Kolkata Korner

Super Friday
There couldn't have been a better day to celebrate secularism; Friday (March 21)happened to be Fateha Doaz Daham (the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad),Good Friday (the day on which Jesus was crucified) and Holi. With the threecommunities celebrating their respective festivals with éclat, many--includinglocal clubs and organizations--took advantage of the day to organize commoncelebrations. The club in my Ballygung para held a day-long jamboree in whichMuslim, Christian and Hindu priests spoke on the respective festivals and thetenets of their religion. A painting competition--the theme was secularism--washeld and this witnessed enthusiastic participation by many. The club'soffice-bearers made a special effort to reach out to and ensure the presence ofMuslims, Christians and people belonging to other minority faiths in theprogrammes, especially the cultural programme at the end of the day. It washeartening to see Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists recitingprayers after the maulana, the padre and the pundit, celebrating the daytogether and smearing colours on each other. On Friday, I was proud to be acitizen of Kolkata. Because, I'm sure, no other city in the country celebratedthe day in such a secular fashion. There may not be any more super Fridays inour lifetimes, but it would be nice if one day of the year is marked out forcelebrating secularism.

Ban The Bandh
Our worst fears have been confirmed: two mid-sized call centres are planning toshift away from Kolkata. The reason: disruptions due to frequent bandhs inBengal. Captains of industry, at a seminar held here recently, have said bluntlythat these bandhs reinforce the negative image of Bengal among investors andother states, competing for investments, have been citing Bengal's culture ofshutdowns to woo investors successfully. It's learnt that many industrialistsand heads of chambers of commerce and industries have spoken to leaders ofpolitical parties and issued appeals against calling bandhs. But such appealshave cut no ice. 

The news of the two call centres relocating out of Bengal, and maybe othersthinking on similar lines, also wouldn't cut any ice with Bengal's politicians.Because for the politicians, calling a bandh or a shutdown is the only knownmanner of protest. Never mind the losses it causes to the state or the severehardships such disruptions cause to people. Speakers at the seminar rightlypointed out that the bandhs don't really achieve their stated purpose and theissues on which they're called never get redressed. 

Take the case of the killings in Nandigram--despite the number of bandhscalled by the Trinamool and other parties over the CPI(M)'s depredations there,have the Marxists stopped doing what they've been doing there? Bandhs are athrowback to a shameful and dangerous legacy of Bengal, of the years of flightof capital, and the resultant economic downturn, caused by militant tradeunionism and strikes. Unfortunately, our politicians haven't learnt any lessonsfrom history. Truly, Bengal's biggest curse is its politicians.

Chief Violator
The Chief Minister is supposed to lead by example, right? More so when it comesto following the law not only in its letter, but also its spirit. But here inBengal we have a Chief Minister who says he won't follow the law and, worsestill, has no qualms in saying so. Writers' Building, where BuddahdebBhattacharjee has his office, was declared a non-smoking zone quite some timeago. But everyone from visitors to peons to babus to Ministers and even the CMhimself had been puffing away happily in open defiance of the ban. This promptedthe Public Works Department (PWD) to put up notices all over the huge structureproclaiming the ban and warning violators of stiff penalties. The ban extendsnot only to the common areas at Writers' Building, like the corridors andpassageways, but also to the chambers of all bureaucrats and ministers. 

But Bhattacharjee, when asked by scribes if he would continue to smoke,replied defiantly that he would do so inside his chamber. When told about theban, he said he couldn't care less! If this is what the CM says about a rule orlaw, can ordinary citizens be blamed if they choose to violate the law? It isnot only at Writers' Building that Bhattacharjee puffs away defiantly. The stateLegislative Assembly is also a no-smoking zone, but Bhattacharjee frequentlysteps out of the House and into the corridor to light up in full view ofeveryone. Privately, Bhattacharjee argues it's his right to smoke. Why, in thatcase, does he allow his own government to impose such bans? Better still, whydoesn't he go to court as a private citizen to challenge such bans?

Murderers Behind Wheels
The last two weeks have witnessed a bloody spate of road accidents, and the onesresponsible have been drivers of buses. It seems nothing can stop Kolkata'srogue bus drivers from mowing down people. Senior police officers have gone onrecord to say that till laws are made more stringent, there's little they can dowhen killer drivers, after being arrested and charged, walk away on bail and getbehind the wheels of a bus once again to maim and kill innocent people. Butthanks to the powerful lobby of bus operators and drivers, all owing allegianceto the CITU, our law-makers will never act to make rash driving an offence thatwill attract, say, a life term or at least a decade behind bars. 

At present, drivers who obtain perverted pleasure from running over people ordriving irresponsibly to cause harm barely ever have even their licencessuspended. In those rarest of rare cases where their licences are impounded,they simply obtain a fresh licence from another district with the help of CITUleaders, touts and corrupt officials. Many say the reason the drivers driverashly is because they get paid on a commission basis--the larger the number ofpassengers they pick up, the higher their earnings. Hence, a driver is in a rushto reach the next stop, especially when another bus on the same route is tailinghim.

Paying the drivers and conductors a fixed salary has been touted as analternative, but bus owners point out this (payment of fixed salaries to driversand conductors) is the primary reason behind government buses spending more timeat the depots and incurring losses. The bus owners have a valid point--withoutany incentive to earn more, drivers would definitely idle away at the depots orwon't bother to halt at bus stops to pick up passengers, like government busesdo. Hence, they argue, the commission basis is the only way to ensure the busesrun and earn profits for their owners. And, of course, continue killinginnocents. But there has to be a way out. Installing speed governors in buses isone, coupled with strict enforcement of traffic rules and making drivers shellout fines from their own pockets for violations. Also, the law ought to beamended to ensure penalties for rash or negligent driving and injuring orkilling people, even if unintentionally, become very stiff so that drivers arescared to drive rashly.

An Eye-Wash?
Last week, I had written about SFI goons going on the rampage in collegecampuses. They lost at Presidency College and, unable to accept defeatgracefully, accused their rivals of rigging the polls. They did more--led by theprogeny of two senior ministers, they attacked and assaulted activists andsupporters of their rival formations, even entering a hostel to exact revenge.These strong-arm tactics received wide publicity in local newspapers and,perhaps, stung by the criticism, the SFI leadership ordered an enquiry that,wonder of wonders, held SFI members at Presidency College responsible for theviolence. SFI leaders have promised action against the guilty and have warnedall their activists and supporters against committing similar acts elsewhere. 

The SFI's reaction stumped me. Since when has this organization become somindful of democratic norms and decent behaviour? SFI activists have, all thesedecades, reveled in throttling opposition and denying any space in college anduniversity campuses in Bengal to students' bodies of other political parties,even those of junior Left Front partners like the RSP (case in point: SFI'sbrute and illegal acts at South Calcutta Law College last week). So how come theSFI has become responsive to criticism and an organization that believes in fairplay? 

I believe what the SFI's actions in ordering an enquiry into the violence atPresidency and then revealing that its own members were guilty is nothing but adiabolical and sinister game to project itself in a favourable light inPresidency College with an eye on the students' union polls next year. If theSFI is really serious, it should rein in its blood-thirsty cadres in allcampuses and, for starters, get all the students' union office-bearers at SouthCity Law College to resign to pave the way for fresh, free and fair polls. Theyhad, after all, won unfairly by blocking candidates belonging to rival students'formations from even submitting their nomination forms. My guess is that the SFIwill never do any such thing. It is, after all, affiliated to the CPI(M), aparty which openly holds that multi-party democracy and free and fair polls isthe only hurdle to its capturing power in all states of India.