The recent, unfortunate murder of a popular, Punjabi singer, Sidhu Moose Wala, has made the headlines of various international, news channels. Also, this has shocked his fans, driving them into anger and sorrow. Although, killing some person, until and unless it’s not in the favour of the great masses, is to be condemned, but, we must politically analyse this incident, as it is affecting the masses in one way or another.
As it is a piece of popular news, some opportunists are using it to gain the popular support of the people, and on some level, to gain the sympathy of the feudal caste and upper class that Moose Wala always had represented. In this article, I will mainly focus on the “mainstream”, “communist” parties, while critically analysing Moose Wala.
After his death, the Students’ Federation of India (University of Delhi) held a condolence meeting. On the other hand, the All India Students’ Association (Punjab) organised a justice march for him. One could argue saying what is wrong with organising meetings and marches on some person’s death. And, to some extent, they might be right too.
But, here, we need to check the politics behind all these sympathies. To analyse the same, we need to analyse some positions of the abovementioned parties and relate Moose Wala with the same, to expose the opportunism of these parties and the revision of the revolutionary, Marxist line towards vulgar politics, for grabbing votes of the masses following the populist politics path.
The Question Of Caste And Land
“The Students’ Federation of India, along with other progressive forces, stands committed to fight against the stranglehold of feudal and casteist values and rituals that severely impair the advancement of democratic consciousness among the masses. A radical social reform movement together with the fight against feudal land relations along with other democratic and progressive forces is an important part of Students’ Federation of India’s agenda to develop democratic consciousness among the vast toiling sections,” reads the aims and objectives section, of the programme and constitution of the SFI.
“…feudal survivals in league with growing corporate control over the country’s economic lifelines and institutions of parliamentary democracy retard and distort the development of productive forces and act as the biggest stumbling block to a thorough democratization of Indian society and polity,” reads the general programme of Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation.
If we put the debate of production relations aside (not ignoring it) for the sake of argument, we can see that the aims and understanding of the abovementioned organisations, seem to be progressive and anti-feudal, just the opposite of what Moose Wala has always glamourised in his songs.
They seem to be committed to fighting against the feudal elements of the society, whereas Moose Wala in his songs, such as “Jatt Da Muqabla”, “Issa Jatt” and many others, has always represented the Jatts (upper caste), from which most of the landlords of Punjab belong.
Here, one can argue that Jatts also consist of poor peasants and oppressed, but only an opportunist can see the picture of a poor jatt from the majority of his songs (where he used to ride in G-class cars). Thus, such an argument only deserves a big laugh. I did the same when some intellectual friends stated that Moose Wala promoted the rural life and villages of Punjab.
My innocent friends have ignored the class-caste compositions in rural India. Moose Wala previously had three acres of land, whereas through his fame, he acquired 60 acres and put on the bodice of a feudal landlord. This can be seen from his lifestyle—he built a haveli (a traditional, feudal landlord’s house).
He was only seen driving a tractor (leaving the manual labour to the landless labourers) with a big music system. Playin loud music on tractors was not acceptable for the longest time in Punjab, but was normalised by today’s singers, of which Moose Wala was also a part.
His feudal character is clear from both, his songs and real-life practices. Thus, criticising such feudal elements of the society on the one hand, and using the same feudal elements to get to the masses for fulfilling one’s desires to hold power in the current structure, can never be the communist understanding. It is nothing but a wholly opportunistic method of grabbing votes.
Of Punjabi Folk Culture
“…promotion of a democratic and progressive socio-cultural milieu in place of decadent feudal and imperialist culture, encouraging the rich cultural heritages of our people while promoting all modern cultural forms and disciplines,” reads the general programme of the CPI(ML).
“The Students’ Federation of India firmly resists all attempts to mutilate the mosaic of our varied and pluralistic culture while firmly rejecting the influence of the colonial-feudal culture. It stands committed to steadfastly promote the development of people’s culture based on modern, scientific progressive and humanitarian values,” reads the programme, aims and objectives section, of the programme and constitution of the SFI.
In the meeting held by the SFI (DU), they have stated that Moose Wala always promoted Punjabi folk culture, in proof of what they defined as the Punjabi folk culture, be it the love element derived from the story of Heer-Ranjha, or the warrior element from the story of Mirza-Sahiba, as Mirza took the “warrior’s” path to get to his love.
Any Punjabi would be full of anger after listening to such kind of statements. The SFI must apologise to the Punjabi people for such wrongful interpretation of Punjabi culture. Also, it must take classes on the Punjabi culture of their cadre.
The warrior of Punjab was never any Mirza. The real warriors were the mass leaders such as Guru Gobind Singh, Banda Singh Bahadur, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Bhagat Singh, Baba Bujha Singh, and many more revolutionaries, who fought for the masses and gave the Punjabi people a revolutionary legacy.
In Punjab’s folk music, “Vaar” is a famous form of singing in which the stories of Punjabi warriors are sung. Historically, Vaar is sung to enhance the morale of the people ready for war against the ruling structures, for their land and respect, but never for any person going to get one’s love.
On the other hand, the hollowness in their political line and opportunistic tactics got exposed, as they never remember Punjab’s celebrated, revolutionary poets such as Paash, Lal Singh Dil and Sant Ram Uddasi. Even the recently martyred, cultural activist from Andhra Pradesh, Dappu Ramesh, hasn’t got any place in programs of today’s “communist” parties.
Coming back to Moose Wala, he never upheld the Punjabi culture that the masses practice, but only glamourised feudal, landlord practices. And, whereever it was portrayed by him, he used it for his individualistic glamour. For example, when he call himself Paash in a song named “G-class”.
Also, the symbol which he always proudly hailed i.e., hitting his thigh and raising his finger in the air, which has also been glamourised by his fans today, including the leftists, has always been a symbol of feudal pride. A Dalit would never be allowed to perform such a symbol in a village, especially in front of the so-called “upper” castes.
The Question Of Women
“It commits to fight all patriarchal values and practices which draw their basis both from the remnants of feudal relations, outmoded ways of thought and from the commodification of women under capitalism,” reads the programme, aims and objectives section, of the programme and constitution of the SFI.
The songs of Moose Wala have done nothing good for women, but showed them as a subordinate part to men, and also, as a big hurdle in the way of a “mard’s” (man) pride. Songs like “Tochan” have degraded women to a thing that can be pulled by someone muscular i.e. men, even if she is not willing.
Songs like “Jatti Jeone Morh Vargi” never helped in the betterment of women’s position in society, but was just a glamourisation of upper caste women, who are more “masculine” than other women, and are equivalent to men.
Even the argument that he had evolved with time, has no place because most of his recent songs show the same nature such as songs from the previous year, such as “Brown Shortie”. Thus, idealising such a person without any critical analysis, will automatically lead us to an anti-women stand.
On The Question Of Violence
On this question, leftists got divided into two sections: one, that is clever, and the other, the innocent ones. The clever ones are those who “do not” uphold the violence and very cleverly tried to dodge the question of this promotion of feudal violence with an argument of selective criticism.
On the other hand, the innocent ones got confused and lacked to differentiate between feudal violence and revolutionary violence. Not every person with a gun is a liberator. Our comrades must understand that a revolutionary cannot uphold every kind of violence.
There is always an idea that handles the gun, and until and unless that idea is anti-people, the power which is going to flow from the barrel of the gun will continue to be anti-people.
The “communists” who never uphold the Naxalbari movement and other radical actions of the masses, state them as immature and also run away from the radical actions’ responsibility, openly support Sidhu Moose Wala, even after his stand of feudal violence, which is only going to attack the oppressed.
The irony is such that they do not support Punjab’s struggle for her identity which was even supported by Moose Wala to some extent.
Moose Wala And The Kisan Andolan
When the Kisan Andolan (farmers’ movement) started in 2020, it affected a large section of society. Various artists were also involved, especially artists from Punjab. During that period, the major section of Punjabi singers came out in support of the Kisan Andolan. Therefore, Moose Wala also joined the same, and for this, he must be appreciated.
But, today, some people are portraying him as the sole singer who came out in support of the Kisan Andolan and influenced it by his presence… Whereas it is the other way around! The Kisan Andolan is what influenced Sidhu Moose Wala and not vice-versa.
I am not ignoring the support and work he did for gathering people during the Andolan, but we must understand that the Kisan Andolan was a mass movement that brought along self the major influencer sections, such as singers, actors, artists and even kisan leaders.
Why Is The Left Lured By Moose Wala Now?
Even though I have criticised Moose Wala throughout the article, I must acknowledge one thing about him—he has a huge fan base. So, to attract the masses towards themselves, many political parties are in the race. This disease of populist politics has also infected the “communist” parties.
They lack the courage of taking a Marxist position on this issue. To lure the masses for gaining the vote banks, these parties can be seen allying with the feudal forces. Moose Wala being most popular amongst the Jatt and Jat communities of Punjab and Haryana respectively, is being celebrated as a hero.
Thus, these parties can be seen allying with the Jats. to attract them for the next elections. For example, the recent fight between the SFI and Jat group in DU, became popular news merely a day before the SFI compromised with them.
Progressive circles have been angry about this act and can now see Jat groups sharing SFI programs, and the Jat group’s posts have been shared by the SFI state committee’s members.
This vulgar nexus of politics shows the casteist mindset of “communists”, as they are ready to ally with feudal forces and even with their lumpen elements, to share a dominant position on campus.
What Can Be Done To Counter This Nexus?
First of all, the revisionist and opportunistic politics of these “communist” groups must be exposed. They must be stated as backstabbers of the masses. When one asks them for revolution, they state that the masses are not yet ready for the revolution.
But, they haven’t made any efforts to guide them in the right direction. Instead, they are busy capturing the votes of the masses with some charity. They very openly uphold the feudal character of electoral politics and are very happy to be a part of the same.
They are concerned with gaining the majority in the universal adult suffrage, instead of challenging the state. Instead of seizing the power by the great masses, they grab popular incidents, while leaving aside the real questions of the masses.
This can also be seen when these groups forget to remember the attack on Punjab’s dignity in 1984, which also occurred in the same month i.e., the first week of June, whereas they seem to be on the state’s side itself on the face of it.
Also, four years of the incarceration of Bhima Koregaon’s political prisoners, was entirely forgotten. There were no marches or meetings held on June 6.
Secondly, the propagation of real revolutionary politics is a necessary task for the communists. Combating revisionism is the only way against these groups can hope to establish a true Marxist line for a truly democratic society. Lenin, in 1918, exposed Kautsky’s opportunism, which can also be found to be true within today’s revisionists in the country.
Lenin said the following during the proletarian revolution about the renegade Kautsky:
“Kautsky takes from Marxism what is acceptable to the liberals, to the bourgeoisie (the criticism of the Middle Ages, and the progressive historical role of capitalism in general and of capitalist democracy in particular), and discards, passes over in silence, glosses over all that in Marxism which is unacceptable to the bourgeoisie (the revolutionary violence of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie for the latter’s destruction). That is why Kautsky, by virtue of his objective position and irrespective of what his subjective convictions may be, inevitably proves to be a lackey of the bourgeoisie.”
Thus, these “communists” are just not innocently derailed and going with the flow of the movement, but deliberately compromising on the revolutionary direction of the masses, with their liberal-petty bourgeoisie, which has a special mix of feudal class character.
A true revolutionary movement and ideological struggle, can only be the solution to this revisionism. Comrades must sweat to earn the trust of the people, which we have lost due to the traitors of the people’s movement.