IS WEST BENGAL SEALED IN A TIME CAPSULE?

 

 

A rich history of excellence in art, music and culture, an entire league of role models from all spheres of life and fertile climate for new and revolutionary ideas to take birth, thrive and prosper has taken a heavy toll on the state of West Bengal. From Thakur Ramkrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Ravindranath Thakur, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Rishi Aorobindo, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Raja Rammohan Roy, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Acharya Jagdeesh Chandra Bose, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy, Bankim Chandra, Sharat Chandra Chattopadhaya, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis and Satyendra Nath Bose to Nandlal Bose, Jamini Roy, Mother Teresa, Sister Nibedita, Ravi Shanker, Uday Shanker, Satyajit Roy, Hemanta Kumar, Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen the list of luminaries this state has produced is unending! Instead of this history becoming a source of inspiration to achieve newer heights it has become a restraining weight around its neck, not letting the state embrace the privileges of modernity. Bengal, which was once the symbol of India’s intellectual freshness, is dying a slow death due to its crumbling social infrastructure, lack of jobs and economic stagnation. Over the past few decades, West Bengal has degenerated into ‘Waste Bengal’

Bengal’s intelligentsia or the ‘buddhijibi’ (as they are known in Bangla) hardly ever talks about the state’s economic decay, shut industries, the unimaginable political violence during elections or lack of jobs, as for them, their favourite pastime is reminiscing about the illustrious past. A state of cultural arrogance prevails despite the prevailing stagnation and doom.

When it comes to the state’s politicians invoking Bengali pride and sub-nationalism has been one of the distinct traits of West Bengal’s politicians, who stir up such sentiments to cover up their administrative failures and to gain a political upper hand. Be it the Left Front a decade ago or Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress now, invoking Bengali pride has been their go-to answer to the state’s colossal problems. Bengalis are, however, stuck in a time-warp, refusing to even talk about the state’s problems.

We Bengalis spend too much time in intellectualizing simple issues, debating on non-issues, and procrastinating instead of working towards a better life.

History

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! One cannot however ignore some facts of history which pulled back Bengal while other states prospered and surpassed this state.     

Moving the national capital from Calcutta to Delhi: In 1905, Bengal was partitioned by Lord Curzon to counter the power of Hindus. This brought a strong opposition from the Hindus, the event that led to the rise of a strong freedom movement. Anxious about the consequences the British moved the national capital out of the Bengali heartland to reduce the influence of the revolutionary Bengalis in the national scene. Bengal never recovered from the loss of grace.

End of World Wars: World Wars affected Calcutta in many ways. During the war, the Calcutta economy grew as the city became a center of production for things related to the war. Birlas and other trading communities really used the opportunity to build factories. However, at the end of the war, demands dropped and factories were left under-utilized. Then in 1943 in the later stages of the Second World War came the Churchill induced Bengal famine.

Partition: The riots leading up India's partition in 1947 deeply scarred Calcutta and rest of Bengal. West Bengal was cut off from the key port of Chittagong and many of the fields of East Bengal (now Bangladesh). Until 1947, jute processing and other factories were in the west and all the farms were in the east. The partition put both sides at a huge disadvantage.

Freight equalization policy:  In 1952, Indian government introduced this policy by which if you open a steel plant in Mumbai, the government will give you iron ore at the same price as you get at the source in Jharkhand. It was done to spread the industrial development all over India, while raw materials were primarily available only in eastern India. So now businesses in the rest of India were no longer compelled to move to Bengal to tap its coal and iron ore. They could set up in their home states, mostly in the west and south. 

Naxalbari movement: Unlike many other states, the West Bengal government after independence didn't push enough to abolish the discriminatory zamindari system that allowed landlords to wield too much power. This slowly fermented resentment among Santals and other tribals leading to a major riot in Naxalbari in northern Bengal. That eventually led to the Communist revolutionary Naxalite movement that disturbed much of Bengal. Armed struggle and unrest further alienated investment in the state.

Communist sentiments: Sick of Nehru’s and Congress’s apathy towards West Bengal the Hindu upper castes in Bengal shifted much more towards Communist party and this spooked the remaining businesses in the state. In 1968, there was an "Ashok Kumar Nite" at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium which was attacked by goons. The women were dragged away and over the next couple of days their naked dead bodies found in the neighborhood. The CPI(M) leaders including Jyoti Basu justified this, calling it the rise of the proletariat against the decadent capitalists and petty bourgeoisie. Consequently both of these categories of people left the state, where most of them had lived for 3 or 4 generations, in a tearing hurry.

Aditya Birla was dragged out of his car 500 meters from his office (outside the WB Secretariat known as Writers' Building), his clothes torn off, and he was made to walk to his office in his underpants. Industries closed down, businesses fled, professionals left and work opportunities evaporated. Education standards went downand the future compromised. Even the labor fled to other progressive states.

Exodus of industry: The worst face of communism was the damage it did to the prospects of the labour force, which it intended to protect. The abundance of freedom instigated labourers to organize protests and gheraos halting production. Strikes and rampant lock outs were common norms in the state. No wonder why a whooping number of industries were forced to shut down. Much later when Tata wanted to enter again with its Nano factory in Singur, Mamta Banerjee forced them to leave their partly constructed factory and the Bengali voter rewarded her for her indiscretion by promptly making her the Chief Minister!

Deluge of refugees: While the partition in 1947 saw the first deluge of refugees the war for the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 saw West Bengal's population just doubled from 4 Cr to 8 Cr. These 4 Cr People had no place to stay, no food to eat. The Left Front Govt. came in 1977 and they had to do something for these 4 Cr people and so they brought about the land reforms. They didn't allow anybody to die unfed, and that truly was an achievement but this sudden population deluge further pushed back the prospects of this now even more densely populated state.

A problem of perception: For an outsider the perception of Calcutta is that it is a troublesome, lazy city where shopkeepers sleep in the middle of the day and people leisurely jaywalk busy roads. The Bengali elite have not worked significantly to change this wrong impression and this impedes outside investments. The television images of protests, bandhs, strikes, political killings and the news of ‘protection money’ and ‘tolabaji’ by locality goons under political patronage has not helped either. The fact that there are equally ambitious and aspiring young men and women waiting for an opportunity to contribute to nation building and prosper is not appreciated by the industry.

Tinkering with Education: This was perhaps the biggest blow the state had to suffer in the hands of the CPM.  They successfully implemented a system to brainwash students into unions. Elite institutions like Jadavpur University and Presidency University became political hotbeds and communist echo chambers. There are many virtues of student politics but when it overwhelms academics in educational institutions then it benefits only a few who see their future in politics. And eco chambers invariably hinder a 360 degree world view and overall development of the mind.

Poor urban development: Kolkata still remains the only metropolitan city and magnet for all job seekers in the state. Siliguri, Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling have limitations but also opportunities which are still to be exploited. Successive governments have failed to change the prospects of Malda, Murshidabad, Asansol, Durgapur, Burdhawan and the call for clean energy will further hurt the coal belt.

Animosity with the Centre: The last time the state was governed by the same political outfit which was ruling the Centre was in 1977 when the Congress rule since independence ended and Communists came to power. They stayed till 2011 when Trinamool Congress replaced them. Congress did everything to strip Bengal of its industries and even stopped investments in Bengal, particularly after the communists came to power. The communists destroyed what little industrial work culture was left in Bengal and when they did manage to convince Tata to come to open the Nano factory in Singoor Trinamool took up their disruptive politics. Neither the leftists not the TMC saw eye to eye with successive governments in Delhi. This animosity has been perpetual, ongoing and extremely harmful to the people of the state.

So what is the way out of this quicksand?

An urgent course correction is required today for a better tomorrow.

1.   

1. The state needs to reverse its industrial decline. Bengal was once an industrial powerhouse. But years of trade unionism and government’s criminal apathy dealt a severe blow to industrialization, leading to many big industries exiting Bengal. Lack of industry and jobs have hurt educated Bengalis the most as they’ve been forced to migrate in search of jobs. Bengali intellectuals, especially the state’s young population, must support and encourage industries and businesses as much as they can.
2. Bengalis have to give up the sense of victimhood and act as virtuosos and if cultural pride and arrogance is coming in the way there should be a serious retrospection. If anybody can turn the fortunes of the state then shunning them as ‘outsiders’ is foolish. West Bengal belongs to India just as the entire India belongs to Bengal.
3. Bengal needs to invest massively in its health infrastructure. The state has failed miserably in tackling the current pandemic with one of the lowest testing rates and one of the highest fatality rates. So many Bengalis are travelling to Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi for treatment because advanced healthcare is either absent in public sector or costly in private sector and central healthcare schemes are disallowed by the state!
4. The politicians in Bengal need to be Bengal centric and learn to work silently for their state. They have a lesson to learn from their neighbour Sri Nabin Patnayak in Odisha who is doing wonders and not hankering for power in New Delhi. A successful Chief Minister automatically acquires the image of the forthcoming Prime Minister provided they can transform their state, we have seen this happen in 2014.
5. Development and minoritism do not go hand in hand. When resources are scanty they have to be judiciously spent for the salvage of the last person in the line (Antyodaya) irrespective of his/her religion, cast, creed and language.
6. Development is not possible in an environment of corruption, particularly if it is omnipresent from the highest corridors of power in the state to cut-money and tolabaji in the streets. There is enough for everyone’s need but there is not enough for a few people’s greed. This environment with all its characters will have to be replaced lock, stock and barrel.
7. The perception of Bengal needs to change in the country. People think Bengalis are not enterprising by nature. They prefer jobs over business. They prefer education over money. When schemes like Mudra yojana has helped many to start their own small businesses there were not many takers in Bengal. In this context the New Education Policy with emphasis on Skill Development should be given wholehearted support.
8. The atmosphere in educational institutions need to change and the ambience should be less toxic.

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 for Bengal to prosper. The state has to come out of its self constructed time capsule as soon as possible.