- I don't care about how many Aparna Sens, Mrinal Sens walk or protest. I never appreciated any of their works. However a Shirshendu Mukherjee or Rituparno Ghosh walking in protest disturbs me.
- There was (I guess time has come to used past tense) a resurgent bengal till yesterday. May be it was the markets, the world-scenario, stars aligning.. Whatever it was/were, there was also one indisputable force behind it all. Buddhadev Bhattacharya.
- I can blame CPIM for one thing. Systematically destroying meritocracy in past 30 years. Every government post is populated on the basis of party-loyalty. Had there been an efficient police force (instead of a bunch of incompetent party-loyalists), Nandigram could have long been under control. No drastic measure would have been required.
- Left-front screwed up every aspect of administration for 30 years. Now that they are looking for development, their own folly is catching up with them. Ultimately bengal loses.
- The poets/art-film-directors-who-never-make-profit must rejoice. They will get more poverty/wretchedness around to serve as inspiration for their next masterpiece. Watch out folks for another barrage of Cannes/Oscar/noble-peace/noble-literature medals from 'supremely talented' bengal.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Nandigram
I am a bong staying outside west-bengal. I do not have all the facts in my hand. Should I feel anything for nandigram? Won't the feelings be half-baked, or for that matter utterly-wrong? Moreover I do not vote in west-bengal. So I am a perfect nobody. However this is my blog-space and I will rant here now.
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2 comments:
Well, this is the complain of most of the bengalis I meet - that CPM is the root cause of all the evils existing in WB. And why not, they have been in power for so long that perhaps 80% people in the state would not have seen another party's rule.
BUT.
What u guys forget it, it is also ROOT CAUSE of all the evils which are non-existent in WB. If you get an opportunity to live in UP / Bihar / any north indian state - perhaps you will know what I mean. That WB is not UP / Bihar - is CPM's gift.
Cherish it.
Ending with following somethings which immediately come to mind - crime rate in rest of indian cities has been increasing (as one would have believed) but in Kolkata, that is going down. And, I am quoting Amartya Sen Sir here, crime per capita wise it is the best city in the world.
No farmers suicides. Not many dowry deaths. No honor killings. A city where still book fare is almost as big a festival as pooja. A state where govt education also is such that u may find many of them teaching in east coast campuses. etc. etc.
I was once discussing with a friend of mine in US (a bengali US citizen who lived in USSR, then Russia, then various capitals of europe before settling in US :)) - and he told me this: Look shadkam, the problem with commies is, they know how to provide a basic set of amenities, i.e. how to bring out people from absolute poverty to lowest middle classes - but after that they dont know what to do. Whereas people's aspirations / expectations keep on rising (and they should). Hence, for first few years / decades, they seem to be doing very well, but after that they become stagnant. That is what happened in the USSR, Cuba, and perhaps this is what is happening in WB today. I could not agree more.
Thanks Shad. It is always nice to hear somebody saying nice things about bengal. I never blamed left-front for everything bad with bengal. However I do stick to the view that left-front has sought to impose total control on all government owned institutions, including police. Meritocracy has been heavily compromised in west-bengal. (May be in other states too, but that is not my point).
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