Comments on Prabhat Patnaik's article

In his most recent article The Left And Its "Intellectual" Detractors, Dr. Prabhat Patnaik wonders why intellectuals have rallied against the Left regarding the Nandigram issue and concludes that ‘The revolt against the CPI(M) is simultaneously a revolt against politics’. He idealises the Left as the camp of the "people", maintaining that nothing should be done to destabilise it.

Despite the popularity enjoyed by the Left in different parts of West Bengal, it is undeniable that to a large fraction of the people, it has come to signify a group of conceited politicians and mercenaries obsessed with a feeling of self-righteousness. Communism, for the commom CPI(M) member, is a type of religion propagated by their immediate superiors in the Party hierarchy. Massacres are justified because conscience has been killed by a blind submission to the Party leadership. Obsessed with the image of an ideal anti-imperialist front, Dr. Patnaik presents a bird’s eye-view of the problem, where the decadence at the very base of the organized Left appears insignificant.

According to Dr. Patnaik, the revolt by intellectuals strengthens politically the camp of the enemies of "the people". This logic has been reiterated by adherents of the CPI(M) over and over again and expresses the desperation to defend themselves when no other sane argument is available. He calls the stand of the intellectuals one of messianic moralism, tantamount to the destruction of politics. His rejection of morality is disturbing. I fail to see why the political stand of the camp of the "people" should be in such great conflict with human morals. The organised Left has long enjoyed the support of thinkers allied against communal forces. But it made the grave mistake of assuming that the appalling violence endorsed by it will also be pardoned. This is the bitter truth the CPI(M) finds hard to come to terms with.

The author wonders why intellectuals didn’t resort to friendly criticism, instead of displaying such amazing fury. Dr. Patnaik, do you really believe that friendly criticism could make an impact on the CPI(M) leadership to change its arrogant ways? The party has long stopped paying heed to criticism and labeled Leftist thinkers opposing its policies as ‘reactionaries’ and ‘misguided individuals’. There is a point at which friendly criticism has to stop, and Nandigram marks that turning-point. This is a revolt arising out of betrayal by the political organisation these intellectuals trusted. This is not a revolt against politics. Dr. Patnaik sees a struggle between the morality of the "anti-political" and the morality of the "political". The infallibility of the organised Left is implicitly assumed in his analysis and phrases like ' morality of the "political" ' should have been explained better in the context of Nandigram.

Dr. Prabhat Patnaik is an internationally acclaimed economist.