Central Hall | The Left Has Given Voice to the Voiceless, But Is it Politically Relevant?

On September 12, 2024, India lost Sitaram Yechury - perhaps one of the tallest leaders of the Left movement in the country. Committed to his ideology, an avowed democrat, Yechury has been part of a movement that has been the voice of the voiceless.
The Left has contributed significantly to the Indian democracy over the years. But they have remained stagnant in the Indian polity. Is the Left still relevant? Does it have to reinvent itself?
Nilotpal Basu is a member of the CPI(M) politburo, and a former MP of the Rajya Sabha.
Jairam Ramesh is Rajya Sabha MP and a veteran Congress leader.
Siddharth Varadarajan, a veteran journalist, is founding editor of The Wire.
Join The Wire's KZbin Membership and get exclusive content, member-only emojis, live interaction with The Wire's founders, editors and reporters and much more. Memberships to The Wire Crew start at Rs 89/month. / @thewirenews

[@Indian44-c8n]

Dissent is highest form of nationalism

[@likejustice9929]

Yechuri was a great leader of Weaker section of the country.

[@shishirkumarbala4757]

I know very well as I was the Jyoti Basu Bhakts in boyhood but changed my mind after going through Marichjhapi incident and my close watch of their very subtle caste biased party.... what Jyoti Basu did for West Bengal and his son... not found any difference between BJP and CPM

[@santoshjaiswal8361]

Yahi Kapil sibbal Sahab hai jinhone doctor bitiya ki hatya aur balatkar ke mamle ko band kamre mein dekhne ki ichcha prakat karne Wale loktantra aur sanvidhan per Gyan bant rahe hain sanvidhan aur loktantra ki swatantrata aur uski nishpakshta koi janjeeron se bandhne ka khwab dekhne wale kabhi loktantra sanvidhan Ke samarthak nahin ho sakte (Kapil sibbal ek dohe Charitra ka insan hai loktantra aur sanvidhan Ka samarthak nahin)

[@somilpandey5646]

Doctor bitiya agar tumhare ghar ki hoti toh kya tum chahte ki uski publicity ki jaye,woh bhi godi media jaise sansthano ke dwara ,samvidhan ka leshmatra gyan nahi hai tumhe ,civil matters or criminal matter par jo stake pe hota woh ekdum alag cheeze har mamle ko publice nahi kiya jata kyoki usme victim ki nijta ka Hanan hota hai par tumhe sansani chahiye.

[@KhalidMahmood-dz9hj]

Excellent eruditing conversation to reassure our lost cause for humanity, equality and universal empathy. I wish we could organize such conversation among our academics on the West Side of the fence.

[@peterfernandes5080]

Thank You Sir Kapil Sibal Ji. Many Of Us Stop Godi Media News From 2012. But We Watch Your Channel, Abhisar Sharma Ji, Karan Thapar Ji, Ravish Kumar Ji Arfa Ji. Rest All Bootlicker Godi Media We Don't Watch And Waste Our Precious Time. God Bless You All.

[@sreenii5445]

What’s the difference between Godi Media and the channels you mentioned, the fact is they both show you only one side of the story, while the Godi media is entirely to the right these guys will show you the opposite but the truth will still remain elusive , be well informed and do not mindlessly follow anyone blindly as all of them have their own agenda

[@madhubalasharma2822]

Excellent 👍 presentation and valuable discussion.

[@fekubuster2833]

The Left should be for Progressive, Secular parties what the RSS is to the BJP. It must provide the Moral compass and Cadre support just like the RSS does for the BJP

[@umeshsawatkar8104]

It's a nice discussion about Sitaram Yechuri, He has a " Voice of Voiceless people of the Nation around

[@chhuntul]

The social democrats always try to nominalize the inevitability of capitalism without going to the inherent contradiction of the system that includes them. I don't think CPIM particularly would ever be able to come out of its shell of state power aspirations without changing it in the Communistic ways.

[@ABBartan]

I cannot understand if it's a deliberate strategy within the CPI(M) or the sheer intellectual backwardness of its leaders that they cannot articulate the reality of global capitalism straightfoward. What is this circling around the question of how the Left is relevant? Capitalism today is nothing but a liquidity-fuelled ponzi scheme which is kept alive through artificially low interest rates, quantitative easement, and encouragement of speculative bubbles which allow for some growth before it bursts and leads to an even greater crisis. And the intensity and frequency of this crisis is constantly increasing. The capitalists will not invest productively because they cannot secure profitable investments other than through layers of securitization. That's why investment to GDP rates have been progressively reducing over the past two decades everywhere. Average global GDP growth rates have been reducing progressively every decade since the 60s. Much of the advanced capitalist world is either in stagnation (Japan, UK, France, Italy) or in recession (Germany, Austria, Sweden). The Eurozone is at 0.2% growth today, and this crisis is mainstream discussion in Europe especially since the Draghi report. The US extracts whatever 2% growth it gets by piling volumes of debt that it can only manage because it can simply print large volumes of Dollars without any corresponding activity in the real economy. Much of the developing world is either already in debt crisis and loaded with IMF conditionalities or approaching a debt default. And the system stands at the brink of constant crisis because its only way of engineering growth ie debt and financial instruments have already reached a tipping point. Ffs total volume of debt today is almost $300 Trillion, which is three times the global GDP. Expecting growth out of capitalism today is like beating a dead horse. This is how easy it is to explain it to anyone, that unless you want to be lost in the fog of whatever media and politicians are telling you, reality is Global Capitalism is going through a prolonged crisis which will only get worse. If this doesn't explain the relevance, nay, the fundamental necessity, of the Left, I don't know what will.

[@sridharankrishnaswami4093]

great conversation; has given hope

[@gbhut]

Not a single idea relevant to todays times was discussed. All discussion was around how we need to snatch power bacf from mythical far right forces 😂😂

[@somilpandey5646]

U got the idea wrong ,idea was of inequality of rights and saturation of power, though the nature of these inequalities might have changed nevertheless they are still glaring in the face of the nation in modified form,be it concerning women,students,farmers ,minorities and even the polity has , everyone is being trampled under the brute majority,if you recognise the left then the other side which is right cannot be brushed as mythical.

[@PraveenK-y2x]

I think Kapil sibal has that ability to unite the political parties to fight this fascist and formulate the common agenda of the INDIA block.

[@yrprasad6410]

Contribution of LEFT to the democratic processes in India is highly underated and people at large are ignorant of the same and people are paying very heavy price through their carrears and life savings etc.

[@sreenii5445]

The left would abide by democratic principles where it has no other choice like in India and where it can unleash its full power it turns up like in China, Cuba and erstwhile USSR which themselves speak about how it would become eventually. So how relevant the left is anybody’s guess. 30 years of left rule in Bengal from where this gentleman Nilotpal Basu comes is evident of what would become of a State under democratic left rule and now surviving in the only remaining State of Kerala where corruption is same as elsewhere, development is namesake, political killings and custodial torture always remains and the youth are lining up to leave the state and country for better lives and better world. These gentleman discussing rubbish won’t even mention the facts and instead go about with their concocted versions, left to the viewers to decide

[@ABBartan]

Liberal worldview is like: Ik you struggle to put food on the table and have no future, but look at this great parliament which houses all the millionaires and criminals, and look at these great elections that we hold every five years. Don't support the communists because they'll deprive you of your great parliament and the criminals who buy out your votes. Never read history because you'll certainly never know the achievements of human development under socialism.

[@thediscoursewithin]

The Left parties in India has their ideological rigidity and failure to adapt to changing socio-economic dynamics. While historically, they championed the rights of laborers, farmers, and the underprivileged, their relevance has diminished in an era marked by economic liberalization and technological advancements. Additionally, their consistent opposition to market reforms and privatization, despite evidence of economic growth, is seen as outdated and out of sync with modern aspirations for development. The Left also poses a subtle threat to national security through its influence in institutions and education. Left-leaning ideologies, deeply embedded in academia and cultural institutions, propagate a narrative that undermines India's sovereignty and nationalism. This intellectual control is seen as a form of "mind-hacking," shaping young minds with anti-establishment sentiments and promoting divisive ideologies under the guise of liberal thought. Their downplaying of external threats and reluctance to support a robust national security apparatus further exacerbates these concerns. Moreover, by ideologically aligning with radical elements and focusing on internationalist rather than nationalist perspectives, the Left has been compromising India’s internal cohesion and weakening its stance on critical national security issues. This disconnect has contributed to their shrinking political influence.

[@parthapratimganguly2400]

Maki in Isreal and Cpim in India will come in power at next decade just wait and watch.

[@zahirahuda81]

Love such discussions with varied point of views without barking and shouting. Wire should do more of such discussions

[@vickysherast1599]

Left protecting institute value 😂😂😂😂 Nice joke 😂😂😂

[@satyabratasanyal3890]

Why BJP got upward plunge in 1980. Till Reservation came in fore BJP was not open in terms of communalism. You have to agree that In India the majority community and minority particularly Muslim never seen in history homogenous. When anti reservation stir got its natural death BJP and RSS openly opposed minority in the name of appeasement by Congress. They flourished. Till people got to know their actual agenda. Now they are declining.

[@pboy6670]

BJP will rise again till the Muslim appeasement by leftists continues in India. In the western countries, they were shut down using anti-Semitism by Jews, and in other countries, they are being shut down by Muslims using Islamophobia. Until left does not treat all religions as the same, they are not going to succeed by just abusing Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists.

[@somilpandey5646]

Ram mandir Rath Yatra and mandal kamandal issues, this what bjp evolved from ,they used these instances of grave provocation and communal disturbances to acquire power,godhra and pulwama etc are yet some other examples and still going on even today and getting nastier by the day.

[@SRaju-m2m]

See what happened in Sri Lanka! Left will be always needed.

[@mintusaren895]

Karl marx said ,religous can be but competivenes for social justice ,here competitive went out rather created enemies.

[@parthapratimganguly2400]

Cartel's lawyer is sibbal

[@Anway-NeverGiveUp]

Where is the success of leftist economy or liberal leftist economy in India?

[@samratdas2451]

Left Will Revive Soon in Bengal and tripura

[@leftview2]

@@samratdas2451 we will see.. All over the states in india

[@Anarchist_syndicalist]

All over the world

[@Anway-NeverGiveUp]

Where is the success of Religiously governed Feudal Monarchial Corporate Capitalistic Fascistic market economy in India?

[@shishirkumarbala4757]

Siddharth Sir, hats off to you...most honest journalist so far I have seen in India. The only reason I do contribute to TheWire in every year.

[@Anway-NeverGiveUp]

Where is the success of Free Market Capitalistic economy or liberal market economy in India?

[@Jayanthsanthosh]

Very interesting discussion....

[@Dadasahab1234]

Lefts have left India. Only some fanatics are remaining. 😅

[@mintusaren895]

In bengal, bhattacharya started to reconcial labours trade unions and capital, earlieyearlier they always distance from capitalism. Land reform happened but force full.

[@joypeter2471]

Pinari of jerala is no more a communist. He joined hands with racist bjp and RSS

[@nibirdasgupta9723]

After about 20 years this type of discussions are taking place! Obstacles are there but moving with that unitedly is modernism.

[@preetik1564]

The idea of communism iis secularism. It is not spread to the people. . But the idea of hatred of the fellow citizens gave successfully being spread by the right wing. Even caste greatness and pride is openly glaring. So it is important that ordinary secular thinking people are united

[@lingunite]

Jairam strike the vital cord. Left should come out of its slumber and organise workers in the unorganised sector. Another point is the left's callousness in analysing caste problem in India. Caste system is essentially a feudal construct that persist today as symbol to the nonvanishing feudalism in India

[@avq512h]

I remeber Sitaram Yechury wanting to reachout to the youth, even though I don't follow their ideology but I admired him as a person, also loved the fact he donated his body to Scientific research. Just Brilliant!

[@biswanathbhandari7028]

That the left has given voice to the voiceless is a mistaken notion. Our prolonged experience with the left for more than three decades does not corroborate the notion. The left has conveniently left the voiceless exploiting them just as a mere vote bank. To give voice to the voiceless in essence means empowerment of these dumb sections of hapless humanity. The left started with the poor but ended with the elite with the crony capitalists. The left has mortgaged its voice to Modi but full of noises against Mamata who is by instincts and impulses a perfect communist by character and performance. Hypocrisy is the hallmark of the left. In reality ,the leftists are more communal than the BJP. The copybook communists are consistently inconsistent. That is why they are consigned to the realm of oblivion by the masses.

[@biswanathmitra3039]

There is a dynamic concept in Buddhism, “oneness of self and environment”, which is changing from moment to moment! So, in the changed scenario over time, each political party must refocus as to how they should practically & essentially be adoptive to new requirements for a winning option! Very enriching discussion & congregations to each one. Regards!

[@ranjanaprobodh6322]

It appears that the discussion on the relevance of the Left was not discussed objectively . One can be a critique of the approach of the Left to socio economic issues in India but one cannot ignore the damage caused by the introduction of New Economic Policy in the eighties and more specifically in the nineties when the free flow of privatisation in education, health and housing caused widespread inequality pushing the majority of people to deprivation of their basic rights. I think that Mr. Basu ought to have put the counter argument more stridently. The question of caste and religion would become irrelevant if there is social, political and economic equality as envisaged in The Preamble to the Constitution of India.

[@manishanand420]

Thanks to alternate platforms I.e. digital platforms which provide a medium to allow different walk of life citizens to express their views and ideas, it’s not about what is right or wrong but it is about finding the truth, and people wisdom find themselves, so it’s good that you conduct a conversation with different people

[@THETRIVIALTHINGS]

Is there an actual "left" in india though? india has a very different political climate than the US. Left and Right was mostly formed and popularized in the US. Before that, it was not like that globally. It was mostly Socialism, Communism, Capitalism (which came later, after the failure of the two before, and with the advancement of industrialization), then there was Authoritarianism, then there was Autocracy. Of course, there were others like Oligarchy, Plutocracy, Monarchy, etc. Which don't exist the way they used to, but merged into the others above. For example, you can call india an autocratic plutocracy/oligarchy. Once upon a time, it was a socialist democracy though. Not in recent times. So, my question is why this distraction of left and right? Huh?

[@arpitaacs]

Is Varadarajan mad. The left backed Pakistan / partition, called "ye azaadi jhuti hain" & went underground post independence, parts of left waged guerilla war on indian state, & CPM which tasted political power destroyed all independent political institutions, made the party appartchiki synonymous with govt, destroyed industry & investment with militant unions. WBengal will not recover for a long time. They introduced political violence into culture of WB & Kerela. Fortunately, they hv been made marginalized in India. Though they still sabotaged the Farm Laws. Left is dangerus.

[@peaceBWY101]

This discussion after the passing of Sitaram Yechury is sad and feels somewhat empty. I wish he had been part of this discussion. Personally, I would say that Mr. Prakash Karat's tenure as General Secretary from 2005-2015, made sure that the Left declined not only politically but also ethically, from which it never really recovered. Looks like Mr. Prakash Karat is again in the hot seat, albeit temporarily due to Mr. Yechury's unexpected passing. Not sure, what more damage he can do or there is to be done to the Left as a political entity. Perhaps, Mr. Prakash Karat could orchestrate the demise of Student Unions on College campuses.

[@thediscoursewithin]

This KAPIL SIBBAL should be the last person to discuss LEFT... Why he charges in crores for fighting the cases.....These discussion shows why there was the policy paralysis and sway from ground realities during UPA....Just discuss for the sake of discussion.....ABSOLUTE NONSENSICAL...

[@somilpandey5646]

Oh so his fees is a national issue now anyways he does a lot of cases pro bono and one thing there is strategy in doing so which might be beyond you comprehension and professionals in every fields do it be it doctors charging as compared to their peers,it is done to avoid monopolization and saturation of work with one individual,suppose he starts doing cases on negligent or free of cost, all the litigants will run towards him leaving others without any work therefore they raise their fees in order to screen the amount of cases coming there way and people might go other lawyers. And about policy paralysis it is healthy in a democracy to oppose policies of the government it's considered the sacred duty of the citizenry and political,it would be catastrophic to have a government who shoves their policy upon their citizens cause then everything whether right or wrong from the perspective of the citizenry will bulldozed and the government will acquire a role of just an enforcer rather than being a manager.

[@sristijain6230]

Stellar panel

[@sandeepnerurkar4918]

Left stopped good rich from becoming rich Money got transferred from good rich to bad rich

[@somilpandey5646]

Good rich like adani and Ambani😅 who are creating monopoly with numerous deviations of law with the help of the government and looting the nation's resources.Good rich and bad rich ,really.

[@rakeshpankajINC]

👍

[@navdeepsidhu6124]

🙏🫡👍👌👏👋💯✅️

[@arunasharma4878]

Left understanding G😊Veena ve m😅del is inclusive. It’s not to achieve just size of economy or GDP but PER CAPITA GDP SPREAD -- basic sustainable income

[@arunasharma4878]

Left brings center stage inclusiveness in Governance

[@rc2k22]

With the absence of right wing personnel on this debate, makes it lopsided on only the left view point

[@rc2k22]

The Left always stood on the wrong side of the debate, and hence lost it's relevance.

[@mkumar6259]

Country which was slave for last one-thousand year give lectures on democracy .

[@leftview2]

#cpim 🚩✊🏻❤️