By Rajan Narayan

THE founder of Communism, Karl Marx, continues to have a major influence on governments and political parties in India. Karl Marx wrote his book ‘Das Kapital’ in the light of the industrial revolution in the United Kingdom. It was a time when craftsman was replaced by assembly line production in factories. In the new style of industrial production, workers only created or assembled a very small part of the products.
For instance, in the manufacture of cars different workers would place the wheels and various parts of the car’s body. Karl Marx dramatized how owners of factories made all the profits while the laborers were given only a fraction of the value of their work.
It is this system of good distribution that led to the revolt against royal monarchy in Soviet Russia. The Marxist leader Vladimir Lenin led a revolution against the greed of the rulers of Russia. All the factories were taken over and run by the state.
After the successful revolution in the Soviet Union, Mao Zedong led the Chinese revolution. In a long march covering over 1,000 miles, Mao managed to topple the Chinese rulers and take over the economy of the state. Many of the smaller countries like Cuba and the Venezuela have adopted what is called the Marxist model of governance.

NAXALITE INSPIRATION
IN India, Karl Marx was the inspiration for the Naxalite movement. Though the Naxals in India were followers of Mao, the Naxal movement was started by Charu Mazumdar, founder of the Communist Party of India (CPI), who preached violent protests against the rich landlords and factory owners for exploitation of workers. The centre of the revolt was Naxal Bari in West Bengal.
The Naxalite movement led by young people spread to Nagpur, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. A certain group of revolutionaries also functioned in the urban areas. Even now the Naxals are active in various parts of the country. It may be mentioned that some of the brightest and best in the country joined the Naxal movement.
In the 70s and 80s owning a copy of Mao’s thoughts was not considered a crime. Narendra Modi, however, wants to eliminate every communist in the country. At the political level the Communist Party of Marxists (CPM) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) when they were in power in Kerala took over agricultural land of the landlords and distributed it to landless labor. In Goa, the first chief minister of Goa, Bhausaheb Dayanand Bandodkar introduced the Goa Daman & Diu Mundkars (Protection from Eviction) Act in 1975. Under this act tenants who cultivated the landlord could buy over the land they tilled at a token price.

BACK TO KARL MARX?
NOW Rahul Gandhi has brought Karl Marx back in the political debate in the run-up to the parliamentary elections. The Congress manifesto has recommended a socio-economic survey to identify income inequalities. The Congress believes that during the 14 years of Narendra Modi rule the richest one per cent have acquired control over 60% of the wealth of the nation.
Rahul Gandhi suggests of the Congress to power it will re-distribute wealth so that the poorest of the poor benefit from progressive development. Economic advisor to the Gandhi family, Sam Pitroda, suggests the introduction of wealth and inheritance tax which is up to 60% in the developed countries. Both in the United Kingdom and the United States the super-rich are heavily taxes upon assets when there is a death in the family. Wealthy industrialist families will be affected.
Reportedly the biggest industrialists and businessmen in the United States are giving away the major part of their wealth to fund education and health issues like epidemics and polio vaccination drives, as also Covid. In India, IT companies like INFOSYS have allotted shares even to drivers and security staff. The only problem is most of our biggest industrial houses like the Adanis and Ambanis do not share their wealth but amass it for themselves and various family members.
Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly made the charge that the Ambanis and the Adanis are the biggest beneficiaries of Narendra Modi’s favors in business contracts. Unlike the owners of Microsoft or even Google and Meta the owners of Indian companies pass on the business to their sons and daughters and do not hire professionals.
Modi has interpreted Rahul’s call for reducing inequalities in income to the Congress grabbing the “mangalsutra” of Hindu women. Modi has gone to the extent of claiming that if the people vote the Congress back to power wealth will be seized from majority Hindus and given to Muslims as minority community.

CLEVER INTERPRETATION
SUCH an interpretation aims to create fear in the minds of Hindu voters who form over 80% of the population. Rahul Gandhi believes that Other Backward Classes (OBC), Schedule Tribe (ST), Schedule Caste (SC) and minorities account for 90% of the population. Apparently these underprivileged classes have not benefited from the BJP’s Narendra Modi governance. Of the deprived section of society, the scheduled caste and scheduled tribes and some Muslim sections are the poorest. It is partly because these sections have not had access to education and economic opportunities.
So the current ongoing parliamentary election has become a war between the BJP, which supports big business, and Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party which seems to be leaning towards Communism or Marxist thinking.
There are no two questions about the need for redistribution of wealth in India. The question is how this has to be done. The rich are not going to give up their wealth generously or voluntarily. Amongst the largest companies in India, Tata Consultancy Services, which hires over ten lakh employees, does not have any major shareholding by the Tata family. In fact, K Shrinivasan, chairman, and chief executives of TCS are professionals.
This is also true of INFOYS where Narayan Murthy’s family has less than 5% of company share and is not involved in the management of the company. It would be ideal if the super-rich in this country voluntarily shared wealth with the poor of India, but will they?