Peace Process
There has been a very welcome development this week--Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has agreed to sit for talks with ruling Left front parties, including the CPI(M), to pave way for peace at Nandigram. The anarchy that was prevailing there could not have continued for long and Mamata has done well to climb down from her stand that no talks would be possible till the perpetrators of the March 14 bloodbath are brought to book. The CPI(M) has also shed its arrogance to allow a leader of a juniorpartner--Ashok Ghosh of the Forward Bloc--to act as convenor of the proposed peace meetings instead of insisting that the much-reviled Biman Bose be in charge of it. Credit for this, to a large extent, goes to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who has been, post March 14, instrumental in putting a leash on hardliners in his party who pushed for an aggressive stance on Nandigram. That a state government report on the Nandigram situation specifically mentions the role of armed CPI(M) cadres indulging in provocative acts there speaks volumes about the semblance of bipartisanship that Bhattacharjee is trying to display. All this is fine, but there has to be greater will and sense of accommodation on both sides to bring the situation back to normal at Nandigram.
The Hiccups
But then, as they say, there's many a slip between the cup and the lip. Mamata and other Opposition parties want the process to kick off with a state-level meeting, while the CPI(M) wants local-level peace meetings first. At the local level, fear, hatred and misunderstandings run so deep that it'll take a long time for people belonging to the opposingcamps--the Bhumi Uched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) and the CPI(M)--to start living together in harmony. Already, the BUPC has set impossible terms: only CPI(M) workers, it says, and not that party's leaders, would be allowed to return to their homes; police camps won't be allowed as of now on BUPC strongholds and that those returning would have to sever links with theCPI(M). Mamata and others who have been spearheading the BUPC would do well to restrain their cadres and drive some sense into them. The CPI(M), on its part, should immediately disarm its cadres. But all this is easier said than done; and even if and when done, the residual animosity and mistrust would mean that at least for the next few decades or two generations, residents of Nandigram would be at daggers drawn. Perhaps it would be best, for their own sake, to re-locate them in different areas of Bengal. And then, a chemical hub could come up in Nandigram! Did I hear Mamata let loose a string of expletives?
Pochis-e Baisakh
This is one day that Bengalis love to feel proud on: the birth anniversary of the Bard ofBengal! Bengalis organize cultural programmes (featuring Rabindrasangeet and Tagore's dance dramas) in perhaps every nook and corner of the city (Bengal has onlyone--Kolkata--in case you didn't know), towns and villages. It's become quite a senseless ritual by now: microphones blare Tagore's songs set in that typical lazy tune Tagore favoured and people with literary pretensions take to the stage to extol the virtues of a man they can never ever measure up to. For Bengalis, celebrating Tagore's birth anniversary means singing (mostly offkey) Rabindrasangeet or hearing them. No attention in paid to debating, discussing, upholding or living by Tagore's ideals. In fact, few, if any, among present-generation Bengalis even know what Tagore's ideals, his philosophy and what he stood for or advocated really are. And while Bengalis celebrate this day so enthusiastically, even if mindlessly, it would be worthwhile to remember what Tagore once said about his fellow-Bengalis: "Saat koti santaner hey mugdha janai, rekhecho bangali koriya, manushkoroni". Loosely translated, that would read: "Hey proud mother of seven crore (the Bengali population at that time) people, you have made them Bengalis, but not humans!"
Puerile Proposal