Struggling for an identity!

‘What Bengal thinks today India thinks tomorrow,’ famously said, Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Much water had flown since 1915, when Gokhale died. There is no doubt that Bengalis, once an outstanding community in India, have transformed into a standing out community. The community still loves to bask in the glory of the past, Tagore, Netaji and Satyajit Ray. The later intelligentsia seems nowhere near the high benchmarks their predecessors created.

Bengal has undergone a sea change. Engineering industries and jute mills dotted the lands around the once the British capital of India, Calcutta. The 1973 law limiting foreign capital in Indian companies suddenly saw a dearth of capital and stripping of assets by the new owners. Due to militant trade unionism, one factory after another was shut, many leaving the State for good.

Once after the partition of India and after the India-Pak war, the Bangladeshi immigrants tilted the balance of Bengal heavily and formed a formidable vote bank.

The left government merely left behind an insatiable hunger to protest at anything remotely viewed as capitalist or bourgeoise. The Bengalis forever endear Che Guevara, Vietnam, and Mao’s teachings which still live on many university campuses. The laid-back, critical basic traits of people remain unaltered.

West Bengal, by default, was blessed with poorer states all around, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Assam, Tripura and the N.E. States, besides Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The State, therefore, thrived as a trading centre for long. The development of these surrounding states has started denting the importance of Bengal.

The present Trinamool government, the vanquishers of the left, have inherited many ills from the past government. Their love for not disturbing farmlands for industry, the driving out a car project from Singur, the CM’s love for picking up a fight with the centre at the drop of a hat all indicate a deep indoctrination of the left ideologies, which refuse to die. The once notorious left ‘syndicates’ still control important commercial activities like loading, unloading, supply of building materials and labour etc., but under the Trinamool flag.

Bengalis will not take menial jobs, pull rickshaws, or clean the garbage, reserved for people decried as outsiders or bohiragoto at chosen times before every election. Every day at the railway stations, a striking feature repeats long queues of youths from Bengal’s many districts. They are moving away to every nook and corner of India, searching for jobs, including menial ones. It is anathema to even whisper of them in the State, as the State struggles to feed the youth with sops and subsidies in many forms.

The reasonable higher level of Bengal politics has sunk to low of lows. Defections and shameless returns to and from parties opposed in the core their values are rampant. The bhodrolok Bengali seems a hazy past, with which the present having no connection whatsoever. There is a struggle for identity, with many hating the present and reminiscing the past, but end up finding fault with all other states continuing to grow.

Talk to any local about lack of industries, and you will find a stream of statistics pouring out about a poorer Gujarat or U.P. For many, their State providing communal harmony is more satisfying than anything else. No doubt, all political parties have been invoking Bengal pride as a means to win elections, which momentarily erases all other ills.

Not letting one see reality is crucial for survival in politics, and the people seem to enjoy the eternal Mungerilal moments.

For now, it is Jai Durga! Enjoy the Puja holidays.

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix

Pic: Ragubir Yadav as the unforgettable Mungerilal!