‘I Am Very Hopeful About The Left Even In The US’

Eminent Marxist economist Ashok Mitra has been the harshest critic of economic reforms since it was introduced in the early 1990s. Now 84 and ailing, the former Bengal finance minister lives alone, granting only the occasional interview. Sitting in the study of his apartment in Calcutta on a lonely early winter’s afternoon, he tells Dola Mitra why he still sees a glimmer of light from the most unexpected corner of the world.

Do you think Mamata Banerjee did the right thing by pulling out of the UPA-II over FDI in multi-brand retail?

I detested Mamata Banerjee’s politics right from the beginning, so I am not interested in what she is doing. She is a politician with no sense of morality. The FDI move is a surrender of the national economy to foreigners. It will allow foreign investors unrestricted entry into Indian retail trade. That cannot be good for the economic independence of any country.

But supporters argue that FDI reforms are vital.

I have very definite views about the Indian economy. I hold as much to the position that the Congress is a disaster. I also maintain that the BJP won’t be much of an improvement.

What would be your solution to the economic problems facing the country and Bengal today?

It’s very simple. The only solution for the complex problems before a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual country marked by disparate levels of development is a total restructuring of the political and economic system. But I recognise that it’s not a realistic thing to even hope for. So, for the present, I would be quite happy if there are organised radical movements even if they consist of disparate political elements who at least sincerely believe that this country belongs to its people, not to a narrow section of self-seeking leaders. To organise resistance so that things do not become worse.

Each of the political parties that are emerging today (TMC included) claim they are such a party.

Again, it has to be the Left that the people must rely on. The Left at the moment is confused and divided. But there is a great challenge awaiting it. If they are responsible enough to respond to the call of history, they should forget their minor differences, or at least adjourn them, and come to a working agreement. But in such an agreement, there is no space for lumpen elements.

In Bengal, the Left was in power for 34 years. In the end, it remained an ideology that did not get implemented satisfactorily on the ground.

It will re-emerge. You have to keep trying, keep trying, keep trying. Don’t give up hope. Believe in the ideology. And don’t deviate from it. Don’t do what the CPI(M) recently did. For 364 days in the year, you fight the Congress and its programme and on the 365th day you go and vote for the Congress candidate for president. Then you lose your credibility.

What’s your opinion on the Left having crumbled globally?

No, not the world over. In Latin America, it is in resurgent mode. You cannot generalise. It has come down in Europe. It has come down in Asia. But not in South America. Not in Central America. And I am full of hope even about the US. That’s because the economic crisis that the US is going through is incapable of being solved if the administration remains in the hands of those who govern it now. I sometimes think that perhaps the US will get radicalised. Yes, even more rapidly than India.

Many are questioning the air of negativity in India.

The kind of things that are going on—the stealing of public funds, for instance, indicates that scruples are long gone. There is no sense of shame. They are stealing openly. But if you think that corruption is the ultimate thing in the world and that people will suffer forever and ever whatever injustices are inflicted on them, then it is simply a question of your faith versus my faith. My faith is that there is bound to be a turning point.

What do you think of Arvind Kejriwal’s anti-corruption movement?

It is a good cause. There are well-intentioned people, though I am not sure that all of them are equally replete with integrity. But that is a different issue. The main point is that in order for such a movement to be successful, it must have a political base.