The Use and Abuse of Democracy in West Bengal

This article examines the left's engagement with democracy in West Bengal. Before 1967, the left built a deliberative democratic tradition in Bengal. The United Front governments and the Naxalite movement led to a radicalisation of politics, which was followed by a fratricidal conflict culminating in a counter attack on the entire left by the state. This defeat paved the way for a historic compromise of the parliamentary left. In 1977 this defeated left came to power, but it was a veritable political revolution as a middle class-led intermediate regime came to acquire social and political power. The central claim to legitimacy of this new regime was its contention of representing the people. Hence, disciplining them as well as securing their consent through the organisation and ideology of the communist party is central to their continuation in power. This new ruling class lives off the social surplus creating a fiscal crisis for the state. To get out of this crisis it ultimately has to surrender to capital, shift to a neoliberal growth model and increasingly attack democracy. are living in the age of democracy; not because all countries in the world are democratic, but for the fact the popular aspiration for democracy is almost universal and the fact even authoritarian states seek legitimacy in the name of democracy. Tocqueville way back in the 19th century remarked that a great democratic revolution is going on among us.1 In spite of the unprecedented popularity of democracy, the meaning of the idea of democracy is still quite minimally voiced it is most often restricted to periodic elections and representative government. Often some more elements are added on to this thin idea of democracy, like human rights, the rule of law, an independent judiciary, a free press and so on. The socialist experience in the Soviet bloc led to the realisation of the importance of an autonomous civil society for the existence of democracy. In the west, often considered to be the exemplars of democracy, money and the media have robbed the people of any effective role in the democratic process. This has brought back the importance of the republican ideals of popular participation and deliberations in public affairs. Finally, the third world experiment with democracy has given us two vital lessons: first, it has exploded the myth democracy can only operate in social situations which have undergone the experience of European modernity and secondly, the unending series of rebellions and movements against authoritarian regimes in country after country remind us not only of the popular aspiration for democracy but also the relevance of democratic revolutions.