West Bengal Is Not An Island Unto Itself

The problem of economic decline in West Bengal has both policy and philosophical reasons. At the most basic level, it calls for a shifting of gears to get away from an entrenched mindset. One that has taken it into a downward spiral for decades now. This despite harbouring some of the most talented, artistic, educated and intelligent Indians who have distinguished themselves in state, elsewhere, and around the world.

Its financial problems, psychological isolation, increasing ghettoization, apathy, squalor, and deep feelings of victimhood, make for quite a witch’s brew.

And the indoctrination of communism on top of a prevalent socialism, in place for three decades of earlier Left Front rule, has successfully politicised everyone. Bengalis who live in West Bengal are consequently very aware of their rights, but are insouciant and cavalier about their duties. Who wants to be a productive citizen anyway?

Discipline destroyed by Maoist rhetoric, all industry that could flee has long fled as a consequence. So has much of the trade and the jobs that once had everybody flocking to Calcutta.

Fifty years under Communist and populist TMC rule, to over 70 years, under earlier Congress governments, have a common refrain. West Bengal feels left out. It feels cheated. It has always been at war with the central government. And if the central government does not cater to absurd demands, it is, of course, biased against the people of the place.

This attitude has been true right from its very creation as a state. It was carved out from the erstwhile Bengal Presidency during the Raj. That was a much grander entity. It included today’s Bihar, Odisha, Assam and, of course Bangladesh. This also accounts for a good measure of Bengali middle-class arrogance with regard to its neighbours and indeed the fellows at the Centre.

In addition to Calcutta being the capital of British India, ranging over practically all of what is SAARC today, plus parts of the Arabian Gulf and Myanmar, then called Burma. There it was, most prominent during the two world wars and the economic boom that accompanied them. Nobody felt very bad about earlier setbacks then. Calcutta, with its big city lights, music, beautiful women and fine dining, was renowned for its glamour. It was called the Paris of the East.

The loss of gradual power and pre-eminence over the years has been felt keenly.  This perspective has plagued and influenced every state government of Tagore’s state from right after independence. Particularly when it found itself in trouble for not keeping its promises.

Not for West Bengal the determination of Israel, to build from scratch despite the horrendous persecution of Jews in Europe. Perhaps that sort of bootstrapping does not exist in the Indian ethos, let alone in this eastern state.

The various West Bengal governments have, in effect, refused to move on, preferring nostalgia and romanticism. They have fallen behind many others, and get away with development projects that are decades in the execution.

If current woes are thought insufficient, the state’s rulers have not shied away from referencing the first partition of Bengal in 1905, the transfer of the capital of British India to Delhi in 1911, the painful partition of 1947 at independence, and the massive Bangladeshi refugee influx of 1971.

These are all substantial blows to the Bengali psyche to be sure. But what is the use of crying over so much spilt milk? Especially when there is so much to do.

Governments of West Bengal have used these same old woundings to imply they have reasons for their shortcomings of governance and economic progress. That it wears thin as an alibi after more than 70 years of independence does not seem to bother the residents of the state either.

They seem content with cock and bull justifications and ideological rationale of sorts. The poor prefer being bought out with handouts and doles to any real progress. This is reflected in their voting patterns, their clinging to the misery they know. They are wary of venturing into new pastures. But if the BJP puts enough money into the effort of ousting the TMC, they might do well yet.

It won’t be easy. There are enforcers at large that deliver swift retribution to any that stray from the party in power’s directives. If you  have taken the TMC government’s salt, you must deliver your end of the bargain.

West Bengal politicians, almost all of them ethnic Bengalis, has always held themselves largely blameless for the state of affairs. Throughout the 20^th century, and now going into the third decade of the 21^st, they have felt short-changed by the higher powers. Making the murky most of it is second nature now. Idealism is all but dead.

Successive narratives say this is through no fault of West Bengal’s own. Those guerrilla attacks on the British were the work of nationalists. And later, Naxalite attacks upon its own were attempts to secure social justice.

The biggest problem is this alternate universe that the residents of this front-line state have created for themselves.

There is a serious infiltration and terrorist undercurrent sheltering amongst the nearly 30% Muslim population of the state. Bangladeshis. Rohingyas and Pakistani operatives are proliferating under the benign gaze and abetment of the state government. But it is busy consolidating a loyal minority vote-bank.

The state police are misused to serve the ruling government’s purpose. Central agencies are blocked and stone-walled. The finances of the state government are diverted to its purposes in an opaque manner. Government and TMC Party scams are never investigated.

In the end, will it take President’s Rule, using the anarchy, arson, mayhem and murder, also rampant, as reasons? It could, for a short time, but then there must be elections held.

Do the people of West Bengal trust the so-called ‘outsider’ BJP that rules in so many other states and the centre? It does not seem likely from all the exposed evidence. Though there are some reports surfacing on acute anti-incumbency. The TMC has hired Prashant Kishor, a sought after political consultant, to improve its chances.

But West Bengal does get fed up eventually. When it ousted the Left Front, after more than 30 years in favour of the TMC, there was little of the groundswell showing to political observers. But the rout, when it came, was almost absolute.

This time around, the BJP has made some ingress, in the general elections, winning 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats, if not so much in the state assembly, or the municipalities, the panchayats.

Can it sweep clean, based on a dissatisfaction amongst the Hindu majority that is yet to be particularly vocal about it? It seems unlikely, given the stranglehold of the TMC.

However, if it is political integration of the state with the national mainstream and economic progress that is desired, there is no alternative but to vote in the BJP.

It looked very unlikely in Assam before it happened.  But BJP did oust Congress from a stronghold of many years. Likewise in Tripura, where the Communists were defeated by them after decades in power. The RSS cadres have been working quietly in West Bengal, as they had been in Tripura and Assam.

But intellectualised West Bengal is an enigma. Its people prefer politics to progress and prosperity or have done so for a very long time. Much will be revealed in 2021 when the assembly elections are held.

Will it re-elect the ageing Mamata Banerjee and her virtually one person corrupt dictatorship, or will it take the plunge and usher in the Lotus.

Will it dare to give power to the much feared North Indian led non-Bengali? This force will have Bengali front-men of course. Still, it will combine readily with the naturalised if not native Marwaris, Sindhis, Punjabis et al? Can parochial West Bengal stomach this, weighed against its steady Islamisation? Time will tell.

(1,312 words)

For: Bengal Thinks

19^th October 2020

Gautam Mukherjee