People say Indian communism is at the crossroads and at no time has this been more evident than the last few weeks. In an effort to reinvent itself, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has decided to look for new heroes. So, if the party’s Kerala faction chose to portray Jesus Christ as the biggest revolutionary, the West Bengal group has jumped on the spirituality bandwagon in the run-up to its state conference this week. Instead of the standard posters of Marx, Engels and Lenin, it has chosen photos of Swami Vivekanda and Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray along with its party secretaries. If we exclude Ray who was a dedicated chemist and founder of Bengal Chemicals, it is possible to conclude that religion has become the opiate of Indian communism.
