Can Marxists seek divine blessings? Not openly, if you ask the CPI(M).
JAI Ma Tara. This invocation to goddess Kali has triggered off a heated debate in the CPI(M)—a party of ostensible non-believers—on God vs Marx. Or rather, on whether Marxists can seek divine blessings, even privately. The issue came out after Bengal's transport minister, Subhas Chakraborty, visited the Kali temple at Tarapith, 300 km from Calcutta, on September 13 and offered puja. Photos of him praying at the temple and his statements reiterating his right to practise his religion have embarrassed the Marxists in West Bengal.
"Wherever I go, my name would suggest that first I am a Hindu and then a Brahmin. I can't deny this," he said. But there were more blasphemies—he said he is more comfortable with Indian traditions like pranam and namaskar than the lal salaam (red salute). He dragged in CPI(M) patriarch Jyoti Basu too: "Even Jyoti Basu visited a gurudwara with his head covered after Indira Gandhi's assassination," he said. Next he threatened to name CPI(M) leaders who practise their religion on the sly.
But what got the party's goat was his assertion that the CPI(M) hadn't been able to spread its influence beyond three states (West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala) as the party has failed to accommodate Indian values and traditions. "How else can you justify our presence in only three states with a population of 11 crore in a nation of over 100 crore people?" he asked. And, to add to the CPI(M)'s woes, state BJP chief Tathagata Roy praised him and offered him a berth in the party.
Censuring his protege, Jyoti Basu minced no words and said: "Whom does he see and worship? Does She (goddess Kali) exist? It would be better if he worshipped mankind." Not to be silenced, Chakraborty exhorted workers in the transport sector to celebrate Vishwakarma Puja "with pomp and grandeur". And then wrote in a Bengali journal that his mentor was a modern-day Krishna who delivers victory to those who are on his side. This was too much even for Basu; he went on to say that Chakraborty had lost his head. To which Chakraborty promptly retorted: "If I'm mad, why don't they throw me out? Mad people cannot have any place in the party."
However, despite such provocation, the CPI(M) hasn't taken action against him. It indeed can't, as doing so would, in the party's analysis, anger Hindus. "A large number of Bengalis vote for us. But they're not atheists. If any action were taken against Chakraborty, the Hindus would not like it," a CPI(M) state secretariat member told Outlook.
Also, many leaders, including those in the party's top bodies, won't be able to muster the moral authority to argue for action against Chakraborty as they themselves practise their religion. Besides, Chakraborty has enormous influence in the North 24 Parganas district and in the CITU and transport unions.
Party hardliners say religion is Marxism's antithesis and believers have no place in the party. But a majority feel that there's no bar on Marxists practising religion privately. So, the compromise: the party won't bar its members from performing religious rituals and festivities as long as it is behind closed doors.
Though not many Calcutta-based or senior state-level leaders practise their religion openly, those in the districts who form a majority in the party do so, and very openly too. In fact, CPI(M) leaders lead religious processions, CITU holds Vishwakarma pujas, teachers' unions affiliated to the CPI(M) hold Saraswati pujas while the party's local units support Durga pujas across the state. It's indeed strange that for a party that puts a premium on discipline, such 'indiscretions' and acts of 'indiscipline' have gone unpunished. However, state secretary Biman Bose has now sent out advisories to members of the CPI(M) state committee, asking them not to associate themselves with community Durga pujas. The hardliners, though, want more than this and are asking for stricter measures. Senior party leader Benoy Konar says that members would have to decide if they are Marxists or believers.
Others say the party must move with the times and has to accommodate traditions and religious beliefs. If it does not, it will alienate sizeable sections of the people. Chakraborty may be seen as a maverick and a trouble-maker, but the issue that he has raised is one the party cannot easily ignore.