Bengalis: Shirkers?
This week saw two bandhs, Tuesday's called by the SUCI and Wednesday's by the Trinamool. And as has become so disgustingly familiar, a majority preferred to take an ill-deserved leave instead of going to work. Even though they could easily have reported for duty. On Tuesday, public transport was largely unaffected and the bandh was not really enforced. On Wednesday, too, quite a number of brave and conscientious souls ventured out and reached their workplaces. They were, alas, in a minority. The fact that most didn't bother to make the effort to go to work once again proves that people of Bengal have become shirkers and grab the first opportunity to shirk work. Bandhs come in handy to stay away from office.
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October could not have been a better month for Bengal's shirkers: the month had 15 holidays (four Sundays, nine official holidays—Gandhi Jayanti, Eid, Mahalaya, Durga and Lakshmi Pujas--and two bandhs) and 16 days of work! No work for half the month; could things get any better for Bengal's people? It's not just bandhs that provide an excuse for people here to stay away from work; during the Durga Pujas last year (as I wrote in this column that time), the multitudes had no problems wading through knee-deep water to gape and gawk at pandals. But even ankle-deep water on the streets would be enough of an excuse for these very same people to not report for work. Till the time people of Bengal shake off their lethargy and pull up their socks, the state will continue to be a laggard. And no point blaming New Delhi and others for the sorry state Bengal finds itself in today.
Showing The Way
Leaders are supposed to show the way, right? In Bengal, they've for decades now been showing the wrong way. Tuesday's bandh coincided with a strike called by CITU-affiliated unions of central and state government employees. This strike had minimal effect in the rest of the country, but, unsurprisingly, drew a 'whole-hearted' response in Bengal. Thus, while many private offices and establishments functioned (even with less staff), government offices in Bengal were deserted. As was Writers' Building. Just fiveministers, including the Chief Minister, reported for work and that too for short periods. But hey, areministers government employees that they also participated in the strike? Finance Minister Ashim Dasgupta tells us that allministers stayed away since they supported the strike morally. The five who did go to office for a short while did so because they had urgent business. If this is how the 'leaders' running the government behave, how can the people be expected to show any enterprise and work hard? As for the 'leaders' of opposition parties, well, they don't have much work anyway, do they? And the only work they seem to have is to stop others from working.
Silver Lining
But there is hope yet. Some people, though a minority, openly defied the bandhs, loudly voiced their opposition to this culture of bandhs and asked others to join in their defiance. To be fair, there were more people out on the streets on Tuesday and Wednesday (October 30 and 31) than any bandh in the past. More shops and business establishments were open on these two days than in the past. More private vehicles plied on the roads this time. One newspaper group has launched a campaign against such shutdowns. TV channels carried voices of protest and disgust over the bandh-culture spawned by politicians. Prominentpersons lent support to the fledgling anti-bandh movement. A brave lady penned an open letter to Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee questioning her decision to call a bandh. It seems, at long last, that some people are getting fed up of retrograde measures like bandhs and have started defying the backward-looking politicians. Hopefully, more and more people will start realizing not only the futility of bandhs, but also the self-defeatist mindset that makes them shirkers, and shall join in this nascent anti-bandh movement. The enlightened people of Bengal ought to launch a long-drawn, concerted campaign to build public opinion on this critical issue. And some day, perhaps in the near future, this will gain critical mass and force political parties to abandon the bandh culture.
Contrasting Protests
A popular Bengali news channel made an interesting point on Wednesday, the day Mamata had called the bandh to protest the continuing killings at Nandigram. Mamata's bandh disrupted normal life all over the state, caused ugly scenes and sporadic violence on the streets and was marked by unsavoury accusations and counter-accusations. Compare that to another protest, this time by ordinary citizens, over Rizwanur Rahman's death. People signed banners, lit candles, prayed and protested silently and in a dignified manner. More than a lakh took part in the solemn candle-light vigil on Park Street. This protest caught the media's attention and popular imagination and, ultimately, the government had to bow to people's wishes. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee himself acknowledged that people's sentiments (apart from that of Rizwanur's family and media campaign) forced him to transfer the five Kolkata Police officers. Will he, or any Chief Minister for that matter, ever get swayed by a bandh? What purpose did Mamata's bandh achieve other than inconveniencing lakhs of people and inflicting a loss of an estimated Rs 600 crore caused by the day's shutdown?
Mamata's Antics
The latest from Mamata is that she was "shot at" by "CPI(M) goons" when she visited Nandigram last weekend. She raved and ranted against her pet hate for the "dastardly assassination attempt". And she went on to produce the metal casing of a .303 bullet that she claimed was found just next to the vehicle she was travelling in. She brought the bullet casing along, displaying it to anybody who'd care to see it, as proof of the failed bid on her life. No doubt, she had hoped to gain public sympathy. But things didn't quite work out the way she had hoped; the police pointed out that once a bullet is fired from a .303 rifle, the casing stays inside the rifle and drops out only when the rifle is to be re-loaded. Thus, there is no way the casing could have landed next to her vehicle, unless it was Mamata herself or one of her cohorts who fired! Faced with this, Mamata clammed up. Later, asked by a reporter about it, she said "the matter is under investigation". By whom, the reporter persisted. Mamata gave him a stony glare.
And Didi's Followers
Finer points like where casings of bullets fall are always lost on Mamata's supporters (Trinamool activists). Angry that their 'Didi' was shot at, they took to the streets on Monday (Oct 29) morning and caused trafficsnarl-ups that busy morning. I got caught in one on the arterial S.N.Banerjee Road that day. A dozen-odd Trinamool activists, party flags in hand, blocked the road and started shouting slogans. The disruption continued for over 40 minutes till a large posse of cops, after having tried in vain to make them see reason, pushed them off the road. But thanks to the hundreds of vehicles that had piled up by then, it took more than three hours for normal flow of traffic to be restored. Now, this is a common phenomena in Kolkata. But what struck me was that on a busy Monday morning, when everyone seemed to be in a hurry to go to work, a handful could successfully derail plans and schedules of hundreds of people. It's apparent the Trinamool activists were jobless. And they held us hostage. How long can we allow such things to happen? Maybe a day will come when we all alight from our vehicles and thrash such hoodlums (as nearly all activists of all political parties are) so that they never dare to cause disruptions again.
Aping China
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee won encomiums from chambers of commerce, industrialists, financial institutions, the media and many people for having declared, after leading his party to a thumping victory in 2004, that his slogan would be 'Do It Now'. He was credited with having coined this inspiring slogan that caught the imagination of many and led to anticipation of a new era dawning on Bengal. Buddhadeb never contested the belief that he coined the slogan. Well, he didn't. Xi Jinping, who's slated to take over from Hu Jintao in 2012, did. When he was vice-mayor of Xiamen in the mid-1980s, Xi increased trade and commerce between his city and Taiwan and scripted the slogan 'Mashang jiu ban'. That's Chinese for 'do it now'. I came across this in a recent edition of an international newsmagazine. By the way, Xi was very successful in turning the economy of Xiamen; a feat that has led to his rapid rise to the top in China. Buddhadeb is yet to meet with much success in making Bengal prosperous. Merely snitching slogans don't help.
Faulty Forecasts
There's a nip in the air and the hint of the approaching winters is loud and clear. Over the past couple of days, Kolkata and some other parts of Bengal have been washed by smart showers. That could lead to a faster dip of the mercury. That's no doubt welcome, but I really wonder why the met office can never get it right. It couldn't predict these sudden showers and as a result, many of us were caught unawares and got thoroughly drenched on Wednesday. That same evening, the meteorologists at Kolkata said Thursday would be 'largely dry' with some isolated light showers. Bull. It was 'largely wet' with short dry spells. Smarter by the experience, I watched BBC World weather report on Thursday evening. Eastern India would experience moderate rainfall, the broadcaster announced. And our local weatherman happily announced Friday would be sunny. It started raining from early Friday morning and the sun shone through for barely an hour in the afternoon. Overall, it was a wet day. May I suggest that our local weathermen watch BBC weather report before coming out with their own forecasts?
