The Dilemma in Bengal

There is a subtle crisis that we face in West Bengal, though not many of us are aware of it. A never ending saga of Left front rule that no amount of television mega-soap can tarnish, has splashed three colors deliberately across the landscape, along with the all pervasive red.
The villages of our State follow a strict rule of swearing loyalty to either the Left Front, or the opposition; and while the former is based out of rules that would remind one of the Jurassic age, the later is based out of the philosophy that whatever Left Front stands for, is criminally wrong. For the people of the land, this is not a very healthy line of thought to base one’s existence out of, but, there is zero awareness. The rural people remain poorly educated, with basic knowledge of their mother tongue, so no amount of news and views reaches them barring the vernacular, politically aligned newspaper – which are hell bent on proving the greatness of their respective party banner.
As a result, nothing has changed much from the time when, I as a kid would romp around in my native village somewhere in Burdwan. One would still find a couple of community tube-well pumps for drinking water, there has been no addition over the years; one and a half party offices (one for Left Front and half for the opposition); and a bus stand. The additions over the past two decades are in the shape of a few electric poles that carries wires meant to provide electricity, but there are week long power-cuts; and a few bumps (road-breakers), each a phoenix, rising about ten inches from the cracked and bleeding road, for high speed buses to slow down for locals to get on or off. In terms of accomplishments, one man still tops the list. He cleared the WBCS Exams some fifty years ago – he still is the only man to have done so from that village. The current generation continues to be an apt reflection of those people that lived there a hundred years ago, and whatever I have seen during my travels to other parts of Bengal, villages across the rest of the map are no different. Rural ignorance has been an intended and manipulated situation on the part of Left Front strategy – and that’s one color.
Under such circumstances, one normally tends to turn to the urban people for some positive energy. But sixty years has failed to generate a single urban spot on the map of Bengal. Calcutta it was, Calcutta it still is – and we have the Union Jack to thank for that. Durgapur, Haldia, Asansol, Kharagpur, Malda and Siliguri, promising dark-horses at different points in time in history, remain waiting in anticipation even today, like the bride-to-be, whose prospective groom never turned up.
Was this also manipulated? Probably yes. The resultant generation that has sprouted from all these places is intellectually confused. Needless to say, Calcutta has over the years become remarkably indifferent. Key Bengalis have become tourists to their hometown, from far off Europe or America. The homogenous attitude of people across all of these urban or sub-urban areas is – We Don’t Bother. That’s the second color.
But there is a third and even deadlier hue, that, when gets to become a permanent color, can be the mother of all Singurs and Nandigrams put together. The fact that there is no worthwhile political opposition in the State. First, (and now seems) some million year ago there was Left Front – young, intellectually inclined, progressive and promising; to sum up – political hot-shots. But then they took over as rulers, and no one took over their erstwhile seat. Though it is not that the seat has been lying vacant ever since. For some time, the defeated Congress(I) made lot of usual noises as they settled down on the opposition seat. Gradually they realized that there’s more money in playing at a national level. As a result, they calmed down, save those mandatory blah-blah-ing every now and then as the rightful state opposition. The intellectual quotient of Left died two unique deaths. It died on the side of the opposition, because of the void created by the Leftists moving out from there. It then died within the Leftists, because they became the rulers.
Today, we have a mass of people that call themselves “the only solution to Left Front’s ‘hegemony’”. They have a vision that is confined only to thwarting the existing government. Nothing beyond. They are ridiculously leaderless, despite a leader; are agenda-less, barring dissident practices; and meaningless, despite lot of airtime and acoustic support. Their antics (yes, I call them so) remain desperately reactive in nature. Having been in the political map of the State for more than ten years now, they are yet to come up with a single proactive approach to an issue – detailed and defined down to the last parameter, something that is fool-proof and smells of focus on solution rather than pointing fingers at other party’s inefficiency. I am sure there are lots of issues lurking around every corner one cares to turn to. But the recorded approach to such issues has been the hackneyed ‘get us to power’ stance. An ad-campaign trying to say that they have an incredible pool of talent and stamina within to turn things upside down the moment their team assumes the mantle. I don’t know what amount of intellect the opposition of today has. But I have read Mr. Carl Sagan say, ‘extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence’. I know that the junta of West Bengal is yet to experience such evidence to the claims made.
It is not a thought to denounce the word ‘opposition’ in whatever forms it exist today, for it would be denouncing democracy; and I am not an anti-democracy character. It is also not a thought to denounce the opposition of today. At least they are there, trying to put their point across to the humungous and well-oiled machinery called Left Front, despite serious limitations. They are still holding ground when the likes of Congress (I) and BJP have literally fled from Bengal. Its just that I am a common man, who is not totally indifferent about the state of affairs, questioning the fact that why haven’t I ever seen the opposition leadership take up even a miniscule of a crisis, walk up to a TV channel, get some slot and present an analytic, fact and figure approach to solve the issue, abstaining from using the age-old phrase ‘bring us to power’ subtly or bluntly? Why is it that the ruling party gets away with Neanderthal ideas of how to run a state, something that has been questioned, criticized and crushed the world over? Why does it not get questioned here – why do we have to be so ‘different’ from the world? Why does everyone in the opposition assume that the vote bank, the rural mass is ignorant? Why does everyone overrule the fact that there might be some intelligence there, still? One might hit a goldmine there, but why doesn’t anyone try? What about a collective effort towards building the mental health of the people? Arming them with required knowledge and skills? Loosening the vice a bit, and going to the elections confident on the judgment of the voters afterwards? I am questioning the age-old, dilapidated, carton damaged and post-expiry date mentality of our political leaders – of old and young ones alike.
This color is disturbing and, if this state of the mighty oppositions continues for some more time, then it would be downright scary for all of us. We need to be scared that tomorrow, the once upon a time ‘culture’ capital of India, a place that was known to breed people with points-of-view, will be completely brainless. Scared, that no matter whichever government runs the State, the people will be shuttle-cork between stone-age ideologies and antic artists. In the whole bargain, we would all would grow old, but never really grow up.
It’s the moral duty of any socially active political opposition to try to bring about a change, and, the current opposition party in West Bengal can bring about a change in the existing mindset of the people. Why they have failed miserably so far is, because they are still based out of identical mentality that the Left front was some centuries(almost) ago, when they wanted to topple the Congress regime. That stance of impulsive, often violent opposition that was a characteristic of young and restless brains became synonymous to young Leftists, led by the likes of a highly intelligent Jyoti Basu. This doesn’t apply to the current opposition because the intelligence or credibility factor just does not exist among its leadership. The top leader of the opposition has had national portfolios on platters and she has kept resigning and has kept coming back home (probably homesickness, even I suffer from it), while someone as extremely controversial as Laloo Prasad Yadav has taken up one such leftover mess of hers and has converted that into an extremely profitable venture for the Govt. of India.
Going back to the impulsive and hot-headed variety of approach; this approach has become worn out, redundant, worthless ever since – probably the reason why Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharaya is trying to re-adjust the Left Front’s brand image. It is sad that the opposition intelligence doesn’t appreciate that. In effect, they are just a different reflection of the Left front of yesteryears, operating out of the same political parameter that they operated out of, and giving the Politburo enough reasons to guffaw. In reality, an image never takes on the real figure. It wouldn’t be called an image then.
The mass maybe ignorant, but they possess sufficient instincts to comprehend that the 70s landed them up in today’s state. If this is to continue forever (for the underlying attitude of the leader and opposition are so similar), there is little point in risking their future, resources, and precious lives of near and dear ones, in trying to bring about a change. So to them, with the exception of a handful of fanatics, this whole chase fails to assume an appropriate dimension.
If the State has to grow up and not just grow older (aren’t we old enough already?), then the oppositions need to get worthier. How about taking a stock of the core attitude that underlines their party values and behavior? A realization of sorts that there is an urgent need to migrate from their existing set of attitude as far as possible, for they can ill afford to remain labeled the ‘other side of the same coin’ called Left Front. That achieved and cascaded successfully across all levels of membership can sensationalize the mind of the junta – we maybe ‘indifferent’ or ‘ignorant’, but we are not socially foolish. We have an acute sense of understanding ‘What-Is-In-It-For-Me’, that’s typically 21st century – the leadership can be sure about that. Then, the leaders of the opposition can think of constructive actions, not reactive or subversive in nature (I needed to spell that out), that is focused on upgrading the social status of the state. The fun that the oppositions can have is that they only have to make a SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound) presentation to the media and reach the maximum number of people(of course they can have their share of Brigade-Parade stomping, for that’s the birthright of every leader worth his/her khadi). Going by the way things are for the ruling party nowadays, this kind of a move might throw them off-balance. So when the opposition can claim kick-starting a process of ‘mass awareness’ for the first time in the history of modern and post-independent India, the rulers might feel the need to move their rear to survive. One-upmanship, tickling the ‘gone with the scotch’ intellect to resurrect, walking the talk etc can follow much later – but for the time being it will be a nice diversion from the TV screen full of primary school dropouts screaming slogans while setting buses on fire.
What happens to such prospective SMART presentations’ future? Well, first get the spreadsheets ready and start the process of building the bridge, we can cross it when it is built.