Anil Biswas, the State Secretary of the CPI(M) passed away yesterday. I am no fan of the CPI(M), and like most middle class Bengalis, I too regard them as hypocritical bourgeoisies as far removed from the Communist ideology as Sharon Stone is from the Palestinian peace process, or as Sushmita Sen is from Mother Teresa!!!!!
But politics apart, Anil Biswas was quite a man. The little master of the Communist Party, Anil was the spokesperson of the Party since the days I have learnt to spell “Communism”!!!! He had literally become the face of the CPM. The 7 PM news on DD 7 was never complete without his statements on Mamata di’s mental health, or on the threat of communalism, and even on Subhas Chakraborty. I still remember his statement on Subhash Chakraborty, after the Salt Lake Municipal Elections on Star Ananda “ O sob faltu kotha.Uni to orokom onek kothai bole thaken. uni amader sorkarer montri hote paren tobe onar sob kothay gurutto dewar kono proyojon nei” Oh!! The inimitable style.!!!!!
Anil had become synonymous with the CPM and the
Anil never had the charisma of Budhhadeb, the intellectual prowess of Prakash Karat, or the blue blood of Jyoti Basu. He was never quite the intellectual Marxist. Rather, he was CPI(M)’s Aam Aadmi, the man who rose in the Party ranks from the grassroots level, and driven much more by practical sense than by the Red Book. That is probably the reason why the average CPM worker identified with him more than with any other leader. He was The Chanakya of the Party, the man at the top of the much famed (and infamed) election machinery of the CPM (which, the detractors say, is the machinery of scientific rigging). However,Even his detractors will agree that his organisational skills were unmatched.
With the death of Anil, CPI (M) will lose a great strategist, a man who has always acted as a mediator between the hardline faction of the CPI (M), and the revisionists, like Bhattacharyay. His demise will make it difficult for the party to reconcile between factions with widely differing political ideologies and self interests.
To Comrade Anil Biswas, Laal Salaam .
5 comments:
interesting obituary that. had never heard of him though. hope that communism finds an appropriate successor.
Thankoo,thankoo.that was probably the fastest response I will ever recieve.making changes to my blog after a long time.taking the vow of keeping e regular blog for the umpteenth time!!!
its nice to read your post on Anilbabu. rarely doen anyone get to read about communist leaders. Lal Salaam!! indeed
He was very shrewd and one of his feats, if I can recollect properly, lead to the starting of Ganashakti (the CPIM party organ in Bengali). Before Ganashakti came into being, the paper (Deshobrati or something of that sort) was published by CPI(M). During mid-60s,the naxalite faction became prominent within CPI(M) and started controlling the party organ. To get the control of the organ back, CPI(M)/Anil Biswas played a trick. He forced the then editor to court arrest during a movement and then went to the Registrar of the newspaper and surrendered the ownership of the newspaper and started Ganashakti. Thus, his pragmatism, rather than ideology, made him an important person within CPI(M).
One good thing about the British empire, along with undoubtedly many bad things, is that it made India and the Philippines partly accessible to westerners. Most westerners cannot speak Hindi (acha hai, acha nahi, and chalo are my repertoire), but many Indians speak English.
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