Manik Sarkar – the last of his tribe?

Indian media is now singing paeans to the newly elected Tripura CM. Main stream media, till date busy with Delhi rape and cricket, noticed him when he filed his nomination for state assembly polls. Our’s is a country where almost half the national legislators are crorepatis and when Sarkar filed his nomination he declared few thousands of cash in hand and nothing else. It was surprising for many. Jaws dropped in awe and this was a shock for the new Indian middle class – a Chief Minister without a bank account? Is it true?

As per reports, Manik Sarkar lives on his wife’s (an ex Central Govt. employee) pension and does not own a house or a car. In line with the CPI-M policy, Sarkar gives his MLA salary to the party, which pays him Rs.5,000 per month, as subsistence allowance.

No wonder, he has guarded the last red bastion with ease. Finally, when results were out (few days back) Communists won 50 out of 60 seats, a feat not achieved by any other leader than late Nripen Chakraborty. This is the fourth consecutive term for Sarkar in this tiny North East state which shares more with Bangladesh than India. Of course, frugality from a Communist leader is not a rarity, but what surprises today’s burgeoning middle class (else where in the country) is that he takes oath not in the romantic post independence decades but in 2013. Yes this is remarkable.

Media called him the poorest CM. This is quite expected of a nation where luxury and lucre make news more often than not. In 2013 we get to see star political performers only in the likes of Jayalalithas and Mayavathis. They compete with each other to amass personal wealth during their tenures. Yet they prevail and walk away unaccountable, term after term. In the last two decades corruption cases involving politicians and their cronies sky rocketed and the frustrated citizenry numbly settled down to take these things for granted, as fate. They tacitly equated political power as loot and graft. That is why Mr. Sarkar, the son of a tailor who washes his own clothes even today, despite being the chief executive of an Indian state, becomes a wonder for them.

Communist Party never had any dearth of leaders like Manik Sarkar. Early communists were more Gandhians in their lifestyle than Mohandas Gandhi. Of course they were Gandhians with a Marxist ideology. However, today Sarkar represents a fast dwindling tribe of politicians who vouch by simplicity in public life. They are a minority among Communists too. True to the clichéd Acton quote – ‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely’ – cutting across hierarchy, today’s Communist cadre has become corrupt, nepotist and haughty. This is true for those states where left front governments held power for too long, a fact quite evident in present day Kerala and Bengal. In both the states, the intellectual chasm between different generations of leaders is a matter of dismay.

From revolutionary idealists who proudly renounce personal gains for common good, today’s leaders have metamorphosed into efficient entrepreneurs and shrewd managers. Of course, much can be blamed on the globalised world economy, bankruptcy of ideology and poor understanding of Communist principles within party’s young rank and file. They are witness to the concocted lores of unstoppable yet all encompassing free markets and are the silent benefactors of it. They easily yield to make some quick silver.

The first democratically elected Communist Government sworn into power (in 1957, Kerala) was under EMS Namboothirippad, the landlord turned politician who willingly parted with his vast inherited property. Later, Namboothirippad himself legislated for the redistribution of land among peasant masses of Kerala, a true social revolution of the time. Those generations of Communists were dotted with idealism and it was true of 1960’s India.

Communists’ mass mobilisation through social awakening impressed people’s psyche during those days. It was so powerful that even the later non left governments could not completely forgo the principles of democratic socialism in their political functioning. But, the neo-liberal era eulogized a capitalist cult which emerged as a panacea for all the ills of our multicultural democracy. And communist leadership both in Kerala and Bengal fell prey to its finance capital bandwagon, though they never admit to it publicly.

Leadership struggled to ‘explain’ and ‘theorize’ the tenets of 21st century Communism so as to accommodate the changing patterns of ownership and economic relations. There always used to be an older generation of leaders who could not ideologically compromise. And Manik Sarkar’s tribe, both in Kerala and Bengal, falls into this. They either protested, howsoever feeble their voice be, led stellar examples in lives and simply vanished into oblivion. By and large party discipline’s iron fist silenced them. Their idealism suffered and they finally kept quiet before the will of a new generation leadership.

This makes Sarkar and his simple ways a ray of hope. He still stick on to his idealism and preserves the sanctity of his principles. For those who consider Tripura as a distant fairy land, this might sound melodramatic or unbelievable. But this is quite genuine. The likes of Sarkar must be existing in all the political parties, insignificant and disillusioned, to a great extend though. It is the duty of new generation Indian voters to discover them amidst the mess of our political system.

After the poll results Mr. Sarkar deliberately played down his role as an individual in his party’s victory, rather he gave credits to the team work. From his words – “There is a role of person in history, but the collective movement of people is the main driving force. We work together and take decision collectively, so I am a share holder of this success like others. I have no separate role.” Compare this to the ‘Modi Mania’ that sweeps our national capital in the past few days. We should not, as a nation, get our priorities wrong.

In his moment of glory, I wish Manik Sarkar all the success as Chief Minister of Tripura. No wonder Tripura is free from sectarian strifes quite common to its North Eastern sisters. I wish his puritan ways inspire more of political class to embrace idealism in their social lives.

Photo – Courtesy : tripura4u.com