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Mainstream, Vol. XLIX, No 29, July 9, 2011

Bridging the Divide for Larger Good

Sunday 10 July 2011

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COMMUNICATION

In the divided Bengal of today, the one man who comes in for much use by candidates at the hustings is Rabindranath Tagore. No wonder from their political leaders Bengalis settled in West Bengal have got so used to promises which are not to be kept and statistics which are to be accepted per se. One remembers while one was travelling to Chennai by train many years ago word all on a sudden spread that in Kolkata Mamata Banerjee had been badly hit on the head. The train was brought to a halt. A columnist, whose name one unfortunately does not remember, prophetically wrote a day or two latter that the dastardly attack would do more harm to the party than to her head. Over all these years it is hubris on the part of the rank and file of the ruling Left combine that has brought about its damnation in the just concluded Assembly polls.

It all started with organised opposition to the introduction of computers, relegation of the status of the English language in public schools, and finally the plainly stupid parting with the Congress-I. That politics is largely about posturing, rather hunting with the hound and running with the hare, was conveniently forgotten. Downright abusive expressions against the lady were used by more than one leader in public meetings.

When stupidity takes over the space for sound thinking and planning, who has time to think that a derogatory remark against a lady may antagonise the entire other half? To her credit, Mamata has singlehandedly brought to a halt the juggernaut that seemed to be invincible.

West Bengal today brings to mind Edgar Alan Poe’s adage: The grace that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome. The question is: as happens in other parts of India, will the leader bridge the divide, bury the hatchet and work in sync so that the State regains at any rate part of its past glory?

Samudra Gupta

C-204 Malll Enclave, 13 K,B. Sarani, Dumdum, Kolkata-7000080

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