first crown prince, during the suspension of the constitution in the mid-1970s. After Sanjay's death, it was taken over by the new heir apparent, now premier, Rajiv Gandhi.
The first convention of the National Students Union of India, the youth wing of the Congress (I), in Nagpur in mid-
Descent into communalism
September led to rampages that terrorized the town and the access routes. (India Today, October 15, 1984.)
The fundamental reason for the new rise of communalism is that economic development is active enough to upset the old social relations in the country but not
The Hindu communalist pogroms that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi have confirmed the breakdown of bourgeois-democratic Pan-
Indian nationalism and the turn of the ruling classes to communalism as the means for maintaining their control.
The worst outrages came precisely in the capital, New Delhi, where the government and the ruling Congress(I) Party could be expected to have the strongest instruments for controlling the situation.
Gerry FOLEY
In an article in the February 27 issue of International Viewpoint, M. Navid pointed out that the Congress (I) Party was trying to rebuild its electoral base on a foundation of Hindu communalism.
Navid explained that the Congress
Party historically depended for its majorities on the Hindi-speaking heartland but that its vote had been falling steadily in this region since 1967. Thus, in the 1980 general election, Indira Gandhi's party got only 31% of the vote in the Hindi
The Congress (I) then became dependent on a big majority in the "upper
South," the northern tier of states beginning at the waist of the subcontinent, where the main languages are non-Indoeuropean, Dravidian.
But in the Dravidian areas in general there is a long-term historical trend of growing alienation from North Indian rule. By 1980 ethnic nationalist parties were already dominant in the more southern Dravidianspeaking states.
Congress becomes a Hindu party
In the subsequent state elections in the two states of the "upper South," Andhra
Pradesh and Karnataka, the Congress (L)
Party lost badly, in the first case at the hands of an ethnic nationalist party.
Furthermore, Navid noted, "Congress (I)
can no longer rely on the en bloc support of the Scheduled Castes and the Muslims. Only the Scheduled Tribes continue to back Mrs Gandhi in their overwhelming numbers."
"there are now signs of a possible
Gandhi's] basic electoral strategy from the reliance on the core minorities to wooing the Hindu caste
"The Delhi municipal and metropolitan council elections in February 1983 were the first indication of a new stirring in the wind. Delhi, a Union territory with a very high proportion of urban traders and petty bourgeoisie, has tradi-
International Viewpoint 12 November 1984 tionally been a stronghold of the Jana Sangh/BJP [Hindu communalist party] who were widely expected to win. Instead they suffered a serious and suprising defeat at the hands of the Congress (T) although just a month before Mrs Gandhi had been dramatically defeated in the south. ...the main reason for this remarkable victory was a sizeable shift of petty bourgeois caste Hindu votes from the Jana Sangh/BJP to the Congress (I)."
In the July 16 IV, Vibhuti Patel, a leader of the Indian section of the Fourth International, the Inquilabi Communist Sangathan, said in an interview with our correspondent in connection with the spring communalist riots in Bombay:
"...the minorities have lost faith in Congress, because of the increasing experiences - for all of these groups - of social discrimination, riots and growing marginalisation from the Indian main-
Now Congress wants to have a different image for capturing votes. That is why it is supporting Hindu revivalist organisations, and that is also why they talk less about secularism. Congress used to talk a lot about secular-
But now it keeps liaison with many rightist forces."
Patel mentioned a concrete basis for communalism in Bombay:
"The construction industry has a big mafia, it also has political patronage from Congress(I) and the latest series of frauds that created a stir in Indian politics were all related to the construction industry, because they are one of the main sup pliers of funds to Congress. ness tycoons, these giants in the construction industry, maintain systematic political operations, they have strong connec tions with the underground, and they are in touch with Shiv Sena [Hindu communalist para-militaries]. They have used this opportunity to get this land, by calling on hooligans from outside, who are very good in butchering, who are very confident butchers."
One of the features of the Congress in decline is a systematic attempt to organize shock troops of declasse youth. This task was assumed by Sanjay, Mrs Gandhi's sufficiently dynamic to create a growth of an all-Indian economy that could dissolve the old communal divisions. At the same time, the Indian bourgeoisie, backed up by a powerful central government, has been able to break every major strike since 1974. Thus, the communal organizations appear as the main organizations for community solidarity. Social tension and retrogression
In an analysis of the new rise of communalism published in the October 1 issue of IV, the Indian section pointed
...the changing dynamic of the society has provided certain sections, which are known as backward castes, to have up ward mobility in the economic sphere for the last twenty years. castes fall into the intermediate level of caste structure. These intermediate castes ...are vying for political and cultural status commensurate with their upward economic mobility. to reach the highest stage within the caste system and they express this by aggressively distinguishing themselves from other sections of the same, as well as other, re-
These feelings, coupled with economic and political factors, are bound to give rise to caste and communal riots."
The document also pointed out the government's and the Congress' interest in stoking the communalist fires.
"Up to the 1960s, so-called Congress socialism was the common ideology which sought to bind the majority of the masses to the ruling class. But once the initial economic boom was over, the conditions of the masses had started to decline, so their faith in the government diminished and this ideology lost its meaning....communalism is an ideology which can be stirred up on a national level amongst a majority of the people, their attention from the real issues and securing the interests of the
This is the reason why the ruling party is coming out more and more openly with its communalist bias."
The recent events show that communalism is certainly a two-edged sword, but it appears to be one that a bourgeoisie that cannot achieve dynamic economic development is nonetheless obliged to
The subcontinent thus seems to have entered into a period of very violent and complex social conflicts.
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INDIA
production. The cost of the strike to the government, including that of importing oil to burn in power stations instead of coal, now exceeds the £2 billion mark, more than was spent on the Malvinas
Power cuts are now probable before