Indian Marxism needs Correction - Guha

First Published : 07 Feb 2009 04:51:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 07 Feb 2009 02:25:04 PM IST

KOCHI: Noted historian Ramachandra Guha has said that if the Indian Marxism had to retain its relevance and to expand its reach beyond Kerala and West Bengal, then they have to adopt certain corrective measures. Delivering a talk on ‘The past and future of the Indian Marxism’ at the DC International Book Fair in Kochi on Friday, he said that the Indian Marxism should embrace the great Indian democratic tradition.

“They (Indian Marxists) have to acknowledge, honour and interpret in their own way the great leaders of the Indian democracy like M K Gandhi, B R Ambedkar, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Rabindranath Tagore. They need to embrace the idea and practise of the multi party democracy,” he said.

“Indian Marxists are relatively noncommunal, relatively honest, relatively unlikely to use the public money to enrich their family and relatively wellread,” he said. Guha said that there were three things which he doesn’t like about Indian Marxism. “Their role models and idols are people who are alien to the country and who don’t understand the social and political dynamics of our country. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) have not yet given up its commitment to a single party dictatorship. The Indian Marxism in the past and present doesn’t admit its mistakes,” he pointed out.

Referring to the naxalite movement, Guha said that naxalites identified with the oppressed, down-trodden and the poorest of the poor.

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