This landslide was never an overnight incident. The RSS and its various outfits were at it since 2014 itself. Not a small number, but 600,000 of its well trained swayam sevaks were deployed at the grass roots. Visual and print media were mobilised for their service in the bandwagon of the parivar. Social media were used to communicate their messages with unbelievable professional skills. Tens of thousands of WhatsApp groups were doing overtime work. It was a manifold strategy which worked with profound efficiency, sometimes visibly, sometimes invisibly carrying the ideas of majoritarian politics, all over the country.

Election Commission and the officialdom around it prefix the term, ‘free and fair’ whenever they talk about elections. But the election premises are so corrupted and polluted that ‘free and fair’ has become meaningless words. Election Commission which is supposed to act as the guardian of freedom and fairness in elections was seen on its knees before the muscle and money power. Money and muscle also played a very big role in deciding the matters of governance in the ‘biggest democracy of the world’. Introduction of electoral bonds was depicted as a measure to bring accountability in political funding. In fact it was a move to open the doors before corporate of India and abroad to influence the political structure in India. It is estimated that crores of rupees were pumped in through electoral bonds and 95 per cent of it went to the coffers of one single party — BJP.

Unimaginable amount of money was readily available for BJP to stimulate its activities from headquarters down to the booth level. Along with the well knit organisational mechanism BJP also mobilised official institutions like Election Commission to serve their political ends. The credibility crisis that loomed over EVMs raised a question mark. From various constituencies including Begusarai the difference between votes registered and votes All these point to the fact that RSS-BJP was fighting the election with a ‘come what may’ mood.

Social engineering was their favourite theme in 2014 elections also. This time they finetuned it so that it could be applied in micro level. Religion and caste factors were used in a most cunning manner. With all sort of arms and ammunitions and preparing the ground sufficiently in advance Sangh Parivar entered the battlefield. They were so keen not to discuss any life issues of the masses. Unemployment, price rise, demonetisation, GST, atrocities on dalits and minorities were not discussed. History has shown us that rulers who fail to fulfil their promises would use war and pseudo nationalism as their road to victory. Typical example is Hitler’s Germany.

Hermann Goering the right hand man of Adolf Hitler has explained the methodology in simple terms: “Naturally the common people don’t want war.... But the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them that they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in every country”.

Modi was successful in putting into practice this fascist lesson with precision according to Indian conditions. BJP focused on Pulwama, Balakot, surgical strike, radar and missile technology, etc, in the election campaigns. Even the black holes in Rafale deal were covered in the name of nationalism and defence preparedness of the country. Goebbelsian theory of propaganda was always there with the BJP, ever since Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo began to control the party. Truth was the causality in that propaganda warfare. Brushing aside the real issues, they filled the campaign with emotional narratives.

Hyper nationalism and military jingoism was the main campaign plank. This was the first occasion where post truth theory was put into practice. With a killing instinct, RSS-BJP was determined to win the election for a second time.

It was with this RSSBJP, that the opposition had to fight! No need to say that they were totally unprepared to wage a battle with the fascist zeal of the Sangh Parivar. Ideologically, politically and organisationally, the fascist camp was well organised; whereas the opposition camp was disunited. Even though almost all the opposition parties including the Congress talked about the necessity to defeat the BJP, none of them took it seriously in the battle ground. Narrow partisan priority and individual vanities overshadowed their electoral strategy. They were not concerned about securing the future of secularism in India. It was a grave mistake for which the bigger parties are to be blamed in a bigger way and smaller ones in smaller ways. Even in this situation BJP could gather only 37.4 percentage of votes and the NDA 45 percentage.

This shows that 55 per cent of electorates in India voted against the RSS controlled, BJP led NDA. This fact warrants serious introspection within all the opposition parties. If they were united on an anti fascist platform to defeat the BJP they could have won the battle. But due to lack of farsightedness they missed the train.

In this background the call of the CPI for the ‘reunification of the communist movement on a principled basis’ has special significance. Communists, with humility do accept that they are not such a big force to decide the destiny of nation singlehandedly. We are aware of the serious setbacks in recent elections. CPI and CPI(M) together have only five seats in the Lok Sabha — the ever lowest number in the history of Indian parliament. Even in communist strongholds both the parties lost miserably. Naturally the CPI and CPI(M) are obliged to look deep into the causes of the shameful defeat. Definitely the communists are not going to give up their struggles because of this electoral debacle. They have to be in the thick and thin of the mass struggles in the coming days. Communists have amble reasons to be proud of their glorious history of struggle and sacrifice.

Since the days of freedom struggle they were in the battlefield. It is the communists who put the agenda of complete independence before the freedom movement for the first time. In free India they fought for the cause of the oppressed in all walks of life. They were the first to raise the slogan of bank nationalisation and end of privy-purse. The communists fought against separatist forces in Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab for the unity of India. Hundreds of communists were martyred in these struggles. In Ayodhya they built the wall of love for communal harmony. They championed the cause of secularism wherever and whenever the communal forces came out to undermine the Indian concept of unity in diversity. In the ideological fight against fascism they are in the forefront. In that battle the communist Govind Pansare was shot down.

This great movement which was built on blood, sweat and tears of toiling masses cannot be towed down by an electoral defeat. But Communist movement based on the science of Marxism has no right to close its eyes to the reasons for this setback. Ideologically, politically and organisationally it should be prepared for an unconditional introspection. And those introspections should take place with the perception of a unified Communist movement. Fifty five years have passed after the split in the Indian Communist movement. The communists fought differently, the net result of which is now before everyone to evaluate. At this juncture the scientific understanding of Marxism, the Indian realities and the expectations of the downtrodden who regard the red flag as the flag of hope urge the communist parties to start thinking seriously about the reunification. The CPI knows that it is a process where ideological, political and organisational matters need to be discussed. That process has to begin now. If not now, then when? If not we, then who will do it? (IPA Service)