KARL MARX GOES TO THE MARKET!

SUNNY THOMAS

Like monarchy, oligarchy and feudalism, Marx has disappeared from the political map of the world! The disappearance of the Soviet Union and the course correction of the Chinese economy from Marx to market have proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Marx was a grand illusion! Now even the ghost of Marx is being exorcised in Bengal by the stormy petrol Mamata and in Kerala by the swinging pendulum of power.

What Marx destroyed in Bengal was the industrial base and in Kerala the agricultural base – the state once known for its panoramic paddy fields, and blooming sugarcane flowers that wafted an aphrodisiacal aroma, and cashew fruits that drooped like the forbidden apple of the Garden of Eden! While cerebral Bengalis fled to other metros and prospered, Kerala’s paddy fields became the global showpieces of lifestyle mansions.  

As real estate zoomed, poverty is wiped out. Swiss-type villas with swimming pools and Turkish baths and tennis lawn and a mini hanging garden are in vogue. Metros like Kochi, Thiruvanamthapuram and Kottayam are magnets of real estate, setting new standards of opulence. Kerala’s craze for luxury cars can be seen from the brands on the road. 

 

A new breed of education mafia has emerged as if from nowhere. B-schools and medical and engineering colleges are sprawling across the landscape, who mistake real estate for education. Bribing to get the licence and to break all by-laws, some B-schools pay the future employers an entire year’s salary per student for campus recruitment so that they can advertise `cent percent placement’. Except education, they provide everything else, and the standards of students passing out are pathetic.

The only state in India where you can drive without licence is in God’s own country (but devils’ own people, say God’s own NRIs returning home). The number of young people dying is appalling, and almost always they are hit by tipper Lorries flying next to the speed of light along narrow and serpentine roads, under the influence of alcohol induced by `pan masala’ kept under the tongue.       

Kerala is notorious for political vendetta murders. A former Marxist leader, T P Chandrasekharan, was hacked to death, with 51 wounds, which show the savagery of operation and the desperation of the party. Leaders with mass appeal are hounded out by the KGB-type leadership and, in sheer disgust, some like the slain leader have left and joined other parties.  

Leadership is about saying the right thing the right way the right time. But Sushma Swaraj got it all wrong by telling the nation Vice President Ansari lacks the stature needed for a President. Of course, Ansari did not play the game that BJP wanted during the Lokpal drama in the Rajya Sabha. But by disqualifying Ansari in her statement, Sushma Swaraj has in fact disqualified herself from the 2014 prime ministerial race – assuming that perceptions give the psychological advantage.

The French presidential election proved the invincibility of substance over style. The least winnable candidate Francoise Hollande elaborated his pro-people program as lucidly as possible – subsidise water, electricity and fuel, generate 60,000 jobs for teachers, close down the oldest nuclear plant –  while Nicolas Sarkozy’s histrionics and swing to the right mid-stream with xenophobic anti-Muslim, anti-immigrants’ policies failed to win the nation’s endorsement. So the socialists are back after a 22-year hiatus in the Elysee Palace.    

The burglar did congratulate the house owner for installing the latest model burglar alarm. But he assured the house owner the alarm would go only after the burglars leave, just to inform that the act has been committed and that he can go back to sleep. Dr Manmohan Singh, the house owner, has been spoken to in Mandarin, soon after Agni V was launched, say rumour mills. (Our television editors insist that the Chinese premier and Pakistani President should have rang up our prime minister personally and congratulated him for installing the ballistic missile that could strike any of their cities at the press of a button!)