Un service de prauds “ouvir: sive
Vollo:5.6 Now 9 March 3, 1967
ELECTION REGISTERS GROWING FERMENT IN INDIA
The week-long elections in India February 15-21 ended with a staggering defeat for the Congress party which has ruled the country since political independence was won from Great Britain twenty years ago. With the final count still not in, it was clear that if the Congress party managed to secure a majority, it would be by but a slim margin. In the last parliament, the party held a 70% majority. The three most powerful leaders in the party, its president, Kumaraswami Kamaraj; the treasurer, Atulya Ghosh; and the railways minister, S.K.Patil, were defeated. In addition, three cabinet ministers went down: Chidambaram Subramaniam, Sachindra Chaudhuri and Manubhai Shah. Four chief ministers of state also ended up as losers.
The most spectacular reversal for the Congress party occurred in south India in the state of Kerala. Of the 134 seats in the State Assembly, the party won only 9, against 114 for a broad front in which the "left" [pro-Peking] Communist party won 52 seats. Even the "right" [pro-Moscow] Communist party came out ahead of the Congress candidates, winning 19 seats.
Besides the two Communist parties, the "left-wing" electoral front included the Revolutionary Socialist party, the Samyukta Socialist party, the Kerala Socialist party and two rightist formations, the Karashaka Thozhilali party and the Moslem League. The participants in the front watered down their programs and divided up the 143 constituencies so as not to contest each other. [See articles in World Outlook January 6, p.18; January 13, p.53, and the open letter on p.246 of the current issue.] The "left" Commu— nists scored so heavily as to become the dominant party in the Kerala legislature and it is thought likely that the party's leader E.M.S.Namboodiripad will be named chief minister. He was the head of the Communist administration in Kerala in 1957-59 which was
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dissolved by Nehru. Namboodiripad won by. a majority of more tHan 12, 000 votes: in his own assembly constituency. Fs : 2,
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In contrast to Kerala, the Congress party was defeated in Orissa on the Bay of Bengal by a right-wing ‘front composed of. the; Swatantra: [Freedom]. party and the Jana Congress, a grouping that split away from the Congress party last fall.
In Madras, where the Congress party won a two-thirds majority in the 1962 election, it lost three-fourths of its séats.: The:-majority went to the Dravidian Progressive Federation which had organized a five-party front. A regional grouping that has ordinarily campaigned on the language issue and appeals to local patriotism, the DPF switched in this election to the question. of ‘the high cost of food, running:on a campaign promise to slash the price of rice by 86%.
The gains by both rightist and leftist political formations showed that a polarization of forces is occurring in India. The prime issue is inflation which has been reflected in steadily mounting prices for food and virtual famine conditions in various parts of the country. The incapacity of the Congress party to stem this process resulted in the erosion of its popularity. The vote clearly spelled the opening of a period of crisis and intensified class struggle in India.
Two contributing causes were likewise discernible in the outcome of the election. One was the policy the Johnson administration. has pursued of seeking to take advantage of hunger in India. Johnson held up shipments of grain while pressure was put on the Indira Gandhi government to grant concessions to private capitalist interests at the expense of the public sector. American oil companies, in particular, wanted a change in the policies of the Indian government so as to provide them more profitable openings for the construction of fertilizer plants. In addition, diplomatic humiliations inflicted on the preceding Shastri government still rankle among the Indian people. Johnson also displayed his anger over the reluctance of the Indian government to come out in open sup~ port of his war in Vietnam. He was especially displeased with the stand taken by the Indian government in favor of ending the bombing of north Vietnam. In casting their votes against the Congress party, the voters were also balloting against the policies of the Johnson administration in relation to India and Vietnam.
The other factor that contributed to influencing the mood of. the electorate was the example of China. Under capitalist rule, the economic situation in India is becoming more and more chaotic. The specter of famine is very real. A big proportion of the huge population of 500,000,000 see no perspective whatever under the capitalist system except hunger and despair. The Congress party, in théir opinion, has been given adequate time -- two decades -- to show what it could do for the country. The results are conclusive. In China, on the other hand, despite all kinds of difficulties including natural calamities and heavy imperialist pressure and such setbacks as the Sino-Soviet conflict and the current political crisis, the country has taken giant strides forward. While India stagnates, China has moved ahead, showing its potential in such dramatic ways as developing a nuclear industry virtually on its own resources and in face of the active opposition: of both Moscow and. Washington.
“The influence of the Chinese example \ was thus registered in the showing made by the "left" Communist party. This was especially clear in Kerala where the vote was quite decisive in its repudiation of the Congress party and its indication as to what road the masses want to take. They want to get out of the orbit of imperialist America and into the orbit of Communist China. Along that line, they see salvation for India.
The election results thus alarmed Wall Street. In a gloomy editorial February 24, . the influential New York Times admitted that a “period of great stresses and strains is inevitable" and that "the problem of governing the vast subcontinent becomes formidable." .. Returning to the subject in a lead editorial February 26, the New York Times held that < "The power factors in the world have been altered definitely and permanently by the rout “of the Congress party in India's general election." India is‘now "too. weak and divided internally to have the influence she once exercised in global affairs. That is a loss for the West." India "cannot again be a major force in Asia,-or in the world, until she sets her house in order."
India was to be the glittering showpiece, set up and maintained by Western imperialism to offset the example of neighboring China. Too little and too late -- that will probably be the verdict of history.
But it would be a mistake to believe that India now stands at the verge of a successful revolution. One of the main ingredients is still missing -- a mass revolutionary socialist party. The construction of such a party is now more urgent than ever. The Indian workers have a priceless opportunity; let them not delay in seizing it!
ARMY