Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD
Get unlimited access to 10,000+ magazines, newspapers and Premium stories for just
Try GOLD - Free
Why Left can be right
Business Standard
|January 28, 2026
If you're looking for a sophisticated treatise on Marxism and the nature of the state for example, or Eurocommunism, or Marxism and phenomenology, you won't find it here.
This is a book by an activist, one who moved from holding a corporate job to realpolitik. Saira Shah Halim made her political debut in March 2022, contesting on a Communist Party of India (Marxist) ticket in the Ballygunge Assembly by-poll in West Bengal.
Though she lost the election, she managed to increase the Communist Party of India (Marxist)'s vote share from five per cent to 30 per cent - an unexpected outcome. In this book, she offers a potted history of the Left in India, its high and low points, and suggests to all readers but especially those from GenZ, that Communism is cool, Kerala rocks, and revolution, like good biryani, can't be rushed.
This story is from the January 28, 2026 edition of Business Standard.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM Business Standard
Business Standard
Metro vs road: Survey flags citizen conduct dichotomy
Why do Indians behave “impeccably” on metro trains but become unruly on the road or other public transit options?
1 min
January 30, 2026
Business Standard
Services sector a growth anchor, but skill gaps creating challenges
SERVICIFICATION OF MANUFACTURING
2 mins
January 30, 2026
Business Standard
In a fragile world
Economic Survey will enable informed debates
2 mins
January 30, 2026
Business Standard
Bid to address material intensity in renewables, cross-subsidy in power
The Economic Survey 2025-26 tabled in Parliament on Thursday highlighted two big issues that must be addressed urgently for the growth of India’s energy sector.
2 mins
January 30, 2026
Business Standard
After UPI, Indian payment players look to foreign shores
As Indian fintech companies contend with thin margins in the domestic payment market dominated by the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), executives Arif Khan, chief innovation officer at Razorpay; Harsh Gupta, chief revenue officer at Cashfree Payments; Sanjay Tripathy, cofounder and chief executive officer of BriskPe; and Rahul Jain, chief financial officer at NTT Data Payment Services, speak to Ajinkya Kawale at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2025 about how global expansion is becoming central to long-term growth strategies.
2 mins
January 30, 2026
Business Standard
Starmer, Xi hail a reset in ties, helped by $15 billion AstraZeneca investment
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday told UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer that the two countries, as supporters of free trade, should jointly advocate and practice true multilateralism.
1 mins
January 30, 2026
Business Standard
Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon in talks to invest up to $60 billion in OpenAl
Nvidia Corp, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc are in discussions to invest as much as $60 billion in OpenAl as part of a major new funding round, the Information reported, citing people familiar with the talks.
1 min
January 30, 2026
Business Standard
Unconditional cash transfers a risk to states’ borrowing
NEED FOR REPRIORITISATION
2 mins
January 30, 2026
Business Standard
More usage, less spending: How Indians are changing credit card habits
Indians are adjusting their spending behaviour amid higher costs, tighter credit conditions and changing reward structures. According to December 2025 credit card data, transaction volumes continue to rise sharply, even as spending growth slows and average ticket sizes decline.
1 min
January 30, 2026
Business Standard
Weighting of food and beverages to be cut in new CPI series
India’s inflation measurement framework is set to undergo a structural shift, with the weighting sof food and beverages in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) proposed to be sharply reduced in the new series to 36.75 per cent from 45.86 per cent in the current 2011-12 series.
1 mins
January 30, 2026
Listen
Translate
Change font size