Not any late-night sporting events or movies, but rather the news channels explosive breaking news from every Bengali channel, had a significant negative impact on the idea of spending Sunday relaxing. I am sure the news editors were burning midnight oil like I was, until weariness took over in the wee hours of Sunday dawn as I frustratedly slept away.
The expectations rose after the verbal duel between West Bengal Governor Dr. Ananda Bose and the X-handled response of the State Education Minister, Shri Bratya Basu. The empty sword swinging in the air soon clinked and clanged to the merriment of the crowds. One of them was a hero and the other a villain, and it was difficult to say who was which, like in OTT serials, which hide the fact until the last sequence.
The calling of names climaxed with Bratya calling the governor a vampire when the governor promised a show of ‘action’ by midnight. The governor summons the Chief Secretary on a Saturday night, when senior bureaucrats enjoy a steaming cuppa with biskoot or a sippa on the rocks with some kebabs. The governor sending a letter to the CM through the Chief Secretary is not normal, but I can visualize moist crackers, which will not cause any sound or light.
Down south, there was a different drama enacted. Chandra Babu Naidu, who reigned over Andhra Pradesh as the emperor—ooops, the Chief Minister—until a few years ago, was arrested on corruption charges over skill development funds. I was imagining his appearance before the court, with the judge demanding evidence for the alleged crime. The prosecutor responds, “Milord, we are seriously investigating. Please realize that it was a serious crime amounting to Rs 241 crores, skilfully done in the Skill Development Funds. The defence replies, Milord, that’s a political witch hunt. If Naidu had skilfully skimmed through the skill development fund, he would not have been arrested. The judge, scratching his head, replies, “It is unskilled then. I have to weigh the balance between skilled and unskilled and shall revert after a while,” adjourning the court.
I imagine the scenario and sink into depression. Where is a state that until the other day was one of the poorest states in India, and where’s West Bengal, which was always leading from the economy to protests? Here we have a former minister, who is still a party functionary, who has been languishing in jail for more than a year for alleged skimming recruits in his department, which was a fraction of what Naidu’s haul is alleged by the government. Has Bengal truly become poor, unlike the tall claims by the former finance minister and the present chief economic advisor of the state, Dr. Amit Mitra? God alone can answer.
Talking of God, I am happy to live in West Bengal, where God is not really a critical factor in clinching poll victories like in Tamil Nadu or U.P. However, ‘Jai Shri Ram,’ as a war cry, has floundered with the Dhupguri loss of the BJP. I hear whispers of a ‘Vande Bharatam’ as the new offer, with the ‘am’ added to Bharat to help differentiate from the relabelled trains with higher ticket costs.
I am sure I can’t be more boring than ‘Jailer’ and ‘Jawan,’ running to full houses in empty halls but minting crores in collection. I always wonder how!
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
