In The Race
It's official. Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazaare has, as promised, lent his name – and face and photograph – to the campaign for Mamata Banerjee for Prime Minister. Huge posters and billboards with photos of a grinning Anna superimposed behind photos of a beaming Mamata have appeared not just all over Bengal but also in other states, especially in the North-eastern states like Assam and Tripura, where Didi is putting up candidates and is campaigning rigorously. Anna's mass national appeal has given a huge boost to the TMC campaign as the party is hoping to strengthen its foothold in Central politics. In fact, Mamata fielding candidates in other states is an indication that she doesn't want to limit herself to the 42 Parliamentary seats that Bengal has (even if she wins all of them, the number is limited to 42) but wants to break the glass ceiling and send as many MPs to Parliament as she can so that her bargaining power at the time of government formation is very strong. Then no one can stop her from being the PM.
Sleepless Nights For CPI-M
Things just refuse to get better for the CPI-M in Bengal. Just when the party was hoping to bounce back, riding more on the slip-ups of its main rival, the ruling TMC, than on any show of promise of its own, suddenly it seems to be crumbling from the inside. And ironically, for once, it isn't Didi or her party which is giving it sleepless nights (though the Anna episode IS a bit of a bother) but its own members. Or rather, its own former members. This week matters came to a boil when first, expelled party strongman Lakshman Seth – associated with and blamed by the CPI-M for the Nandigram horrors – publicly called it a party of elitists far removed from the reality on the ground. And then another party strongman, Rezzak Mollah, who was recently removed, launched a verbal attack on his former colleagues, accusing them of having neglected the minority community completely during the last three decades. Though Mollah had earlier announced that he would pull out and form a party on his own but stay and campaign for CPI-M at least until the upcoming LS elections, was however, summarily removed.
Bengal's Bridge Is Falling Down...
Speaking of crumbling from the inside, another bridge has collapsed in Bengal – this time in the district of Murshidabad. Reminiscent of the horror of the 2011 incident when a hanging bridge near Darjeeling caved in killing 32 people, this week the Jhumjhumkhal Bridge suddenly gave way when a truck loaded with tons of stone chips was crossing it. Other recent incidents of collapsing bridges include the infamous episode when a huge portion of a flyover under construction in Calcutta's Bidhannagar area caved in killing several people. These incidents of falling bridges have drawn sarcastic quips from Calcuttans who point out that if in nothing else at least in this matter, Bengal Chief minister Mamata's campaign promise of turning the city into London has come true.
Film Feud
Bengali filmmaker Anik Datta has expressed annoyance – but not without a tinge of amusement – about Hindi filmmaker Satish Kaushik. Not because the Bombay director (Kaushik) has remade his (Datta's) hit comedy Bhooter Bhobishot, which literally means the "Future of the Past" (in Bengali the word 'bhoot' means both past and ghost) about a group of ghosts hanging around in a haunted house, but reportedly because Kaushik took umbrage at a comment made by Datta on seeing the promos of the Hindi remake, which has been named Gang of Ghosts. Speaking to a local daily Datta, who though denied that he made any disparaging remarks against Kaushik, nevertheless said that he found it "absurd" that Kaushik would react adversely to comments, even if made by him, considering that it was his film – written and directed by Datta himself – which had inspired him.
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The Bitter Bicycle Ban
The ban on cycles from about 174 routes in and around Calcutta has reared its ugly head again. Last year the Calcutta Police had issued a ban which had not been implemented because the state government had not ratified it within the stipulated period of two months, which was a good thing and must have done the state government a world of good too as such a ban would not only go against the principles of the common man/woman-friendly, environment-friendly governance that Didi claims hers is, it would also, no doubt, alienate a huge section of the vote bank cutting across economic, social and religious groups. The cycle is the urban poor's trusted mode of transport. It is not just the most economic, but also the most environment-friendly vehicle plying the streets in this day and age of pollution and toxic vehicular emissions. The cycle has other uses too. Those who do not depend on it as a mode of transport often swear by it as an integral component of their fitness regime. "I've been thinking about cycling to work because I don't have time to exercise otherwise," said Leena Bhattacharya, who works for the advertising agency, Shape. "Now that's out of then question because one of the banned routes is the same route I take to work." There is bound to be bitter resistance to the move and the Calcutta Police should reconsider this ban.
Sincerely, The Common Man
We have often reproduced, in this space, the part-charming, part-corny rhymes of the Calcutta Police, especially the various awareness ads of their Traffic Department's road safety campaigns. Well, this week, we have one for them:
"Please, Dada. Don't impose this ban. Ektu amader kotha bhabun.(Please think a little about us) We are the common man."
