Not much is left of - and for - the Left in India. Most of the ideas that the leftists once stood for are either totally discredited or taken over, regrettably from The Telegraph's point of view, by other parties. Competitive radicalism by most parties has left little space for the Left to claim it as its own. The decision by Narendra Modi's government to invest in public sector steel plants in order to keep them afloat, for instance, is as much left-wing politics as Mamata Banerjee's populism. The Indian Left's opposition to foreign investment smacks of the kind of xenophobia that is indistinguishable from the economic ideas of a section of the Bharatiya Janata Party, especially the Swadeshi Jagran Manch. Left in the lurch, the comrades periodically put up Quixotic shows, charging at illusory political windmills. Not even their own ranks are really amused by these. One such show was the 'march' to the seat of the West Bengal government's headquarters last week, in which scores of policemen and leftist campaigners were injured. With nothing better to offer to the people, the Left leaders decided that pelting stones at hapless policemen was a possible path to revolution. They must be exceptionally naïve not to see the absurdity of it all.

It is not just an ageing leadership or an outdated organizational structure that is at the root of the Left's decline and irrelevance. Fundamental to it is the leftists' inability to reinvent themselves in the light of the dramatically changed economic and political scenarios. The Left's ideology is supposed to have a global appeal, but it sits uneasily with today's globalized economy. As a result, leftist politics in India is reduced to obscurantist obstructionism and clichés. The United States of America and the capitalism it represents must, therefore, be at the heart of all the world's problems. Communist China, on the other hand, can do no wrong. This shows how the Indian Left remains a prisoner of its past. Little wonder that leftist parties attract few professionals and young people, for whom the comrades' fossilized politics makes no sense in their technology-driven lives. The leftists could possibly have regained some relevance if they learnt to align with other parties. For instance, they could make a common cause with the Congress in Bengal to take on the 'authoritarian' Ms Banerjee. But the leftists love their isolation, which is anything but splendid.