The smartest thing that my parents did was they migrated out of West Bengal. They were sorry, they were lonely, they were homesick and they were miserable to move out of home, but they were determined to live a better life and give their children better opportunities, something that simply wasn't possible in Kolkata. My father would often lament that his home state is not progressing. We Bengalis spend too much time in intellectualising simple issues, debating on non-issues, and procrastinating instead of working towards a better life, he felt. While Bengal was on the forefront of our freedom struggle, after partition it just fell apart. Punjab too was divided and still by sheer determination and hard work it was soon on road to recovery but Bengal still holds the grudge of being wronged!
The state is perpetually angry and violent and is obsessed with the idea that it is being punished and victimized. Since the last three decades it could never see eye to eye with the government in the centre, irrespective of which party was ruling in Kolkata or in New Delhi. People are always in protest mode and whoever holds the biggest protest in Brigade Parade Ground is considered the most popular and most powerful! Imagine the irony, the lady who singlehandedly shooed away Tata from Singoor and handed the Nano factory on a platter to Modi in Gujarat, was elected by the people to become their Chief Minister! A person who deprived the people of industry, opportunities and jobs was rewarded by the same people! What does it say about the political atmosphere prevailing in the state?
Today Bengal is in a stagnant corner while Odisha, Assam and smaller states are rapidly progressing. Even literature, cinema and football are all stagnating and we have not had the champions like Rabindranath Thakur, Satyajit Ray and P. K. Banerjee in recent years. Saurabh Ganguli is perhaps the only bright star in the horizon today. The Chief Minister is angry and foul mouthed, her supporters are angry and equally foul mouthed and her representatives in the assembly and parliament are also the same. The saner and smarter ones, and there are plenty - both in and out of politics, are side lined and the angry and rabid ones hog the limelight. They are all obsessed with an intellectual halo, which sadly doesn't exist, and a sense of victimhood, which only they have to shed.
Gopal Krishna Gokhle once said 'What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow '. I hope he is proven wrong. We in India aspire to be a bunch of achievers and not a group of angry, ever complaining men and women who feel that the world is conspiring against them. The Nation is waiting patiently for Bengal to rise and shine once again not only for the sake of all Bengalis but for the sake of all Indians. The cancer of discontent, anger, frustration and protest must be uprooted by Bengalis themselves. The Nation is hoping and praying for saner senses to prevail and prosper!
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