Over the last few months the Communist Party of India and its Leftist allies have had a really bad press over issues like Nandigram, Singur and their opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal. Particularly the Left Front Government led by CPI(M), the bracketed Marxist group, has been in the line of fire from the Indian media. Even the Left leaning Bengal elites were vociferous in their criticism. Whenever such troubling events unfold, any Bengali, in my opinion, should avoid any serious political discussion with non-Bengali colleagues, because then you will have to explain to them why Bengalis vote for CPI(M), which, without any shard of doubt, is an onerous task -you will have to walk a very thin line. For example, in the Nandigram incident, if you try to argue that Industrialization is important and the opposition may have played a role in fomenting violence, then the chances are high that you will be branded as a Communist. On the other hand if you criticize the Government unequivocally and convince your colleagues that you are not a Communist goon, then you will have to answer even a more difficult question -"Why Commies win in Bengal?".
This situation is even trickier because now if you support Mamata Banerjee, then you can either blast fellow Bengalis for electing Communists to office or use rigging in polls by CPM cadres as a possible explanation. But if you neither support Mamata nor the CPM and you want to probe deeper to really answer why CPM gets elected, then boy, you are in for some trouble!
Believe me.
I happen to be a registered voter of the South Calcutta constituency where Mamata Banerjee won in the last couple of elections. However I have never voted in any election as I had left Calcutta long before I even got my Voter's ID card. Strangely enough, even then at times I find myself being held responsible and answerable for the three decade long rule of CPM in Bengal. Therefore to settle the deal for once and all, I will now write down my take on this issue. Before doing so I need to state two things: (1) if I were to ever cast a vote, I will not support Mamata Banerjee unless she takes a few English lessons and develops some etiquettes (Yes, I do not want to be embarrassed by my CM, esp not after having seen President Bush and Laloo Yadav). (2) I am not a Communist -democracy and freedom of speech are very dear to me.
There is no doubt that the Communists have done immense harm to West Bengal- by not taking advantage of the Software boom in time, by slow-poisoning most Industries or at least by not doing enough to save them, and by running a corrupt Government. It was the growing frustration with Jyoti Basu's Government that led people to turn to Mamata Banerjee, whose clean image, fierce criticism of Govt policies and repeated antics appealed to many. Even the snobbish liberal Calcuttans, who had always felt that Bengal was in safe hands of CPM, were forced to put down their 'The Telegraph' to consider her seriously for the post of CM. Calcutta gave its verdict in 1998-99 elections when all the five constituencies of the city and two in its suburbs went to Mamata's Trinamool-BJP alliance. The newspapers proclaimed mockingly that CPM Government was ruling over a Bengal without the capital. The situation could have got worse if Jyoti Basu had continued to stay in power. His successor, Budhhadeb Bhattacharya was a man who brought hope, for he put behind the age-old Communist hostility to Industries and became what can be best described as a "Capitalist Communist". He has been a popular CM so far, and once again Calcutta came back as a CPM stronghold.
Having covered the basic history in a nutshell, now is the time to analyze why Bengalis favor CPM. This question has alluded many of my friends, and I am sure there are others too who ask the same question- "How can you guys vote for the same Government for 30 years?" my friends will gasp, and I will respond in a sarcastic tone, "Yeah, you guys are lucky, you get to elect new film stars in every election, especially those who can play Shiva and Parvathi well!" (if he is from the South) or "because Bengalis won't vote for BJP" (if he is from North).
Though these may sound facetious, they do contain many elements of truth. In rural Bengal CPM is probably popular because of the land-reform and redistribution initiatives etc, but I will restrict myself to analyzing the psyche of the people in the city of Calcutta since I can only comment on things that I have seen and experienced.
Calcuttans, by and large, do have a socialist leaning, a left-liberal inclination and an utter disdain for uneducated politicians (especially their next door illiterate goons in Bihar). Moreover they are quite secular in nature, and definitely scared of any remote possibility of a bloodbath -so Modi has no chance in Bengal however hard he may try to motivate Hindutva among Bengalis. The chances of the likes of Shiv Sena are even less because Bengalis care the least whether Valentine's Day cards and gifts are a Western custom or not. Surely our culture is not so weak that it will be ruined if we allow some other traditions to coexist. To add to the anger of Shiv Sena cadets, here is some news: Deepa Mehta's 'Fire' was screened in cinema halls in Calcutta and nobody rolled their eyes at it. In fact Calcutta went to become the first city to support a huge gay rally on the streets, effectively laughing in the face of the antiquated Indian Penal Code that describes same-sex relation as illegal. So BJP and Shiv Sena simply do not have the right cards to play in Bengal. Caste-based politics is also absent in Bengal (thankfully!) and so Mayawati and Karunanidhi also have the wrong cards. And Rajnikanth's on-screen antics can only turn away the voters in Calcutta. Above everything is the fact that Calcuttans are happy with what they have, and this remarkable complacency comes from a deep faith in their culture and heritage. This is indeed a difficult concept to get across. To the rest of India, Calcutta just stands as a forgotten former capital -still lost in a reverie of its former glory, indifferent to the changing world, but to Calcuttans it is an abode of peace, culture and tolerance, untouched by bourgeoisie lust, fundamentalist hatred and ignorant conservatism.
CPM wins simply because there is no viable alternative for Bengalis. Mamata is too frivolous and is even incapable of holding her party together. In short, she has lost her chance. Her frequent antics and state-wide strikes are only coming to bite her back. Congress is too weak as a party to take on CPM. And as for CPM, they have been playing the cards right- they maintain a secular and socialist nature, they keep the prices of essential commodities remarkably low, they have been trying to boost the State's economy and increase jobs, they play in tune with the liberal intelligentsia and they make sure that they have somewhat educated party leaders- that's all it takes to win over the Bengalis.
This situation is even trickier because now if you support Mamata Banerjee, then you can either blast fellow Bengalis for electing Communists to office or use rigging in polls by CPM cadres as a possible explanation. But if you neither support Mamata nor the CPM and you want to probe deeper to really answer why CPM gets elected, then boy, you are in for some trouble!
Believe me.
I happen to be a registered voter of the South Calcutta constituency where Mamata Banerjee won in the last couple of elections. However I have never voted in any election as I had left Calcutta long before I even got my Voter's ID card. Strangely enough, even then at times I find myself being held responsible and answerable for the three decade long rule of CPM in Bengal. Therefore to settle the deal for once and all, I will now write down my take on this issue. Before doing so I need to state two things: (1) if I were to ever cast a vote, I will not support Mamata Banerjee unless she takes a few English lessons and develops some etiquettes (Yes, I do not want to be embarrassed by my CM, esp not after having seen President Bush and Laloo Yadav). (2) I am not a Communist -democracy and freedom of speech are very dear to me.
There is no doubt that the Communists have done immense harm to West Bengal- by not taking advantage of the Software boom in time, by slow-poisoning most Industries or at least by not doing enough to save them, and by running a corrupt Government. It was the growing frustration with Jyoti Basu's Government that led people to turn to Mamata Banerjee, whose clean image, fierce criticism of Govt policies and repeated antics appealed to many. Even the snobbish liberal Calcuttans, who had always felt that Bengal was in safe hands of CPM, were forced to put down their 'The Telegraph' to consider her seriously for the post of CM. Calcutta gave its verdict in 1998-99 elections when all the five constituencies of the city and two in its suburbs went to Mamata's Trinamool-BJP alliance. The newspapers proclaimed mockingly that CPM Government was ruling over a Bengal without the capital. The situation could have got worse if Jyoti Basu had continued to stay in power. His successor, Budhhadeb Bhattacharya was a man who brought hope, for he put behind the age-old Communist hostility to Industries and became what can be best described as a "Capitalist Communist". He has been a popular CM so far, and once again Calcutta came back as a CPM stronghold.
Having covered the basic history in a nutshell, now is the time to analyze why Bengalis favor CPM. This question has alluded many of my friends, and I am sure there are others too who ask the same question- "How can you guys vote for the same Government for 30 years?" my friends will gasp, and I will respond in a sarcastic tone, "Yeah, you guys are lucky, you get to elect new film stars in every election, especially those who can play Shiva and Parvathi well!" (if he is from the South) or "because Bengalis won't vote for BJP" (if he is from North).
Though these may sound facetious, they do contain many elements of truth. In rural Bengal CPM is probably popular because of the land-reform and redistribution initiatives etc, but I will restrict myself to analyzing the psyche of the people in the city of Calcutta since I can only comment on things that I have seen and experienced.
Calcuttans, by and large, do have a socialist leaning, a left-liberal inclination and an utter disdain for uneducated politicians (especially their next door illiterate goons in Bihar). Moreover they are quite secular in nature, and definitely scared of any remote possibility of a bloodbath -so Modi has no chance in Bengal however hard he may try to motivate Hindutva among Bengalis. The chances of the likes of Shiv Sena are even less because Bengalis care the least whether Valentine's Day cards and gifts are a Western custom or not. Surely our culture is not so weak that it will be ruined if we allow some other traditions to coexist. To add to the anger of Shiv Sena cadets, here is some news: Deepa Mehta's 'Fire' was screened in cinema halls in Calcutta and nobody rolled their eyes at it. In fact Calcutta went to become the first city to support a huge gay rally on the streets, effectively laughing in the face of the antiquated Indian Penal Code that describes same-sex relation as illegal. So BJP and Shiv Sena simply do not have the right cards to play in Bengal. Caste-based politics is also absent in Bengal (thankfully!) and so Mayawati and Karunanidhi also have the wrong cards. And Rajnikanth's on-screen antics can only turn away the voters in Calcutta. Above everything is the fact that Calcuttans are happy with what they have, and this remarkable complacency comes from a deep faith in their culture and heritage. This is indeed a difficult concept to get across. To the rest of India, Calcutta just stands as a forgotten former capital -still lost in a reverie of its former glory, indifferent to the changing world, but to Calcuttans it is an abode of peace, culture and tolerance, untouched by bourgeoisie lust, fundamentalist hatred and ignorant conservatism.
CPM wins simply because there is no viable alternative for Bengalis. Mamata is too frivolous and is even incapable of holding her party together. In short, she has lost her chance. Her frequent antics and state-wide strikes are only coming to bite her back. Congress is too weak as a party to take on CPM. And as for CPM, they have been playing the cards right- they maintain a secular and socialist nature, they keep the prices of essential commodities remarkably low, they have been trying to boost the State's economy and increase jobs, they play in tune with the liberal intelligentsia and they make sure that they have somewhat educated party leaders- that's all it takes to win over the Bengalis.
20 comments:
Excellently put. The very reason that Calcutta was ready for a change was shown in the 98-99 elections. However, as you rightly put, the lack of a better alternative and extremely brilliant groundwork by CPM activists in the city brought back the city to the party. In fact, even the 'so called' congress seats in my area also went to CPM.
Apart from land reforms in rural Bengal for which loyalties still run deep, the presence of the party in the form of their cadres in every aspect of the Bengali life (not a good thing I believe) makes them more known to voters than others.
A strong alternative... that's what absent in Bengal politics as of now.
Thanks for this succinct post. At last something to refer to my non-Bengali friends when I am asked to justify Bengal's politics. Atleast they will now believe I am not the one responsible :)
An illiterate goon or a literate goon, a goon is a goon. The Left has shown its true colours in Nandigram. I don't see any difference between the CPM and say Shiv Sena. As for the lack of a strong alternative, perhaps there is a reason for that - the Left parties have not allowed one to come up ?
One cannot clap with just one hand, and it's because of the same reason that Nandigram violence cannot be just blamed on the Govt. How did the so-called hapless 'farmers' get arms? There are videos showing them 'fighting' against the police force. I do not think that the opposition in WB is a saintly party. Moreover, it is the same opposition that has criticized this Govt for years for not doing enough industrialization, and compared WB with other states that are getting industrialized. In our country the leaders don't know the meaning of 'opposition', they think they have the duty to oppose everything good or bad. As for the question of lack of a suitable opposition, If you had read the blog carefully you would have found the reason. Mamata can't win because it of her own flaws, she can hardly get along with her own party members. BJP doesn't have a presence because their issues are unappealing to people of the state. The only viable opposition can be Congress, but again they are too weak as a party, one can hardly recollect one or two names of Congress politicians. Your argument that Left Parties have not allowed any strong opposition to exist is not convincing to me because we are talking about WB, not Russia, we have full freedom of expression and news media coverage. If there was really an alternative, they could have at least reached out to Calcuttans and won their support, if not the rural areas. I am not favoring CPM, but I think industrialization of WB is important, and what happened needs investigation, but it is not that CPM is in power in WB by sheer force. The present CM has had a very high approval rating consistently, unlike Jyoti Basu's in his last years at office.
And yes, I don't think one can sensibly compare Shiv Sena to CPM, they are poles apart in ideologies and actions.
but do bengalis also like the fact that CPM keeps on letting illegal bangladeshis across the border and gives them citizenship and has changed bengal's demographics permanently.
@Ravi- Many poor Bangladeshis and Hindus fleeing religious persecution cross over to Bengal. Not only that, even Muslims from other states come to Bengal for shelter, like the ones who came in after the Gujarat riots recently. Bengalis are not so much troubled with these people, and in fact they consider it the right thing to do. So Calcuttans, although acutely aware of the problems, have appreciated the humanist approach to these problems. See this in a historical perspective, 10 million people came over to Bengal in 1971 and we had to shelter them because that was the proper thing to do, although it changed some demographics, esp economic stats. But remember that Bengal and Bangladesh had been together always, and many of those who came in during 1971 war were close relatives to people on this side of the border, and most were Hindus.
Bengal also has a substantial Muslim population, even in many parts of Calcutta, but there hasn't been much trouble since 1947.
But there are issues that bother Calcuttans, an example would be the fact that some Islamic organizations joined in together to throw away Taslima Nasreen out of Calcutta after a day of massive unrest on the streets- that is against our strongly held ideals. CPM Govt allowance for ration supplies to illegal Bangladeshis, mostly poor, does not offend Bengalis, that is probably because of the predominantly secular-socialist mindset, what offends us is when the Govt fails to uphold the basic tenets of freedom and justice. Many Bengalis would like to see an opposition to CPM, but unfortunately we do not have a good alternative yet. In my opinion, the Congress can only be an alternative (it will help if Mamata goes back to Congress), and BJP's political platform is completely (and in fact shockingly) against the Bengali society's view in general and so has no chance of winning even a single seat on its own (one at most if Mamata joins BJP alliance, thereby giving them her seat in the tally). Although it is not clear if she can win this time as she is popular among uneducated people and loathed by many educated Calcuttans for her absolute lack of decency.
Chomo, have you seen Murali Ravi's blog? Disgusting. Almost makes me want to vote for CPM!
@Marvin- Yes I did, and I guess now you realize better why Bongs prefer CPM although it is a party with lofty ideals on a lost path. But he also agrees that getting votes from Calcuttans, and Bengal in general, is beyond the caliber of BJP. :-)
Thankfully my people still prefer Marx's Communinst manifesto to Modi's Hindutva manifesto. The ideology of these Hindu fanatics is so oppressive, they want to dictate which movie we watch, which days we celebrate and which books we read, as if that bunch of ignoramuses have the right to decide what is moral and what's not; for them Hinduism means erecting temples for Ram and shouting slogans. We have a very different notion of religion in our parts, even Durga Puja is more of a social event for us than a religious one, and even Muslims join in. BJP's political platform is completely incompatible with the psychology of the people in WB. Interestingly 'Ram' is not considered to be a great character by Bengalis; he is seen as an oppressor of female rights. I get a bit concerned when I see such admiration for BJP and Shiv Sena from so-called educated people. I would prefer Buddhadev, or even a crook like Jyoti Basu, to Modi any day.
Modi scares me. Having him as PM will be like electing Adolf Hitler. With both Advani (also hopeless) and Vajpayee looking like they will die soon, he's the only one left - yikes!
The BJP creates problems where none existed before - like the Baba Budangiri shrine in Karnataka - and then claim that they are safeguarding Hindu rights! Their brand of Hinduism is only obsessed with demolishing mosques.
Yeah boy, your state is in for some trouble. I hope you don't see riots in the streets of Bangalore now. And yes if Modi comes to power India will turn into a terrible country to live in, they will not only create communal violence but also restrict our freedom by putting in laws that match with his bigoted outlook about Hindu philosophy. I hope Indians have enough sense to vote congress to power, but democracy is not safe in the hands of ignoramuses who exercise their voting rights. I personally think democracy is a good, but flawed concept, how can this huge mass of illiterate people decide what is good or bad for them? I should post an article on that soon.
@Marvin- What I see in the recent development of Indian politics is that we are steadily and dangerously moving towards a politics that is similar to that of States. In India some parties are mixing up religion and politics, and as a result we will end up with a partisan politics where one group is secular-liberal, the other is communal-orthodox, very much like the Republican-Democrat split among voters in US. Don't you think we are heading towards that terrible end?
Absolutely. We're heading for a two-coalition system, if not a two party one. With a difference - even corrupt American politicians rob and kill non-Americans (like the Iraqis, etc.)... Indian politicians reserve their dirty tricks for their own people!
I agree, democracy is not safe in the hands of starving illiterates.
@Marvin- Look at this blog, it will send your head spinning:
http://anandkumar1978.blogspot.com/
In his 'about me' section he describes himself as "A sincere devotee of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Mahavatar baba, Ramana Maharishi.." etc. I do not know about the teachings of all these people, but Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, with whose teachings I am quite familiar, will surely be turning in their graves now! They were probably the most secular teachers in the recent history, they talked about philosophy and not communal violence. I am sure this guy hasn't read, and perhaps even incapable of understanding their teachings, but just uses these names with the hope that doing so will add legitimacy to his moronic ramblings.
Hahahaha! That blog is hilarious... It's obvious he's just yet another deluded loser. Funny to read, but not funny when such people vote. Where do you even find these crazy kooks?
I do not remember exactly how I stumbled upon that loony's blog, but I found the article on "How Vegetarianism can Help Solve the Global Warming Problem". Didn't know that farting of non-vegetarian is the major source of Global warming! Even Woody Allen can't crack you up so much.
Read what the article argues:
"About 85% of this methane is produced in the digestive processes of livestock, and while a single cow releases a relatively small amount of methane, the collective effect on the environment of the hundreds of millions of livestock animals worldwide is enormous. An additional 15% of animal agricultural methane emissions are released from the massive lagoons used to store untreated farm animal waste, and already a target of environmentalists for their role as the number one source of water pollution in the U.S."
Well, how does non-vegetarians worsen the problems mentioned, even if no one consumes meat anymore, the livestock will still graze and will still produce manure! None of the problems arise explicitly out of non-vegetarianism, they are to do with waste treatment. Maybe next he will suggest that we get rid of all animals. In an effort to prevent Global Warming this loony proposes to destroy the ecological balance itself.
Yeah it is good entertainment to read these guys but shocking to think that they have voting powers, that is why I am concerned about how safe is democracy in the hands of the masses. I found that it was the same reason that led Socrates and Plato to vehemently object to democracy and espouse the idea of Philosopher-King.
Great insight Soumya ! I got this by chance and was very delighted with the insight.This actually de-mystifies lot of myths ! As you rightly said, explaining a friend why Bengalis Vote for CPM is very Difficult. I have seen my collegues believe that all Bengales are "hard core communist" (probably wearing red undergarments all the time :)) and they vote for communist because they do not want to work and are against development. What an irony!! Perhaps most of them believe that Bengalees we all practice communist Ideology and Red in all respect. I am surprised how different we are , specially the next gen.
One of the thing I want to point . Though much critizised by our parents, I see as students we were very knowlegable about politics and critical to world politics often. Now, passing from one of the best technology insttitution I firmly believe that is very essential. It firms up your Ideology (whatever it may be) and opens up you thinking and not just colours. Do not know if Most bengalees are doing good with their political decisions but I am sure it is different than voting on "filmy heros" " cast" , "religion" and "Rs5 rice".
Soumya,
Pl. also pay attention to the bottomline. West Bengal seem to be stangnant and frozen in time that's why they are not open to change.Except dictators and chinese communist most of civilized world chooses new government as change is the only way to experiment and find something new. 30 years of CPM rule shows most Bengalis are conservative and not willing to take risk. No wonder , most educated Bengali's are wandering outside west bengal in search of job. Most Bengali's are job seeking, contented, and un ambitious as reflected through abject poverty and filth of Kolkatta. The only light of hope was "Sourav Ganguli" who is prayed like a god unlike your claim of bengali's don't pray actors and actresses.
So, don'y justigy your current stagnated position, change and see the beauty of life. Choose Congress or BJP but look for c change once to know what economic progress, and true democracy means.
WB CPM means No work only salary hike and frequent Kolkatta Bundh which must have killed hundreds of innocent due to lack of emergency services.
@Ravindra:
You have a biased view of an outsider, and believe in the stereotype. You failed to see the main argument of the post that Bengalis don't have alternatives that they would consider voting for. Congress does have a chance, but only if it can revive itself as a party in the state.
However when you say that "Most Bengali's are job seeking, contented, and unambitious as reflected through abject poverty and filth of Kolkatta", it reflects nothing more than bigotry. Make a list of Indians who are known internationally and count how many of them are Bengalis. That exercise will hopefully clear up your views. I have traveled to different parts of India, and believe me, none of the metropolis are free from poverty and filth, and that applies even to richer nations like US.
As for your comments on "beauty of life" and "true democracy", although it is probably the most practical form, it is surely not a 'beauty'. Here is what Bernard Shaw felt about it:
"Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few."
By the way, WB operates in a democratic framework and we have more freedom of press and speech than many other parts of the country. At least we don't attack minorities and engage in cultural censorship of art and films. That's what democracy in practice to me, rather than having queues of ignoramuses lining up during the polls to vote without really knowing what's best for them.
"My surreal world"...A GREAT TITLE FOR THIS BLOG .
Hello,nice post thanks for sharing?. I just joined and I am going to catch up by reading for a while. I hope I can join in soon.
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