the last journey of Communist stalwart JYOTHI BASU, I noticed that he was the first communist leader of INDIA to recieve the full state honours. Even the largest democracy of the world garlanded "the comrade". He was a great patriarch of marxist communism and his political ideas were astounding. His ability to run 23 years of uninterepted state government itself speaks of it. Although having great communist leaders like him, communism didnt flourished much in India.As I started searching the reasons for it the following thoughts came to my mind.I would like to mention that Iam not a staunch supporter of communism though I accept some of their policies. These are just my opinion from a neutral point of view.

Communism was basically an outcome of industrial revolution. During those industrialization periods wealth was accumulated by a small group of people and was never distributed equally among the working class.Thus two groups of masses came into existence -one the oppressor minority called BOURGEOIS and the other, the oppressed majority called the PROLETARIANS. Communism was nothing but the revolt of the working class(proletarians) against the brutal aristocracy of the BOURGEOIS. It was aimed at distributing wealth equally among all and it always opposed capitalist system. "THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO", a historic work by KARL MARX and FRIEDRICH ANGELS is the basis for all communists systems. Communism came into existence in INDIA in 1920's as a alternative path to congress led by GANDHIJI. They didnt just revolted against the British government but also against the local provinces and capitalists who tried to oppress the working class. Communists were successful in uniting factory workers and railway unions. In an united front they fought against the laws imposed against the welfare of workers.

But after independence the popularity of GANDHIAN ideas flooded across INDIA and communist ideas were curtailed. INDIA had a strong relation with The Soviet Union, which encouraged the flourish of Communism in INDIA.But it was limited only to KERALA, WEST BENGAL and ANDRA PRADESH. After INDO-SINO war the CPI(M) bifurcated from the main communist stream. There was division among themselves as internationalist and nationalist . Some section of the community even went to the extent of supporting China. They were imprisoned immediately. Now there is decrease of communist popularity in KERALA , they somehow managing to form a govt with coalition. But in West Bengal they still have a very strong hold. Thanks to the great leaders like legendary JYOTHI BASU , the incorruptible BUDHADEV BHATHACHARJI(even his critics agree to this), PRAKASH KARAT, SITARAM YELCHURY and many more.

Comunists should be given some credits for their way of governance. FOR e.g during the communal riots bcz of death of INDIRA GANDHI and also during the BABRI MASJID row the whole country was boiling with violence. But the state of west Bengal which had a strong communists govt managed the situation well. Peace was maintained in most part of the state. The great advantage of communism is that they can produce a casteless society. While, as we can see, the democratic political parties are waiting for such opportunities to gain political advantage.

But there are many pitfalls in INDIAN Communism which led to their decreased popularity. Firstly, Indian communists never tried to propel people to the main stream. Their movements were limited only to a particular class or group. They couldn’t arise national spirit among them. They were agitating only for their demands and the concept of nationhood didn’t arise. In contradictory, the communism started in RUSSIA and CHINA in order to evolve the national spirit. Also without widespread knowledge of communism , it was reduced to mere agitations and revolt. The people involved knew neither MARX and ANGELS nor their idealogies. The only thing they knew was to revolt against the capitalist system. Thus the communist ideas never reached the masses.

Thus inspite of receiving constant support from neighbor country the communism couldnt evolve as an alternate to congress party. Some of its policies have proved to be good. It has helped in bringing in the much needed variety in the Indian policies. Thus it has added its part to VIBRANT Indian democracy. It has a major role to play in future Indian politics, where a single party is finding it difficult to get the majority.

MY FIRST AND SUCCESSFUL INTERVIEW

As I thought of taking some rest after my seventh sem exam(although this was exactly what I was doing in exam holidays ), there came a company to recruit us- the so called engineers.The company was VEDANTHA associates having their bases in india, uk, australia and zambia. It was scheduled just a day after our exams. So I spent the next half day in thinking what to read. It was more brainstorming than the reading part itself. All that we read in three and a half yrs had to be read(rather scanned ) in a day. Was that possible?? But me being a highly optimistic person thought it is possible. The next quarter of the day was spent on preparing resume and my file.

Then I got into the business of reading. Luckily I had a book that consisted of the needed topics. Then after reducing my ’to read list’, by eliminating many topics that I thought was not important(moreso that was difficult ), I started reading. But as I went through few topics, time passed away within few moments. And as I don’t read during night after ten(Even for vtu exams I follow the same policy), I went to sleep with a promise to wake up early at four. Then as expected I could get out of my bed only at six. Then again reduced the list and went through the topics till eight. Then suddenly I realized that I had forgotten to read the aptitude part, which was the first step and later proved to be most important .But as usual I thought I can handle it, just to increase my confidence. This time I had more reasons to believe so. Bcz, In the week long holidays between exams, I had spent one day on aptitude. It was done to just forget something and to free my mind. That proved to be highly useful.

Later after getting prepared I went to college at nine and started filling the form provided to us. Then after the ppt we were given aptitude paper at ten forty five. I really don’t know whether it was easy or not . Somehow managed to attend thirty questions among the thirty five. It was for forty five min. At 1am they announced the names of 27 short listed candidates among around 150. My name did find a place there and next stage was GD. It went on smoothly and 24 candidates were shortlisted including me for the personal interview. This was a quite hard nutshell to crack.

This went on for about 25 min. It started with some general questions about my background, my hobbies………The interviewer seemed to be a highly knowlegble and a warm person. This made me comfortable. Then came the technical stuffs. A lot of questions were thrown at me, mainly regarding the applications of many engineering concepts. He never asked any law or definition and the like things. It made me happy as I hate memorizing those things. He enquired about my project and most of the remaining time was spent on that. He kept on asking why this? why not that? Whats the use of it? And such questions. I answered most of them and scratched my head for some questions and some of my answers were straight words-" honestly I don’t know anything about it,sir". He seemed to be satisfied and I got a feeling that Iam in. Then later selected candidates were announced and it was sweet to hear my name in that list. A total of fifteen were selected which was quite a good no. But unfortunately none of my close friends were selected.

We immediately got the offer letter. Pay was good and satisfying. But don’t know why, I was not much exited about my selection and it made no difference. The same sky was above me and the same path to traverse. Only difference was a already reserved seat for some part of the journey. Though my parents and brother were worried about the job place(It is most probably Orissa), I convinced them I would be comfortable there. Actually I like to see new places and new things. The job profile made me happier as it was a core mechanical. But the saddening part is that, one of my best friend who is in other college also got selected to same company the very next day. Dam, he gonna disturb me there too. He.. he..

Now Iam confused what to do in this holidays. Had planned to get prepared for placements. But the seemingly long battle was won within a single day. Me and my friend(now also colleague) are waiting for our other friends to join us in finding new means for time pass. Finally. I conclude this with a strong hope that one day I would be placed in my life too . .