Hi kimikazu,
Good day and thanks for your question.
I'm glad that I have the opportunity to answer this question. I am
probably best equipped to answer this question since I am an Indian
and have been staying here for the last few years.
To answer your question in short - Will Leninism work in India? The
answer would be an emphatic NO!
India is probably the only country in the world to embrace all
religions. The preamble to the constitution of India states "India is
a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic." Liberalism
implies secularism and vice-versa.
"In religion, India is the only millionaire ....
The One land that all men desire to see and
having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not
give that glimpse for all the shows of
all the rest of the globe combined".
- Mark Twain
Liberalism and Leninism have already been defined comprehensively by
Omnivorous in his answer to your question on Iraq, so I won't go into
it.
https://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=119917
In India, liberalism is prevalent in almost all the states. Almost all
the political parties are liberals. Parties believing in socialism -
Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI(Marxist) & CPI(Marxist-Leninist)
Links to the parties :
Communist Party of India
http://www.cpofindia.org/
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
http://www.cpim.org
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)
http://www.cpiml.org
The only state in India where these parties have a stronghold is
Bengal. Bengal has been ruled by the CPI parties ever since the last
number of years. the CPI was elected as the ruling party in Kerala for
a period, and the people never gave them a second chance when the next
election came about. This just proves that the people are not willing
to accept Leninism.
In India Liberalism evolved as a philosophy of liberation, liberating
Indian society from a variety of social and political chains and
reminding the education public of the values of civility. In the early
part of the twentieth century the Liberal Party of India could not
make much headway but it leavened the Congress ideology in many ways.
The Indian Constitution, despite the many horrible amendments since
1949, still bears testimony to the resilience of liberal values -
emphasizing liberty, equality, and justice as the cornerstone of the
Indian Republic.
But the emergence of the Swatantra Party ( a party based on liberal
principles and values) in the early sixties was denounced by
Jawaharlal Nehru as a party representing capitalism and the
philosophy of Laissez faire . The party's strong defense of the right
to property was given as evidence Liberalism being pro-rich and
anti-poor.
Minoo Masani wrote on December 1952 when naming the journal he founded
Freedom First:
"We selected this title for our Bulletin because we consider Liberty,
with the great historian Lord Acton, to be the supreme good. We do
give priority to freedom - not in point of time, but in time of
fundamental importance. The fight for bread and freedom has of course
to be waged simultaneously . We want both for our people - we want
bread through freedom because that is the only way to get it. "
Much later in, 1985 , referring to socialism in his seminal article
"Liberalism" he wrote inter-alia:
"Socialism has failed to deliver the goods. It has produced neither
equality nor a better life for the masses of the people. The aims of
socialism are good. I am still a socialist in that sense. If you put
it to me: 'Do you believe in Lenin's free and equal society?' I will
say 'Yes'. If freedom and equality are the objectives of socialism, I
am for it. But when I find that the weapon that I have used does
not create freedom or equality , but creates tyranny and slavery on
one side and inequality and poverty on the other, then I would be a
fool if I stuck to that weapon."
A new form of liberalism, neo-liberalism is not welcome by the people.
Millions of people went on a daylong strike in April this year, in
various parts of India protesting the anti-worker, neo-liberal
offensive being waged by the Indian government.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2002/489/489p19.htm
DV Gundappa has authored an article - "Liberalism in India". This is a
must read article.
http://www.liberalsindia.com/introduction/liberalpositionpapers/liberalpositionpapers7.php
Liberal Position Papers
http://www.liberalsindia.com/introduction/liberalpositionpapers/lppindex.php
These are articles by eminent Liberals and others setting out the
Liberal point of view on basic issues that have stood the test of
time. The re-organization of the Indian Liberal Group began with a
circulation of these papers to over 600 persons. Over 400 responded
that they would be interested in knowing more about Liberalism and the
values it espouses.
There are a number of political parties in India and a single party
rarely forms the government. Coalitions are formed before anyone
stakes claim. Introducing Leninism will cause great internal divide
and unrest. There is a lot of corruption in society today, and
Leninism will just compound the problem.
If Leninism is introduced, you can't imagine the amount of chaos that
will take place. No one knows if another 'Hitler' will become the
Prime Minister of India. Leninism is against the preamble to the
Indian constitution. The very words -
'Sovereign','Secular','Democratic' would have a very different
meaning.
Religion is an important factor. There are people belonging to many
religions. The majority of Indians are Hindus, followed by Muslims.
Liberalism has provisions for secularism. On the other hand, Leninism
will cause the great divide between the people of the different
religions.
Right now, the main item on India's agenda is to sort out the Kashmir
problem. Diplomacy is the only way to solve this problem and not war.
There is a tendency in Leninist countries to wage war at the slightest
of incidents.
In the history of India, the people were free at all times (barring
the few years during which the British ruled the country). During the
post-British rule, the new liberalism was thus concerned with all
departments of the country's life, and was more a general attitude and
way of looking at things than a set of fixed and immutable formulas.
It stood for the free play of human intelligence.
I have done my best to give you a first-hand view on how an Indian
feels about liberalism and Leninism in India. In case you have any
clarifications, please do not hesitate to ask.
Thank you for using this service and have a nice day.
Warm regards,
aditya2k
Search Strategy
liberalism India
Leninism India
CPI(ML) |
Clarification of Answer by
aditya2k-ga
on
14 Dec 2002 02:56 PST
Hi again kamikazu,
I'm extremely sorry for responding late; I was held up due to
circumstances beyond my control.
The Indian economy is a fragile one, and of late, is starting to look
up. Liberalism encourages free trade with little or no restriction,
thus strengthening the economy. The Leninism approach would do very
little towards strengthening the Indian economy. India is essentially
an agriculture country and is self-sufficient. India does not produce
much of non-agricultural products and has to rely on imports. A Lenist
approach discourages use of foreign goods. There have been many
instances where Coke and Pepsi bottles have been emptied and broken.
There have also been instances of burning foreign clothes and other
goods. A Lenist approach by the Indian government would be disastrous
to the economy.
Your second question on power is a good one. The Indian political
setup is a divided one. The politicians are not bothered whether the
country becomes powerful or not, they are all after one thing -
personal power. As long as they have power, they are happy. No one
wants to go one step further to make the country powerful, and that is
a shame. A Lenist approach by a ruling government would not help the
country at all; rather, it would help the ruling party cement it's
place at the top. A classic example of the downfall of a nation would
be Pakistan during it's military rule.
In India, the caste system is very much alive even today, although not
so much in the cities. In the villages, the evils of the caste system
are still rampant. Each government has always had a policy of
reservation for each caste, particularly the scheduled castes (SC) and
scheduled tribes (ST). A certain amount of resources are set aside for
SCs and STs (around 5%-10%). A Lenist approach would either increase
or decrease that figure depending on the party ruling the country. As
far as allocation of natural resources are concerned, there would be
no difference in the two forms of government.
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