Karat: Left parties still stuck in 1940s-Oct 25, 2010,

Karat: Left parties still stuck in 1940s

AGENCIES, Oct 25, 2010, 12.41am IST

(I AGREE WITH MR PRAKASH KARAT THAT TO UNDERSTAND INDIAN SOCIAL STRUCTURE ONE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE EXISTENCE AND IMPORTANCE OF CASTE AND RELIGION OF OUR COUNTRY,BUT AS OUR CONSTITUTION ALSO DEPICTS THAT WE ALL ARE EQUALS AND BECOZ OF CASTE,CREED,REGION,RELIGION,GENDRE,STRATA OR STATUS...NO ONE SHOULD BE DISCRIMINATED.THOUGH IT HAS GIVEN RESERVATIONS TO CERTAIN CASTES AND RELIGIONS,OR GENDRE,OR DIABLED ...SO THAT THEY CAN COMEOUT OF THEIR BACKWARDNESS AND JOIN MAINSTREAM FULLFLEGEDLY IN EQUAL LEVEL AND WITH EQUAL RIGHTS.PEOPLE SHOULDN'T BE JUDGED ONLY BY WHAT THEY GOT IN LEGACY,OR INHERITED BY BIRTH,BUT BY THEIR QUALITIES,HUMANITY IN THEM,QUALIFICATIONS,WHATEVER THEY EARNED THEMSELF OR DESERVE!!!...VIBHA)

Left parties still stuck in 1940s: Karat

CAMBRIDGE: In a candid overview of the state of the Left parties in India, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat has said that the Leftist forces, who were still "banking on the concepts and theories of the 1940s" needed to understand the sweeping changes being witnessed by the nation.

In one of the key presentations at the "Lessons of Empire" conference at the University of Cambridge in memory of noted Marxist historian Victor Kiernan, Karat admitted that Left parties were "deficient" in theory and needed to study and understand the new developments sweeping India.

Calling himself the only 'non-scholar' among the speakers that included academic stars such as Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Bayly, Karat recalled Kiernan's friendship with Indian Marxists such as P C Joshi and E M S Namboodiripad and recalled that he was always unrestrained in his criticism of some aspects of the Communist Party of India.

Recounting the genesis and history of India's Left, Karat recalled that Kiernan would often criticize the party leaders and cadre, some of whom he called the "cafe going intellectuals", for indulging in political gossip. agencies