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.
