[lbo-talk] MJ Akbar on the Indian election results

[Michael McIntyre]

M. J. Akbar has done some good stuff, but in the context of West Bengal he
has always been a spokesman for the anti-communist bhadralok.  It's not
clear that he has the data to show that there was a larger-than-normal
defection from the CPI(M)/LF among rural Bengali Muslims (I bet he
doesn't).  And he certainly has no data to support any kind of causal
inference.  He's not always a wanker, but he is here.

MM

On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 10:38 AM, ravi <ravi at platosbeard.org> wrote:


>
>
> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Columnists/M-J-Akbar-BJP-Left-face-dilemma/articleshow/4540877.cms
>
> His take on WB:
>
>  The national ethos is shaped by one predominant desire: the hunger for a
>> better life. Prosperity is impossible without peace, so the passions of
>> sectarian politics, whether based on community or caste, have been replaced
>> by the clear understanding that peace is non-negotiable. Prosperity, on the
>> other hand, has always been negotiable, since it has never been a universal
>> fact. India remains a poor country with rich people rather than the other
>> way around. The poor want to be part of the India Rising story.
>>
>> It is odd that the Marxists should have missed this. They lost the Muslim
>> vote in rural Bengal, not because of Islam but because of poverty. The
>> message from Nandigram and Singur was that land was being taken away from
>> the poor in order to create jobs for the middle class.
>>
>
>
>
>        --ravi
>
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