State Planning Board vice-chairman Prabhat Patnaik said here on Sunday that the main task of the Left in the age of globalisation was to free the world from the control of international finance capital.
He was addressing a discussion on ‘Indian politics and the Left' held as part of ‘EMS Smrithi,' a programme in remembrance of the former Chief Minister and Marxist leader E.M.S. Namboodiripad.
“Delinking the world from global capitalist economy implies anti-imperialist nationalisation of resources. Capitalism does not collapse. It should be consciously thrown away.
The European Left has not done this effectively because it is sanguine about global affairs.
Nationalism
Moreover, it has a different view of nationalism. The fact that peasantry constitutes the majority of workforce in the country has made the Indian Left take a more effective revolutionary path,” he added.
He observed that the Left had a major role in policy-making.
“It has vigilantly defended the rights of the people and fought a bourgeois counter revolution.”
Delivering the keynote address at a discussion on ‘Politics of Maoist insurgency,' A. Vijayaraghavan, MP and CPI(M) Central secretariat member, said the Maoist rebellion could be ended only by ensuring social justice for the marginalised in the country's tribal belt.
Prosenjit Bose, convener of the research wing of the CPI(M), said the Maoists were waging a war in isolation from the masses.
Maoist insurgency
“Maoist ideology has an erroneous theoretical foundation and distorted praxis. Maoists believe only in imitating the Chinese. But they do not realise that socio-economic realities and cultural practices in India are different from those in China.
“They do not organise tribals with the aim of helping them fight for their rights over land and forest resources.
“Maoists are interested only in creating a so-called liberated zone where they are the sole power,”Mr. Bose added.
