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The Question of Leadership Romesh Thapar THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY January 20, 1962 Capital View The Question of Leadership Romesh Thapar WHILE Portuguese Ambassador to work out its own problems with­ such a way as to assure the domi­ Portier in Pakistan refuses to out being inhibited by the distant nance of certain leaders in the believe that Goa has 'fallen', over theorising of Moscow or Peking. States. The organisation men of here we seem to have forgotten the This, he believed, would enrich the the party have been tremendously recent emergency. The crowds in movement and help to create new impressed by the record of the Connaught Place have been doing concepts of internationalism. Madras leadership which, by com. the 'bhangru' to celebrate, of all It was interesting to study the mon consent, has managed to com­ things, that other victory — in Cri­ direction in which his mind was bine both efficiency and popularity. cket. Contractors are busy dismant­ working. He argued, passionately Now efforts are directed towards ling the Industries Fair, making for the need to work out a viable building a similar leadership in another tidy profit on waste mate­ system of organised and public other areas. In Andhra, Sanjivayya rials. At the same time, the first dissent within a Communist party is to be dropped for Sanjiva Reddy. outlines of a 'wireless scandal*, in and a Communist State, To him, In Mysore, Jatti for Nijalingappa. which Government is supposed to this appeared to be the crucial test The position in Gujarat is still have been swindled of lakhs of for the communist movement. He fluid although there has been vague rupees in the import from France was worried that the elections had talk about persuading Manubhai of wireless sets for use in the Nor­ intervened to prevent an immediate Shah. Bengal, too, presents a very thern border outposts, are beginning tackling of this fundamental issue complicated picture of opposing to take shape. This is small stuff, which would have a profound ef­ trends. Sukhadia in Rajasthan, but inevitably so. because the men fect on the whole range of Marxist- Chavan in Maharashtra and C B who make news are absent from Leninist theory and practice. Quite Gupta in Uttar Pradesh are con­ the capital and in the throes of clearly, his impatience was a poin­ sidered to be 'shaping' in the de­ electioneering. ter to a new and refreshed Ajoy sired direction. The Communist party of India Ghosh emerging from the cross­ In the other Stales, the need to has suffered a grievous blow on the fire of the debates in Moscow. Had build a 'second line of defence" is eve of the election. The death of he lived, he might even have play­ being stressed, Patnaik in Orissa Ajoy Ghosh has robbed the party ed a radical role in the controver­ hopes lo 'organise' a successor and of a powerful stabilising influence sies which now grip the communist move to the Centre because it is at a time when there was need for world, inadvisable to fuse the Chief Mini­ fundamental reassessments of the­ Who Will Take Over ? stership with his sizeable Kalinga ory and practice. Although his cri­ To a large extent, Ajoy Ghosh industrial interests. In the Punjiab, tics often complained that Ajoy managed to neutralise the faction Darbara Singh is being tutored by Ghosh was always for ' patching war within the C P I. Now that he Pratap Singh Kairon. Leadership up some sort of unity and thereby is not there, the old tensions will prospects remain gloomy in Assam. deprived the C P I of its dynamism rise to the top again. Political spe­ Bihar, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. in a crucial period, his supporters culation is confined to discussing And Maharashtra may require at­ were quick to point out that any who will take over the General tention if Chavan moves to the Cen­ other tactic would have led to the Secretaryship and what effect this tre to understudy the Prime Minis­ dissolution of the party. The truth will have on the unity of the C P I. ter; in the absence of an accepted probably lies somewhere in bet­ Will EMS Namboodiripad fill the national leader among the emerging elements, he is considered by many ween, and any impartial analysis gap or has he compromised himself as the ideal compromise between the of the last ten years would have with the 'China Wing' ? Is S A conflicting claims of North and to take note of the stabilising role Dange the natural successor or is South and the contending ideologi­ that Ajoy Ghosh played, particular, the job too strenuous for him now? cal groups within the party. ly in mass organisations impatient Are younger men to be given a chance ? Obviously, the C P I will to launch struggles. Of course the old debate conti­ seek to postpone the fateful deci­ The tragedy of his sudden death nues: should leadership be streng­ sion till after the elections. And is highlighted by a discussion I had thened at the Centre or at the State much will depend on these election with him only recently. He had level? Whether one likes it or not. results, returned from the Moscow Con­ there is little doubt that real power * * * gress confident that the time had is increasingly shifting to the States. arrived for a far-reaching re-exa­ The question of leadership as­ This is not apparent at the moment mination of the teaching and ex­ sails even more sharply the Con­ owing to the dominant role that perience of Marxism-Leninism. He gress party at all levels and Jawaharlal Nehru plays. Alter was convinced that in the era now throughout the country. At Jantar him. either the States will call the unfolding, an era in which the tri­ Mantar Road, the headquarters of tune or a group of like-minded umph of socialism was assured, the A I C C, an attempt is being State leaders consolidate at the each Communist party would have made to arrange election tickets in Centre. This probably explains 71 January 20, 1962 THE ECONOMIC WEEKLY the urgency with which Jantar Association. It is the biggest com terests in the history of jute pro­ Mantar Road views the problems bined effort by Commonwealth in- motion. of the emerging leadership in the States. * * * However visiting Delhi these days one would get the impression that we are all interested in the pro­ blems of education. The second Commonwealth Education Confer­ ence has brought delegates from far- flung areas of the world. The usual problems are under discussion with this difference — the delegates from the under-developed or develo­ ping areas have their eyes fixed on what aid they can obtain from the developed areas, The Conference has got bogged down somewhat in semantics because the technical words (fundamental education, basic education, etc, etc.) now in usage mean different things, to dif­ ferent people. This is a problem common to all Conferences these days, but one would have thought that the experts in education were free of it! Anyhow, what does it matter? There is a nip in the air. The threatened 'cold wave' has not come. The sun is warm. The trees are changing colour and shedding their leaves. Delhi is at her best, prepa­ ring for the Republic Day festivities. And here is something to think about. Until now, we have been amused by Pakistan's talk, every now and then, about the need for a 'corridor* to link her western and eastern parts. Report has it that the Maharashtra Government has sug­ gested that 'traffic corridors' be esta­ blished between Indian States to en­ able goods traffic by road to pass from one State through other States free of tax. Surely, there can't be two opinions on this. And what about the octroi posts which hold up the movement of goods within city limits? Promoting Use of Jute inCK A campaign to promote the use of jute goods in Britain has been launched by the Jute Promotional Council of Britain, India and Paki­ stan. The council was recently esta­ blished with the support of the Bri­ tish Jute Trade Federal Council, the Indian Jute Mills Association, the Pakistan Jute Milk Association, and the United Kingdom Jute Goods 72 .
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