The article entitled `Modi’s visit to the US’ that carries the byline in the title `In service of the imperialist drive of the Indian big bourgeoisie’ in the October 15-31, 2015 issue of MEL was very informative.
The article entitled `Modi’s visit to the US’ that carries the byline in the title `In service of the imperialist drive of the Indian big bourgeoisie’ in the October 15-31, 2015 issue of MEL was very informative. It is very important to constantly remind the conscious public that the Indian bourgeoisie is a thoroughly reactionary one, and also to study their machinations against the concrete conditions that history presents itself. Exactly how does one see this imperialist yearning of the big bourgeoisie and study its implications? It would be wrong and dangerous to think that in the post-cold war era, the world is a unipolar one, albeit one in which the dominance of the US is the leading cause of the disorder and chaos. It is not as if other imperialist powers and those aspiring to be one are any better. Thus under pseudo-nationalist pressure, one may be tempted to think that opposing US is equivalent to opposing imperialism.
In the present context, the visit of the PM to the US was coinciding with the 70th General Assembly of the UN, which is the one that is meant to embody the founding principles of the organization. In reality, the UN has inbuilt inequity with the dominance of the Security Council and in particular the fact that it has 5 permanent members with veto powers. While it is clear that 4 of these were the victors of the World War II and the 5th being China which was offered this sop to bring it into the `comity of nations’, fundamentally the inequitous nature of the organization has meant that some nations have more rights than others. Rather than fight to rectify this situation, the aspiring powers are campaining to obtain such privileges for themeselves, not the least of which is India, which are long argued that as the `world’s largest democracy’ they are entitled to such a privilege. It is the world’s largest democracy where the people have no rights, where the state has the most draconian of powers, where the constituting nations are crushed on a daily basis, where the bulk lives below a level that can ensure a human existence.
The reputation of India in its own neighbourhood is mud, as it has repeatedly bullied its neighbours, large and small and is not trusted by anyone. This being the case, it provides the ruling class an opportunity to explain what is what and to put forward its own agenda and to help contain and defeat imperialist aims of the Indian bourgeoisie.
It may also be noted that during the visit to the US, the PM who is a darling of the media also rolled out the red carpet for all the big international corporate bosses to come and do business in India and has promised deep reforms, which is a code word for curbing the rights of labour and enhancing the right of capital to willy-nilly pocket the largest profits. Large military contracts were handed out, which again speak volumes for the expansionist ambitions of India. Let us use this evidence to organize and put forward our own vision.
Sincerely,
A. Narayan, Bangalore