So, the shooting over a disputed penalty and angry crowds putting a small section of the Vedic Village resort has indeed proved to be an event pregnant with promising entertainment value creation. As if none at all - the political parties, the State Government and the police - were remotely aware of the operation of the land and construction mafia throughout West Bengal before the media started gathering public opinion and facts after the fire in the Vedic Village. After all the victims of land grabbing reported formally to the police in the past! And, the police cannot act suo motto and prevent crime: they can investgate and take action after a crime has been committed and reproted to them. Poor small landowners are therefore to be blamed: they need to be careful especially police cannot deal with cases where the evidence of crime does not get created.
Individual political parties claimed no connection with the mafia people but they claim other parties have links with the mafia. Therefore, instead of referring to land/building mafia political leaders and cadres, the media refers to the operators as political-party mafia guest / accommodated ( X or Y rajnaitik dal aashrito). Thus, the message is clear that the political parties are clean: only mafias have taken advantage of the political parties, their leaders and ministers by colluding with the certain sections of the administration, businessmen and the police. Now, that all parties have cleared themselves off the alleged wrong-doings, investigations must start: all the political parties have started demanded thorough and independent investigations. So, the Chief Minister has given instructions to start impartial and unbiased investigations and expedite the process of booking the wrong-doers. The conclusions of investigations are clearly obvious: no political leaders, no political party and high-level bureaucracy can be found to be wrong-doers: they are only victims out of their ignorance or their association with the public in general (they never know who is a bad person or not and yet they have the need to meet everyone possible to extend their help). The investigations will be several fold now against each alleged crime: shooting by gangsters in the football field killing one, arson and vandalism in Vedic Village resort (Vedic Village is the sufferer here), the storage of illegal arms in Vedic Village compound or other areas which Vedic Village can say that the arms storage go-down (garrison of the mafia) as not really owned by them, the people who helped Gaffar, the mafia don, to escape, the people who forced small land owners to sale their land to Gaffar or the Vedic Village through intimidation and/or at gun point, the people responsible for giving large tract of Government land at low prices to Vedic Village, the people who organized or supported illegal or anti-social activities being conducted within the premises of the Vedic Village, and the policemen concerned who have failed to investigate and take appropriate actions against land mafia operation in the Rajarhat area and areas around Vedic Village.
The Vedic Village started operation at decade back and mafia operation may have started 15 years back. Naturally, so many investigations may take time enough for the public to forget these issues. The conclusions can be anticipate: no political party and leader is implicated, nor are the high officials in the bureaucracy: some individuals in the public, some mafia operators, some innocent people who were among the crowds that invader Vedic Village and put it on fire will be charge sheeted and then the Court cases will take their own time. Land grabbing business through mafia mechanism being so lucrative, this may continue.
All this is what the politicians hope. They are right insofar as the investigation issues now being raised are concerned. But the complex web of corruption, manipulation and money-making that political party activity, legislative activity and political administration activity in the last 60 years have caused to create, no one can predict at what frequency scandals and image-breaking incidents will occur in future. If a small football tournament game dispute can give rise to such great entertainment, the credibility of West Bengal’s hi-fi political consciousness can witness repeated attacks from unpredictable sources.
So, entertainment outlook appears highly interesting, positive and stable.
In the backdrop of all these, India is marching ahead. Women are in focus; Mamata earned award for the Railways’ contribution to sports and appreciation for the commendable work she has done for the Government during its first 100 days of rule, Mayavati has told her supporters not to raise money on the occasion of her next Birthday, and Sushma Swaraj is almost set to win the post of BJP President ship or Parliament’s Opposition Leader. And, of course, The Telegraph Education Foundation has done all proud by honoring exceptional women in different spheres of life. Just visit http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090830/jsp/frontpage/story_11427767.jsp The Telegraph Kolkata of 30 August 2009..
The battle over political party rule in colleges does not seem to be over yet. Taxing students’ family income is not a business that will be given up so easily. Besides, there are privileges to be fight for: getting promoted after failing to score in the examinations at Jadavpur University. The Colleges and University Chiefs are having tough time: all are awaiting the CPM-alleged politically-biased Governor’s initiative to rescue them and academic studies from doldrums.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Mamata's Show Amidst Fights Everywhere
The CPM has been rather quiet after Governor's letter to Biman Bose: maybe pusuing the strategy of questioning the neutrality of the Governor was yielding more bitter fruits than sweet ones. CPM has therefore shifted to the strategy that worked about half a century back: the one that brought many like Subhas Chakraborty to become leaders. Blame the ultimate devil and crook responsible for whatever bad happens in this World: America. Biman Bose has found out that America is giving money to Mamata's Trinamul to organize killing of CPM leaders, supporters and members in the various districts and places that use to be their strongholds. And, anti-Americanism slogan-based movement that does not affect the Americans in any way, has been the traditional route to political leadership and ministerial or public representative power, influence and comfortable materialistic life for many leftist leaders in India. Even the recently deceased Subhas Chakrabarty rose to great heights through that route. With the demise of this popular and influential leader, whom the party declined to admit to the National Politburo, CPM has got an opportunity to rediscover this route for young people and therefore organising many Subhas Memorial events and gatherings What was easy to sell during the dark days of Communist Russia and China may not sell now! America seems to be so foolishly squandering its resources all over the places including targeting a political party concentrated largely in West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala by not giving them money but to their upstart rival!!
The new strategy of the joint Center-State Armed Police Operation against the Maoist terrorists in Lalgarh has not yet shown any result: but the State Government may not be in a hurry to get results. They probably want the operation to continue till the endof December 2009.
The colleges have become the battling ground of CPM and Trinamul. Both claim that the other party is responsible for the violence. Many parents of fresh serious entrants to undergraduate courses may be repenting for not considering the financially more expensive option to send their children to study in the colleges in other states like Karnataka, Maharshtra and Delhi. But college student unionism is the incubator of political leaders of the future. How can we expect political parties to leave the battlegrounds in the undergraduate colleges in a province that boasts of high politically consciousness?
Trinamul has naturally been trying to wrest the control of student unions in colleges. Why would CPM's SFI yield to them so easily? So, fights will continue. Bengal's most most popular celebrity politician -cum - minister who has helped thousands of people in difficulty was the Late Subhas Chakraborty: he rose from the ranks of being a student leader in undergraduate colleges and is the role model for many aspiring future political leader-cum- minister of the future.
But it was Mamata's week in Kolkata. Her party won the two state legislature seats where there were elections last Sunday. As the results came out, she was meeting the local industrialists along with Railway officials in an afternoon session. The show was reportedly brilliant in all aspects. She established her credentials as a result-oriented economic administrator, a promising manager of a large commercial organization like the Railways, as a visionary political leader of West Bengal who not only cares for but in a position to effectively contribute to the growth of agriculture and industry in West Bengal, a champion of industrialists who care to share problems with her and who are willing to invest in the Railway's land bank areas she has thrown open for setting up industries as a model of public-private partnership and a close follower of the activities of industrialists in so far as their individual industrial activities are concerned. She has shown her eagerness to help the industrialists all out if they respond promptly. The industrialist, as is expected generally of them, has spoken high of her performance during the meeting. But industrialist in West Bengal, as are the political community and the bureaucracy are genetically sloth in their actions to produce results by exploiting opportunities that come their way suddenly: they are used to investing months paying several courtesy visits to political leaders and ministers to get favor or even what they are entitled to.
Mamata also arranged a special meeting to honour celebrities in the sphere of cinema and literature: people thronged there also. Mamata has stepped up her efforts to enthuse the Kolkata denizens with the inaugural ceremony of the first phase extension of the City's Metro (tube-rail) network. Public in large numbers thronged the ceremonies. It is hard to believe that politically conscious denizens of Kolkata including a large number of the City's film stars would participate in such Railway ceremonies.
The Railways did not invite the State Chief Minister, Buddhadev Bhattacharyya, to these inaugural ceremonies, though the State borne one-third of the cost of the Metro expansion project that has just been completed. The new transport minister in the State who joined to fill in the vacancy created by Subhas Chakrabarty, just 48 hours before the first inaugural ceremony, did not attend the function because of late invitation. The ruling CPM party is sore about all this: the neglect of the State Chief Minister, the not very warm manner of extending invitation to the State's new Transport Minister, the participation of Trinamul supporters in Railway events and naming of the new metro stations and an old one without consulting the State Government. One of the stations has been named after the most popular legendery matinee idol Uttam Kumar, while others have been named after some of the greatest patriots of Bengal of the early 20th century (Khudiram, Suryac Sen,Kazi Nazrul Islam). The self-proclaimed and CPM-accepted sole cultural custodian (not of Cricket at the moment) of West Bengal, Buddhadev Bhattacharyya, the Chief Minister is obviously unhappy at the intrusion of Mamata as a rival in the cultural space of West Bengal. He has blurted out at the advertisement of the naming of the metro stations as a Tamasha or dramatic joke on the great personalities of Bengal.
While this was going on, the Tamasha of the Home Department, under the Chief Minister continues with the CPM itself alleging failure of the State police in arresting violence by the Trinamul Congress. No body knows where from arms find their free way into the hands of increasing number of anti-socials and criminals who not only participate in violent political murders but also shoot an innocent driver of a school bus for not stooping tyhe bus and allowing them to abduct a girl student going to school in the bus (the driver however is promised a gallantry award by Buddhadev for his heroic act. And, in the evening today gun shots and bombs kill and injure people after a disputed penalty award in a 20-minute football tournament semi-final in Rajarhat, a place ruled by ruffians involved in land sales forced on poor farmimg households and construction activities and where massive arsenal were recovered by police twice early this year. The drama at Rajarhat is unfolding with Trinamul claiming the person killed in the incident was their supporter and foreign and domestic tourists getting trapped in a lovely and luxurious tourist resort named Vedic Village when the angry mob who chased the armed ruffians to take shelter in the Vedic Village over which the ruffians had established control over quite some time and put a section of the resort's property under fire. Yet another Tamasha Drama is unfolding in an area where the State's police, as in so many other areas of the State, has failed to clean up the illicit arms and their users - adding much feathers to the cap of the State's extremely gentleman and culturally enthusiastic Chief Minister. Let us see what more of entertainment is in store after the prisoners had some good time feeding sleep-inducing sweets to or hoodwinking policemen to escape to their freedom and eight monkeys of foreign origin got abducted from the Calcutta Zoo, taking advantage of most people getting busy with Mamata's shows, Subhas mourning and battles in the colleges and football ground and tourist resorts, largely forgetting the anxieties over so many menaces like the Ayela storm, the Lalgarh Maoist terrorism and the swine flue.
The new strategy of the joint Center-State Armed Police Operation against the Maoist terrorists in Lalgarh has not yet shown any result: but the State Government may not be in a hurry to get results. They probably want the operation to continue till the endof December 2009.
The colleges have become the battling ground of CPM and Trinamul. Both claim that the other party is responsible for the violence. Many parents of fresh serious entrants to undergraduate courses may be repenting for not considering the financially more expensive option to send their children to study in the colleges in other states like Karnataka, Maharshtra and Delhi. But college student unionism is the incubator of political leaders of the future. How can we expect political parties to leave the battlegrounds in the undergraduate colleges in a province that boasts of high politically consciousness?
Trinamul has naturally been trying to wrest the control of student unions in colleges. Why would CPM's SFI yield to them so easily? So, fights will continue. Bengal's most most popular celebrity politician -cum - minister who has helped thousands of people in difficulty was the Late Subhas Chakraborty: he rose from the ranks of being a student leader in undergraduate colleges and is the role model for many aspiring future political leader-cum- minister of the future.
But it was Mamata's week in Kolkata. Her party won the two state legislature seats where there were elections last Sunday. As the results came out, she was meeting the local industrialists along with Railway officials in an afternoon session. The show was reportedly brilliant in all aspects. She established her credentials as a result-oriented economic administrator, a promising manager of a large commercial organization like the Railways, as a visionary political leader of West Bengal who not only cares for but in a position to effectively contribute to the growth of agriculture and industry in West Bengal, a champion of industrialists who care to share problems with her and who are willing to invest in the Railway's land bank areas she has thrown open for setting up industries as a model of public-private partnership and a close follower of the activities of industrialists in so far as their individual industrial activities are concerned. She has shown her eagerness to help the industrialists all out if they respond promptly. The industrialist, as is expected generally of them, has spoken high of her performance during the meeting. But industrialist in West Bengal, as are the political community and the bureaucracy are genetically sloth in their actions to produce results by exploiting opportunities that come their way suddenly: they are used to investing months paying several courtesy visits to political leaders and ministers to get favor or even what they are entitled to.
Mamata also arranged a special meeting to honour celebrities in the sphere of cinema and literature: people thronged there also. Mamata has stepped up her efforts to enthuse the Kolkata denizens with the inaugural ceremony of the first phase extension of the City's Metro (tube-rail) network. Public in large numbers thronged the ceremonies. It is hard to believe that politically conscious denizens of Kolkata including a large number of the City's film stars would participate in such Railway ceremonies.
The Railways did not invite the State Chief Minister, Buddhadev Bhattacharyya, to these inaugural ceremonies, though the State borne one-third of the cost of the Metro expansion project that has just been completed. The new transport minister in the State who joined to fill in the vacancy created by Subhas Chakrabarty, just 48 hours before the first inaugural ceremony, did not attend the function because of late invitation. The ruling CPM party is sore about all this: the neglect of the State Chief Minister, the not very warm manner of extending invitation to the State's new Transport Minister, the participation of Trinamul supporters in Railway events and naming of the new metro stations and an old one without consulting the State Government. One of the stations has been named after the most popular legendery matinee idol Uttam Kumar, while others have been named after some of the greatest patriots of Bengal of the early 20th century (Khudiram, Suryac Sen,Kazi Nazrul Islam). The self-proclaimed and CPM-accepted sole cultural custodian (not of Cricket at the moment) of West Bengal, Buddhadev Bhattacharyya, the Chief Minister is obviously unhappy at the intrusion of Mamata as a rival in the cultural space of West Bengal. He has blurted out at the advertisement of the naming of the metro stations as a Tamasha or dramatic joke on the great personalities of Bengal.
While this was going on, the Tamasha of the Home Department, under the Chief Minister continues with the CPM itself alleging failure of the State police in arresting violence by the Trinamul Congress. No body knows where from arms find their free way into the hands of increasing number of anti-socials and criminals who not only participate in violent political murders but also shoot an innocent driver of a school bus for not stooping tyhe bus and allowing them to abduct a girl student going to school in the bus (the driver however is promised a gallantry award by Buddhadev for his heroic act. And, in the evening today gun shots and bombs kill and injure people after a disputed penalty award in a 20-minute football tournament semi-final in Rajarhat, a place ruled by ruffians involved in land sales forced on poor farmimg households and construction activities and where massive arsenal were recovered by police twice early this year. The drama at Rajarhat is unfolding with Trinamul claiming the person killed in the incident was their supporter and foreign and domestic tourists getting trapped in a lovely and luxurious tourist resort named Vedic Village when the angry mob who chased the armed ruffians to take shelter in the Vedic Village over which the ruffians had established control over quite some time and put a section of the resort's property under fire. Yet another Tamasha Drama is unfolding in an area where the State's police, as in so many other areas of the State, has failed to clean up the illicit arms and their users - adding much feathers to the cap of the State's extremely gentleman and culturally enthusiastic Chief Minister. Let us see what more of entertainment is in store after the prisoners had some good time feeding sleep-inducing sweets to or hoodwinking policemen to escape to their freedom and eight monkeys of foreign origin got abducted from the Calcutta Zoo, taking advantage of most people getting busy with Mamata's shows, Subhas mourning and battles in the colleges and football ground and tourist resorts, largely forgetting the anxieties over so many menaces like the Ayela storm, the Lalgarh Maoist terrorism and the swine flue.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Argumentative Bengali Pastime: Divert Attention From Facts
Economics Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen, a Bengali philosopher with practical interest and involvement in the cause of social Justice, wrote a book about the Argumentative Indian and the great value of being argumentative to the vibrancy of democracy. As a Bengali, what I am doing now to test his thesis with regard to the argumentative Bengalis, of which he and I are two specimen sharing the same surname of Sen with initials of A and B, respectively signifying possibly the intellectual quality class, is itself an instance of the argumentative Bengali.
On 6th August this year, the Governor of West Bengal, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, a respected intellectual himself, and probably inflected by the Bengali strain of the Argumentative virus,after having lived in this land for over four years now, issued a Press Release (it can be seen in the web site of the Raj Bhavan of West Bengal, courtesy National Informatics Centre; yes, Raj is a word Indians, brought up on childhood stories of ancient and medieval Rajas and Maharajas including the recent incarnations like Raj Kapoor, Raj Babbar, Raj-anikanth, Raj-iv, Raj Kumar and of course Maharaj Sourav Ganguly, to name a few). The Press Release has provided yet another opportunity to the Bengalis to engage themselves in their favorite pastime of argumentation violence while they continue to suffer loss of life and property on account of their physical political violence game they have been emotionally engaged in over the past two months and more. The ruling political party in West Bengal seems to have the most vocal argumentative leaders: they have criticised Governor Gandhi of losing his political neutrality considering the content and timing of his Press Release. Among their leftist group partners, the CPI has also criticised the Governor through their Bengali leaders. The Trinamul and the Indian National Congress parties' leaders in the state has criticised the CPM burst out against the governor. Bengali intellectuals and television viewers have engaged in debates over the issue in interactive TV programs in a handful of Bengali channels (Bengalis patronage as many as score of Bengali channels that beam their programs here).
Even the elderly constitutional Law expert, Sidhartha Sankar Ray, former Union Law Minister, former Congress Chief Minister of West Bengal and a former Governor of Punjab during one that state's turmoil period, gave an interview on the issues pertinent to the debate over the Governor's Press release, while enjoying the relaxed atmosphere in his home and the comfort of informal attire of a red T-shirt and half pants. The Governor Gandhi has written letters to the CPM State General Secretary and the CPM Chief Minister giving an account of his actions in the past that upholds his political neutrality and duty as the Governor, the Constitutional Head of the Government of West Bengal.
What did the Governor say in his Press Release of 6th August? The first three sentences are a quotation of 1919-vintage on the need to eradicate worship of force of all forms and its relevance to West Bengal ninety years later. The next three sentences makes three statement of facts of unabated destructive political violence in West Bengal since the second-half of May 2009. No political party or ideology is mentioned or suggested in these 6 sentences. The next two sentences are statement of facts that three delegations, one each of Trinamul Congress, Indian National Congress and the ruling Left Front, meeting him in the recent past and appealing him to do something to stem the political violence.
In the ninth sentence he wonders why violence does not stop when all the political formations have the same objective of stemming violence. Next he gives an answer he believes is right: those who can act are not doing so. He goes on to say in the eleventh sentence that the fires of fear, agony of bereavement and rage is burning in the political life of the state. In the next three sentences he says what the duties and responsibilities of political leaders in the state are: they should tell their followers and supporters to stop these fires, to ensure that none provokes or gets provoked into further violence, and to identify the violent within their organizations and let them be dealt with by the law.
In the fifteenth sentence, Gandhi expresses his confidence that the State, meaning his Government will swiftly check the phenomenon of illicit arms, bring perpetrators of violence to account and instill confidence among the people that their security is not linked to their politics.
In the sixteenth sentence, the Governor makes another statement of fact: that the Left Front delegation that met him on 5th August had asked him " to extend necessary cooperation to the State Government in all possible ways for the protection of life, property and democratic rights of the people of the State". The next sentence he says that he has done so in the past and that he considers that this is his duty again and again. In the final eighteenth he expresses his belief that "all of us must do our duty". (http://rajbhavankolkata.gov.in/WriteReadData/Bulletins/press%20release%206%20aug.pdf).
Such a simple Press Release could be a source of debate for the argumentative Bengalis! The political parties had met the Governor to do something. The Governor has informed the people at large of his own concern as well as the concern of all political parties over unabated, destructive political violence and what the political leaders in the state must do to stem this violence. He has also felt confident that the State/ his Government will also do the necessary things. He has informed that he has been doing his duty and will continue to do so and expects everyone to do so. What is controversial in all these? The political parties themselves initiated their action to meet and discuss with the Governor in delegation. He has responded to them in a reasonable manner as the Governor himself and on behalf of his government.
Why should the political leaders start discussing the Press Release and debate over it whether they should agree or disagree with the Governor or whether they approve of his action to issue a Press Release. The simple reason is that the Press Release tells the Truth and emphasises the only way the violence can end: the political leaders must act to stop violence and counter-violence and stop the worship of violence by some members and supporters of their parties. This is what the political parties do not like to do together in coordination: No joint political party teams in sensitive areas to stop violence and protect all people irrespective of political affiliation. They continue to visit affected areas only to protect their own supporters and members and address their own rallies: No joint political rallies for peace and identifying of the perpetrators of violence. Let people not think about all this by reading the Governors Press Release: so make it controversial and divert people's attention away from the Governor's Press Release to what the political leaders comment on the Governor's Press Release.
CPM has an additional reason to divert the attention of the people from the Governor's Press Release. The Left Front has been mentioned twice in the Governor's Press Release: once, along with two other party delegations visiting the Governor to urge him to do what he can do stop this violence. This reference was OK and neutral. Why did the Governor mention of the Left Front delegation for the second time; this is evidently discriminatory. But the Governor had no choice. While the other parties did not ask the Governor to cooperate with the Government, the Left Front delegation asked the Governor to cooperate with his own Government. And, the Governor has leaked that out in the public, besides urging all to do their duty as the Governor continued to do his duty. This is another explosive truth about the political leaders advising the Governor to cooperate with his own Government and themselves not committing to do their part of the duty. Such a statement should not be read by the public. The only way to do that is to raise a controversy and let people get busy listening to them only rather than get to know what actually the Governor has stated in his Press Release.
Good entertainment for the argumentative, politically-conscious and logic-free hair-spliting Bengalis of West Bengal.
On 6th August this year, the Governor of West Bengal, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, a respected intellectual himself, and probably inflected by the Bengali strain of the Argumentative virus,after having lived in this land for over four years now, issued a Press Release (it can be seen in the web site of the Raj Bhavan of West Bengal, courtesy National Informatics Centre; yes, Raj is a word Indians, brought up on childhood stories of ancient and medieval Rajas and Maharajas including the recent incarnations like Raj Kapoor, Raj Babbar, Raj-anikanth, Raj-iv, Raj Kumar and of course Maharaj Sourav Ganguly, to name a few). The Press Release has provided yet another opportunity to the Bengalis to engage themselves in their favorite pastime of argumentation violence while they continue to suffer loss of life and property on account of their physical political violence game they have been emotionally engaged in over the past two months and more. The ruling political party in West Bengal seems to have the most vocal argumentative leaders: they have criticised Governor Gandhi of losing his political neutrality considering the content and timing of his Press Release. Among their leftist group partners, the CPI has also criticised the Governor through their Bengali leaders. The Trinamul and the Indian National Congress parties' leaders in the state has criticised the CPM burst out against the governor. Bengali intellectuals and television viewers have engaged in debates over the issue in interactive TV programs in a handful of Bengali channels (Bengalis patronage as many as score of Bengali channels that beam their programs here).
Even the elderly constitutional Law expert, Sidhartha Sankar Ray, former Union Law Minister, former Congress Chief Minister of West Bengal and a former Governor of Punjab during one that state's turmoil period, gave an interview on the issues pertinent to the debate over the Governor's Press release, while enjoying the relaxed atmosphere in his home and the comfort of informal attire of a red T-shirt and half pants. The Governor Gandhi has written letters to the CPM State General Secretary and the CPM Chief Minister giving an account of his actions in the past that upholds his political neutrality and duty as the Governor, the Constitutional Head of the Government of West Bengal.
What did the Governor say in his Press Release of 6th August? The first three sentences are a quotation of 1919-vintage on the need to eradicate worship of force of all forms and its relevance to West Bengal ninety years later. The next three sentences makes three statement of facts of unabated destructive political violence in West Bengal since the second-half of May 2009. No political party or ideology is mentioned or suggested in these 6 sentences. The next two sentences are statement of facts that three delegations, one each of Trinamul Congress, Indian National Congress and the ruling Left Front, meeting him in the recent past and appealing him to do something to stem the political violence.
In the ninth sentence he wonders why violence does not stop when all the political formations have the same objective of stemming violence. Next he gives an answer he believes is right: those who can act are not doing so. He goes on to say in the eleventh sentence that the fires of fear, agony of bereavement and rage is burning in the political life of the state. In the next three sentences he says what the duties and responsibilities of political leaders in the state are: they should tell their followers and supporters to stop these fires, to ensure that none provokes or gets provoked into further violence, and to identify the violent within their organizations and let them be dealt with by the law.
In the fifteenth sentence, Gandhi expresses his confidence that the State, meaning his Government will swiftly check the phenomenon of illicit arms, bring perpetrators of violence to account and instill confidence among the people that their security is not linked to their politics.
In the sixteenth sentence, the Governor makes another statement of fact: that the Left Front delegation that met him on 5th August had asked him " to extend necessary cooperation to the State Government in all possible ways for the protection of life, property and democratic rights of the people of the State". The next sentence he says that he has done so in the past and that he considers that this is his duty again and again. In the final eighteenth he expresses his belief that "all of us must do our duty". (http://rajbhavankolkata.gov.in/WriteReadData/Bulletins/press%20release%206%20aug.pdf).
Such a simple Press Release could be a source of debate for the argumentative Bengalis! The political parties had met the Governor to do something. The Governor has informed the people at large of his own concern as well as the concern of all political parties over unabated, destructive political violence and what the political leaders in the state must do to stem this violence. He has also felt confident that the State/ his Government will also do the necessary things. He has informed that he has been doing his duty and will continue to do so and expects everyone to do so. What is controversial in all these? The political parties themselves initiated their action to meet and discuss with the Governor in delegation. He has responded to them in a reasonable manner as the Governor himself and on behalf of his government.
Why should the political leaders start discussing the Press Release and debate over it whether they should agree or disagree with the Governor or whether they approve of his action to issue a Press Release. The simple reason is that the Press Release tells the Truth and emphasises the only way the violence can end: the political leaders must act to stop violence and counter-violence and stop the worship of violence by some members and supporters of their parties. This is what the political parties do not like to do together in coordination: No joint political party teams in sensitive areas to stop violence and protect all people irrespective of political affiliation. They continue to visit affected areas only to protect their own supporters and members and address their own rallies: No joint political rallies for peace and identifying of the perpetrators of violence. Let people not think about all this by reading the Governors Press Release: so make it controversial and divert people's attention away from the Governor's Press Release to what the political leaders comment on the Governor's Press Release.
CPM has an additional reason to divert the attention of the people from the Governor's Press Release. The Left Front has been mentioned twice in the Governor's Press Release: once, along with two other party delegations visiting the Governor to urge him to do what he can do stop this violence. This reference was OK and neutral. Why did the Governor mention of the Left Front delegation for the second time; this is evidently discriminatory. But the Governor had no choice. While the other parties did not ask the Governor to cooperate with the Government, the Left Front delegation asked the Governor to cooperate with his own Government. And, the Governor has leaked that out in the public, besides urging all to do their duty as the Governor continued to do his duty. This is another explosive truth about the political leaders advising the Governor to cooperate with his own Government and themselves not committing to do their part of the duty. Such a statement should not be read by the public. The only way to do that is to raise a controversy and let people get busy listening to them only rather than get to know what actually the Governor has stated in his Press Release.
Good entertainment for the argumentative, politically-conscious and logic-free hair-spliting Bengalis of West Bengal.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Who would Return Peace to West Bengal?
The Governor of West Bengal has expressed concern at the political violence and killing in West Bengal and urged politicians to restore peace. The political parties have declined to accept his advice. On the contrary, the Ruling Left Front has criticised the Governor of having biassed opinion against the CPM and blamed the Trinamul, the leading opposition political party in the state, for all political violence against the ruling party supporters and members. The Trinamul and the Congress parties blame the ruling CPM party led Government including its police and the CPM party for all political violence. Both sides claim that they are the victims of violence. The Home Minister of Government of India has also expressed concern over the political violence in West Bengal.
So far no one has come forward to stop political violence. The citizens do not know, who will return peace to West Bengal. One of the greatest entertainment in democracy is currently on show with political parties shouting over the roof top that they are so dedicated to the cause of the common people who continue to suffer political violence.
Their only hope is that the current competition of organizing big rallies by the CPM and the Trinamul would one day settle the issue as to which party enjoys the support of the majority of the politically conscious citizens and get reflected in the elections due in 2011 with the party with dominant muscle power able to cow down the other parties to peace. Just like two lions fight for the territory and lionesses, the political parties here will fight and then the citizens will vote for the stronger lion. For now ‘ Rajay Rajay Juddho Hoi, Ulu Kagrar Pran Jaye’ meaning ‘The Lords fight and the people die”. The democratic oligarchies will use violence to prove to the people who is stronger and then accept the winner by voting for the winner in fear.
Meanwhile, Bengali life promises to be full of entertainment with more work off days due to strikes over pay-hike agitation, rise in food prices, fewer public transport vehicles on road, new trains to travel, Sourav Ganguly conducting a TV quiz competition serial, the masks and Tamiflu rush to protect against "Swine flu" spreading fast in India on its course to cover the predicted one third of the World population, the Puja round the corner and Winter holidays soon to follow. Entertainment opportunities galore for the Bengalis.
So far no one has come forward to stop political violence. The citizens do not know, who will return peace to West Bengal. One of the greatest entertainment in democracy is currently on show with political parties shouting over the roof top that they are so dedicated to the cause of the common people who continue to suffer political violence.
Their only hope is that the current competition of organizing big rallies by the CPM and the Trinamul would one day settle the issue as to which party enjoys the support of the majority of the politically conscious citizens and get reflected in the elections due in 2011 with the party with dominant muscle power able to cow down the other parties to peace. Just like two lions fight for the territory and lionesses, the political parties here will fight and then the citizens will vote for the stronger lion. For now ‘ Rajay Rajay Juddho Hoi, Ulu Kagrar Pran Jaye’ meaning ‘The Lords fight and the people die”. The democratic oligarchies will use violence to prove to the people who is stronger and then accept the winner by voting for the winner in fear.
Meanwhile, Bengali life promises to be full of entertainment with more work off days due to strikes over pay-hike agitation, rise in food prices, fewer public transport vehicles on road, new trains to travel, Sourav Ganguly conducting a TV quiz competition serial, the masks and Tamiflu rush to protect against "Swine flu" spreading fast in India on its course to cover the predicted one third of the World population, the Puja round the corner and Winter holidays soon to follow. Entertainment opportunities galore for the Bengalis.
Monday, August 3, 2009
End of an Era in Transport & others
Subhas Chakrabarty, a veteran CPM leader and the Transport Minister of West Bengal is no more. West Bengal has lost a very popular leader of common people and a great political organiser. A devoted follower of Jyoti Basu variant of communism in a parliamentary democracy, Subhas started his political career as a student in my home town in Dum Dum. One of my classmates was a close relative of this charasmatic figure who could defy Communist Party dictatorship whenever he chose to in the recent past. He was loved by millions of people and he loved people.
Since I find the entire concept of communism illogical. irrational and based on jealousy and hatred, I cannot offer him a Red Salute. I do pray to God: May the departed soul rest in peace. He was a remarkable Bengali of the third quarter of the twienty century West Bengal.
Today is not one for entertainment in Kolkata Monitor.
Since I find the entire concept of communism illogical. irrational and based on jealousy and hatred, I cannot offer him a Red Salute. I do pray to God: May the departed soul rest in peace. He was a remarkable Bengali of the third quarter of the twienty century West Bengal.
Today is not one for entertainment in Kolkata Monitor.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Of Fights & Kills to Power
West Bengal is making considerable progress towards the provincial elections due in 2011. The fights between so-called supporters of Trinamul Congress and Congress on the one hand and the CPM on the other continues in this state with reported killing/ murder of over 100 people in the last two and half months since the Indian Parliamentary Election results were declared. The ruling party in the state, CPM, complains of a Trinamul Congress sponsored terrorist movement to destabilise the state Government, while the Trinamul cries over their suffering due to armed retaliation of the CPM cadre to avenge CPM's landslide defeat to Trinamul in the Parliamentary elections last May. Trinamul complains of police remaining inactive and even conspiriong to help CPM supporters to oppress Trinamul supporters, CPM admits of its failure to control to the police for ensuring safety of CPM supporters attacked by the Trinamul ones. The police itself has become solely busy in investigation of each of these almost daily incidents of fight and killing rather than achieving success in eradication of political violence: some incidents they think are due to family feuds rather than political vendetta. People know the fights are between local money-making / economic vested interests and the aspiring vested interests, between the existing oppressors and the potential oppressors.
Even as the CPM governments' police with the assistance of Government of India's special para-military forces are engaged in joint campaign against the extremist Maoists in the tribal belt of Lalgarh, there are no signs of the Government being in control even after seven months of operation. The Congress high command would prefer and support Trinamul to be in the forefront of a war against CPM hegemony and bullying: if these two parties become violent fighters, Congress would be able to offer the option to peace and governance to West Bengal residents.
CPM would not so easily give up its taste for power to rule: though Budhhadev Babu, the CPM Chief Minister in the state has suddenly become somewhat quiet, the CPM leaders from outside the state have joined the party committee meetings in Kolkata where the Government is reportedly under attack for its failure to protect the party supporters and provide health services to the rural areas. The party may have to take a cleaning up stance: reforming the few wayward leaders who have deviated from the path of working for the people to a path of working for themselves and thereby antagonise the people in many areas against the party. The CPM will, of course, endeavour to show that they are removing the bad elements from the party, but it will be difficult to shake up the cabinet, the administration and the party machinery to qucikly enhance transparency, speed up delivery of efficient civil governance and implement economic development initiatives that the Party may promise. Mamta's allegation that the CPM Government does not even know how to work for and deliver results may become increasingly difficult to disprove with cosmetic ministerial changes that the CPM effected today by keeping sick and ailing ministers in place and not inducting new and young blood capable of producing quick results to the people. Mere speeches and manifestos will not be as effective in mobilising votes as they were in the past. Party agitation against economic policies of the Indian Government may not cut much ice on the electorate given the CPM government's record of delivering results in West Bengal. CPM would need a complete overhaul of its strategies, functioning and deployment of human resources if it has to gain back its credibility and image among the masses. Mere participation in fighting and killing will not be adequate. The recommendations of the arm-chair CPM theoreticians from outside the State (Prabhat Patnaik, Karat and Yechuri) for going back to the old-days of anti-American-ism, class struggle agitations may not produce the desired results within the less than two year period to elections in West Bengal. The Muslims will alss soon recognise that they cannot protect their interests by choosing one or the other party: they have to protect their interests within each party: pulling minority votes en masse through gimmicks is unlikely to be a good part of an effective electoral strategy for any political party in future.
This is a fast evolving game of implementing strategies and counter-strategies. CPM may need more time to recover their lost ground to fare better in the state elections in 2011. The Trinamul and the Congress may like and force CPM to increasingly fail to deliver the minimum governance in the state so that the CPM government resigns to save face and calls for elections earlier than wait till 2011. CPM may never like to resign to get fresh mandate soon given the considerable erosion in their vote mobilisation in the recent parliamentary and municipal elections. They may also fear the positive image being built up by Mamata, the Trinamul Chief and the Railway Minister of the Congress-led Government at the center, implementing a series of people-friendly, popular measures like introduction of exclusive women's trains for the first time in the state and more trains within the state, besides stepping up employment-oriented railway investments in West Bengal. CPM may prefer a strategy that forces the Trinamul and the Congress to use the Government of India's powers to dislodge the CPM government from power in West Bengal. That may give CPM a chance to ride a possible sympathy wave for CPM to win back voters. However, although the Congress and the Trinamul may pursue the strategy of making governance and policy implementaion increasingly difficult for the CPM government and embarrass them for clinging to power and for not resigning on their own despite non-performance, they are not likely to be in a hurry to dislodge the CPM government in the state using the Union government's special powers to do so under the Constitution. This strategic game may continue to be played out possibly till 2011: who will blink first and when, no one can predict.
Meanwhile, more loss of life and messy civil life disruptions like the sudden breakdown of public transport in the greater metropolitan areas of Kolkata and Howrah may have to be endured by the highly intelligent and politically conscious denizens of the State. One can, however, be confident of the tolerance capability of the inhabitants of this leftist fashioned society. They will again rise to the occasion to absorb sufferings as the two armies in the Kurukshetra's war of justice did millenniums ago. How can you expect intelligent citizens to shed their addiction to political consciousness and recapture the power they had abdicated to the people engaged in the low-risk, high-return business of politics!
Even as the CPM governments' police with the assistance of Government of India's special para-military forces are engaged in joint campaign against the extremist Maoists in the tribal belt of Lalgarh, there are no signs of the Government being in control even after seven months of operation. The Congress high command would prefer and support Trinamul to be in the forefront of a war against CPM hegemony and bullying: if these two parties become violent fighters, Congress would be able to offer the option to peace and governance to West Bengal residents.
CPM would not so easily give up its taste for power to rule: though Budhhadev Babu, the CPM Chief Minister in the state has suddenly become somewhat quiet, the CPM leaders from outside the state have joined the party committee meetings in Kolkata where the Government is reportedly under attack for its failure to protect the party supporters and provide health services to the rural areas. The party may have to take a cleaning up stance: reforming the few wayward leaders who have deviated from the path of working for the people to a path of working for themselves and thereby antagonise the people in many areas against the party. The CPM will, of course, endeavour to show that they are removing the bad elements from the party, but it will be difficult to shake up the cabinet, the administration and the party machinery to qucikly enhance transparency, speed up delivery of efficient civil governance and implement economic development initiatives that the Party may promise. Mamta's allegation that the CPM Government does not even know how to work for and deliver results may become increasingly difficult to disprove with cosmetic ministerial changes that the CPM effected today by keeping sick and ailing ministers in place and not inducting new and young blood capable of producing quick results to the people. Mere speeches and manifestos will not be as effective in mobilising votes as they were in the past. Party agitation against economic policies of the Indian Government may not cut much ice on the electorate given the CPM government's record of delivering results in West Bengal. CPM would need a complete overhaul of its strategies, functioning and deployment of human resources if it has to gain back its credibility and image among the masses. Mere participation in fighting and killing will not be adequate. The recommendations of the arm-chair CPM theoreticians from outside the State (Prabhat Patnaik, Karat and Yechuri) for going back to the old-days of anti-American-ism, class struggle agitations may not produce the desired results within the less than two year period to elections in West Bengal. The Muslims will alss soon recognise that they cannot protect their interests by choosing one or the other party: they have to protect their interests within each party: pulling minority votes en masse through gimmicks is unlikely to be a good part of an effective electoral strategy for any political party in future.
This is a fast evolving game of implementing strategies and counter-strategies. CPM may need more time to recover their lost ground to fare better in the state elections in 2011. The Trinamul and the Congress may like and force CPM to increasingly fail to deliver the minimum governance in the state so that the CPM government resigns to save face and calls for elections earlier than wait till 2011. CPM may never like to resign to get fresh mandate soon given the considerable erosion in their vote mobilisation in the recent parliamentary and municipal elections. They may also fear the positive image being built up by Mamata, the Trinamul Chief and the Railway Minister of the Congress-led Government at the center, implementing a series of people-friendly, popular measures like introduction of exclusive women's trains for the first time in the state and more trains within the state, besides stepping up employment-oriented railway investments in West Bengal. CPM may prefer a strategy that forces the Trinamul and the Congress to use the Government of India's powers to dislodge the CPM government from power in West Bengal. That may give CPM a chance to ride a possible sympathy wave for CPM to win back voters. However, although the Congress and the Trinamul may pursue the strategy of making governance and policy implementaion increasingly difficult for the CPM government and embarrass them for clinging to power and for not resigning on their own despite non-performance, they are not likely to be in a hurry to dislodge the CPM government in the state using the Union government's special powers to do so under the Constitution. This strategic game may continue to be played out possibly till 2011: who will blink first and when, no one can predict.
Meanwhile, more loss of life and messy civil life disruptions like the sudden breakdown of public transport in the greater metropolitan areas of Kolkata and Howrah may have to be endured by the highly intelligent and politically conscious denizens of the State. One can, however, be confident of the tolerance capability of the inhabitants of this leftist fashioned society. They will again rise to the occasion to absorb sufferings as the two armies in the Kurukshetra's war of justice did millenniums ago. How can you expect intelligent citizens to shed their addiction to political consciousness and recapture the power they had abdicated to the people engaged in the low-risk, high-return business of politics!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Reservation for Less than 15
Streets of Calcutta are now reserved for automobiles that are relatively young - less than 15 year old. Today, on August1 , few buses, trucks, taxis and auto rickshaws plied on the streets. Those that plied saved 30% or more time on the covering any distance as compared to yesterday. I travelled by car in about an hour and 20 minutes a distance that used to take about two hours. Many Calcutta travellers had to enjoy at home because of near absence of public transport vehicles.
Calcutta's population of public transport automoblies (PTA) is suddenly reduced to less than half as the State Government obtained a Court Order to stop PTA aged 15 years or more from plying on the City streets. The Court order came after 10 years of fight over the air polluting PTA. Millions of people are adversely affected - the columnists and the TV commentators say: these include the poor citizens who depend on PTAs, the PTA owners, the auto-drivers, conductors and their helpers including cleaners, auto-repairers, auto-fuel suppliers, and their families. All political parties are in tears at this dismal prospect and learned elite are expressing the need to effect a compromise between pollution on the one side and employment, people's livlihood and transporation needs on the other. The Government seeks sympathy in view of its great respect for court orders and has a confused package of measurers that includes subsidised financing of replacement of aged PTAs by new yet to be manufactured PTAs. Vehicle manufacturers will take years to produce new PTSa to meet the loss due to sudden forced death of thousands aged PTAs.
The city transport sector has been brought to a state of complete breakdown and normalcy is unlikely to be restored in the foreseeable future. The Bengalis and the Calcuttans have a great pride of their smartness and intelligence. Thanks to the great intelligent ministers, association leaders, experts, administrators, politicians and the elite of the city, which shirked off its two international and national names of Calcutta and Kolkatta to be known now by only its Bengali name of Kolkata, does not seem to even know how it arrived in this public transport mess, not to speak off how they would solve this problem with their great oratory and debating skills. All now helplessly pray that something will happen somewhere to get hem out of this mess - maybe the Court will come forward to help the citizens out through a modified order. Poet would have said, 'Oh mother Kolkata, how could you have reared such intelligent sons of the soil without giving them unpolluted brains and reasonable sense of shame.
Wait for the forthcoming great Saga of intelligent warriors fighting Kolkata out of the crisis of their own making.
Calcutta's population of public transport automoblies (PTA) is suddenly reduced to less than half as the State Government obtained a Court Order to stop PTA aged 15 years or more from plying on the City streets. The Court order came after 10 years of fight over the air polluting PTA. Millions of people are adversely affected - the columnists and the TV commentators say: these include the poor citizens who depend on PTAs, the PTA owners, the auto-drivers, conductors and their helpers including cleaners, auto-repairers, auto-fuel suppliers, and their families. All political parties are in tears at this dismal prospect and learned elite are expressing the need to effect a compromise between pollution on the one side and employment, people's livlihood and transporation needs on the other. The Government seeks sympathy in view of its great respect for court orders and has a confused package of measurers that includes subsidised financing of replacement of aged PTAs by new yet to be manufactured PTAs. Vehicle manufacturers will take years to produce new PTSa to meet the loss due to sudden forced death of thousands aged PTAs.
The city transport sector has been brought to a state of complete breakdown and normalcy is unlikely to be restored in the foreseeable future. The Bengalis and the Calcuttans have a great pride of their smartness and intelligence. Thanks to the great intelligent ministers, association leaders, experts, administrators, politicians and the elite of the city, which shirked off its two international and national names of Calcutta and Kolkatta to be known now by only its Bengali name of Kolkata, does not seem to even know how it arrived in this public transport mess, not to speak off how they would solve this problem with their great oratory and debating skills. All now helplessly pray that something will happen somewhere to get hem out of this mess - maybe the Court will come forward to help the citizens out through a modified order. Poet would have said, 'Oh mother Kolkata, how could you have reared such intelligent sons of the soil without giving them unpolluted brains and reasonable sense of shame.
Wait for the forthcoming great Saga of intelligent warriors fighting Kolkata out of the crisis of their own making.
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