An ordinary Indian wants to know

Take 2: A so-called firebrand television journalist who is a brand himself just a while back demanded to know in his talk show (now branded after his name as it is his channel now) why Hindus are being selectively targeted in Bengal under the present government citing the Basirhat incident. His pitch was high, oh so typical of him.

Really, is that the situation of the entire Bengal today? Have you got enough evidence (which you have a knack of flaunting before the camera) to back your statement?

Take 1: Same journalist, same channel. A few days ago. Now sitting a few feet away, face to face with the Chief Minister of UP. The journalist calmly demanded to know why the CM had said a few days back that 'Taj Mahal does not represent Indian culture'. The CM asked back "Tell me, what does 'Hindustan' mean?" and kept on repeating himself till the 'firebrand' journalist almost meekly answered "It does not mean the country belongs to only Hindus."

Why didn't he shut up the CM firmly (he wouldn't dare to do so remotely resembling the style in which he often shuts up/interrupts his guests on his talk show but he definitely could counter the CM in a civilized manner) and clarified that the word 'Hindustan' most certainly does not mean a country of Hindus?

What's wrong, Mr Goswami? Why is your famous voice of integrity not sometimes sounding like yours after you started your channel? An ordinary Indian citizen wants to know.

#Television #NewsChannel #EnglishNewsChannel #West Bengal #UttarPradesh #Politics

The new probe

Sarada: Hi buddy, wassup?

Narada: Not fine. The CM has just announced a police investigation into me by none other than the CP.

Sarada: Worry not! I know him. He’s a cool guy. He was the boss of SIT mandated to investigate me. I was stressed like you initially. But you know very well how much of me was eventually revealed by his team. Just chill! You shall be in safe hands (Winks)!


#PoliticalCircus


If you liked reading the post, you may visit this blog's Facebook page (click on the link) and hit the 'Like' button to stay connected with the future updates on this blog and more on the page.

The political circus: Rezzakism

Abdur Rezzak Mollah, the veteran politician of West Bengal, has never been known to measure his words. His verbal ‘gems’, often at the expense of his own partymen, have been widely circulated in the media when he was with CPI(M) and entertained many. As it is common knowledge, he had been expelled by CPI(M), formed his own political outfit (Bharatiya Nyaybichar Party) and got expelled from it (!) before joining Trinamool Congress earlier this year with which he had great enmity as a communist. He kept a low profile since then.

But his remarks in an interview with ABP Ananda on 20^th April showed his return to ‘true form’.  It happened when the interviewer asked for his opinion on actors joining politics. There is a common chord among all who were at the receiving end of his bouncers and no prizes for guessing it- all of them are actors. Two of them are MPs from his own party- Dev and Moon Moon Sen and the other one is a candidate in the ongoing assembly elections from Howrah district for BJP- Roopa Ganguly. Rezzak was certainly back to the form with a bang, considering he has just been censured by the election commission for violating the code of conduct the verbal way. By the way, the interviewer was quite embarrassed as he was a well-known actor too- Dhritiman Chattopadhyay.

The nature of the remarks varies but. While he dismissed Dev as ungentlemanlike, Moon Moon’s effectiveness as a politician was questioned. But the fiercest and the most vulgar one was reserved for Roopa. He took a dig at her smoking habit and her multiple partners (who he said he knew), and compared her to "Draupadi'- a role which brought Roopa national fame on television.

We’ll soon know the outcome. But here is the immediate thought. Due to his strong political acumen and mass following, he used to get away with all this careless talk while he was in CPI(M). But Trinamool is no CPI(M) who will hold discussions at the highest state level and wait for the ‘recommendation’ of the concerned committee entrusted to decide his fate. Here everything is decided by the supremo and she can even make her once-trusted second-in-command redundant.

He also hadn’t taken note of the fact that it was his party chief who had reportedly handpicked Dev to fight the election. Before that, Dev had no direct connection with Trinamool. So Rezzak’s bouncer hits two persons- his target and his party chief and amounts to ridiculing her political wisom. Even Moon Moon Sen must have been the captain’s pick as her selection as a candidate for assembly election had no backstory. So the outcome of his remark is expected from the top and shouldn’t take a long while.

  

About his remarks on Roopa, I condemn them in the first place. But honestly speaking, I don’t find it out of place coming from the member of a party where a well-known sitting MLA and ex-minister questioned the character of the Park Street rape victim and another woman MP put a ‘perspective’ to the said rape to kind of justify it and even said that it was the result of a disagreement between a woman and her customers. Only that this time it is politically sensitive and wrongly timed (the election is going on and an evidence like television footage can be brought to the notice of the election commission). Last heard, Rezzak has showed no repentance for the remarks. I am not sure whether the outcome of this can come from the same place as the one of the other remarks, because Roopa is one of the harshest critics of Mamata Bandopadhyay.

#PoliticalCircus #AbdurRezzak #BengalPolitics #AssemblyElectionsBengal2016

If you liked reading the post, you may visit this blog's Facebook page (click on the link) and hit the 'Like' button to stay connected with the future updates on this blog and more on the page.

And the fate of New Market's and other traders

So the fate of the New Market shop owners and others in the fraternity was sealed by the CM in the all Bengal hawkers' conference at Nazrul Mancha yesterday. Exactly as speculated in my preceding blog post on the New Market shutdown that also ended yesterday, hawkers have been given the immunity by the CM. Officially every hawker hawking till 13th March, 2015 will now have license to hawk (other than life insurance and annual medical reimbursement). Everybody will have 'registered with government' status. Those who are not registered yet, can do so by paying a fee of Rs 30. So we pedestrians will now walk on the footpath or road if and where space is left for that by the hawkers. And shop owners paying all kinds of taxes to government and corporation will be left to bleed. Wonderful! Would like to ask "Are we closer to London now?"

The protest by New Market traders

I am slightly disturbed by the Times of India report published today about the three-day shutdown by the shopkeepers of New Market starting tomorrow, which is for the first time in the history of the 141-year old market. Showing solidarity, joining them will be Sree Ram Arcade, Firpo’s and Treasure Island and the shopkeepers at Lindsay Street, Bertram Street and Humayun Place among others. So the area area around New Market during the strike will be a sight hitherto unseen and unthinkable. The increasing hawker menace in the area over the past few years, overlooked by administration indeed is the sole reason. This is inconveniencing shoppers and shopkeepers alike to no end.

Hawkers have always been around New Market, but their dominance has taken scary proportions in the last few years. And the traders are being forced to do the historic strike and their repeated calls to administration didn't yield any result.

My question is, how did KMC let the matter get completely out of hand gradually? So much so that New Market is going to be creating history for the wrong reason! It is bringing shock to us and shame to KMC, which is getting ready for election in little more than a month’s time! Is the honourable mayor not realizing that, or he is allowed to do little before the state level hawkers’ conference takes place on 13^th March and advised rather to concentrate on drawing up strategy to win the poll which will see him re-elected?

What can we expect in the conference? Will the hawkers’ get the virtual immunity like the taxi drivers got a few days back (Penalization with small money for refusing passengers)? Am so much eager to know. Chances of such a populist announcement is pretty much there as hawkers wouldn’t have been able to practically rule the city’s favourite shopping area had there not been political backing of the ruling party.

The 'bandh', the attack and the denial

Handful of buses (public and private put together), empty streets tempting enough to play a game of football, closed shops , low turnout at office marked yesterday's bandh (Officially an 'all-India' industrial strike) in the city.

I condemn the attack on the Anandabazar Patrika reporter Subhashis Ghatak and photographer Pintu Mondal by Trinamool hooligans for they dared to cover their ransacking the CPI(M) zonal office in Jadavpur yesterday! Following the brutal attack that could've turned fatal, a Star Ananda reporter Partha Pratim Ghosh was roughed up.

It was SHOCKING to know that a Kolkata Police constable off duty, named Tarak Das, was a prominent member of the Trinamool gang! He was clearly seen in the day-long coverage of the incident on Star Ananda. He is a real star indeed, for all the wrong reasons.

What added to the shock was that the CM rubbished the incident later on! This marks the hat trick of her denial after the recent Park Street and Katwa rape cases. As everybody knows, she was proved wrong by her own department (Police) as the Park Street case was cracked and a few key accused were arrested shortly by a team led by DC (DD) Damayanti Sen.

Didi, please think before you speak (to the media). Please remember you are a CM first, and a party supremo later. You are clearly testing the patience of the electorate who voted your party to power.

The strike : how will it be this time?

Don't know how tomorrow will unfold. The industrial strike called by trade unions incl. CITU hints at clashes between the ruling party and the opposition in the city, as the Trinamool-led government is hell bent at opposing the strike. Had enjoyed defying the last few strikes (called by left organisations, SUCI etc) and enjoyed being at work. Will have to watch out first this time.

The fate of the two

So the swearing-in of the new state government happened before a robust audience. Now recalling the speculation made in my earlier post Run-up to the elections 1 : Two distinct candidates, it has become half true. Yes, Amit Mitra is the new Finance Minister, but Bratya has been allocated the Higher Education portfolio, which he should be able to do justice to given his teaching experience in college. He wasn't given the Information & Culture portfolio (as also speculated in a prominent Bangla daily) because of Mamata Banerjee's principle that people shouldn't be given the ministries in line with their field of work by default. More thought should go into the portfolio allocation. I agree.

Am also particularly happy about the cabinet berth allocation to Manish Gupta (the giant killer who defeated the last Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya by a good margin) who wasn't really interested to become a minister. The Planning & Development department looks like in the safe hands of an Ex-Chief Secretary.

Finally....it's a green Bengal

It was sooooo disappointing not to be able to blog yesterday - The Historic Day in Bengal. Blogger was kept out of access by the site administrators.

Anyways, so finally Bengal is green now, putting an end to the longest-lasting communist rule in a democratic set up in the whole world, all of about 34 years, through the storming triumph of the Trinamool Congress & Indian National Congress coalition that won 227 sets out of 294, throwing out the ruling Left Front that managed only 62 seats. Being someone brought up in the communist-led Bengal it's hard to sink in.

Let's look forward to a new regime with renewed hopes. All the best to Mamata Banerjee & Co. Hope the life in Bengal gets only better now, albeit gradually.

The first D Day

One D Day is over, another coming 13th May. Kolkata, along with North and South 24 Parganas went to polls on 27th April. It was by and large peaceful and well-organised, thanks to Election Commission.

But I was disappointed by Kolkata's polling rate: just 64%, while North 24 Parganas polled 83% and South 24 Parganas 84%. The ratio is in line with the last civic poll in 2010 and general elections in 2009. South 24 Parganas did a shade better this time. Despite the stats, I expected Kolkata, being the thought leader in Bengal, to lead from the front and turn up to ink the finger in an impressive number, as this is not just another election. It is the most watched, closely fought, adrenaline-pumping assembly election in the last three decades that has shown a possibility to end the 34-year communist rule in Bengal that has made international history.

Run-up to elections 2 : A strange game

The state Housing Minister Goutam Deb seems to be into a strange game. He is repeatedly opening his mouth in support of Majid Master, who has a number of police cases against him (that includes murder and rioting), had been officially 'absconding' till a few days back, yet had accompanied CPI(M) MP Amitava Nandi to the Left Front headquarters for a meeting with none other than the CM, and subsequently arrested following TMC's complaint to the state election office highlighting this incident.

First Goutam said in an election rally this month in south 24 Parganas (where Majid is reportedly a terror and manipulates the elections in CPI(M)'s favour) that Majid had been framed in 'ridiculous' cases. He announced that his party (CPI(M)) was consulting lawyers to get Majid released on bail at the earliest and assured that he was going to get bail and come back to take charge of elections in Deganga and Haroa, his home territory.

The day after the Special Secretary (Home) clarified that the Left Front government would oppose the bail plea for Majid, clearly indicating state government's intentions and embarrassing the party.

However there hasn't been a reprimand to Goutam from his party not to repeat the incident. And he did just what was not called for. He mentioned yet again in an election rally at Duttapukur yesterday that the effort to get Majid released was still on.

There is no reason to believe that Goutam is another rebel like the late Subhas Chakraborty in his party. In fact he is one major face of his party in the ongoing election campaign. The mechanics behind this strange game he is playing is not clear but his statements seem to be intentional and serving the interest of the party in terms of votebank and election machinery (especially Majid's follower base) and maybe have other deeper reasons.

Run-up to elections 1: Two distinct candidates

Amit Mitra, Padmashree, Ex-Secretary General of FICCI, noted ecomoist.

Being fielded by Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Khardaha constituency for 2011 assembly elections in West Bengal, against Asim Dasgupta, Finance Minister. Looks like a smart move.



Bratya Basu, noted playwright, actor (Play and television), play and film director.

Being fielded by Trinamool Congress in the Dum Dum constituency, against Gautam Deb, Housing Minister. His getting a ticket wasn't unexpected.

If they and their party win, will they become the Finance Minister and Information & Culture Minister respectively?

The rally

My office at Chandni Chowk is at the core of action of today's annual martyrs' day rally by Trinamool Congress at Esplanade. And my desk is by the large window overlooking CR Avenue. Am curious to witness this historic annual affair that is known for, among other things, throwing life in the city out of gear every year and drew over 3 lakh last year by Kolkata Police estimate.

Saw the party supremo, Mamata Banerjee, last evening at the staircase to a dais at the venue near Income Tax building, in talk with Sovan Chattopadhyay, the newly-elected mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Madan Mitra and Mukul Deb, a central minister. That many in the crowd gathered there were busy shooting her picture with their mobile phones was evidence for her celebrity status attained by now.

Hope to update you about the development over the day. Watch this post.

10.41 am: Male voices throwing instructions through the mike for a smooth organisation of flow of people. A Trinamool anthem playing in the background and as the filler. No gathering at Chandni Chowk by now.

The strike strikes unexpectedly

The first bit of news about today's BJP-sponsored state strike that reached me was that a bus had been torched at Kestopur (the next bus stop to Baguiati, my home stop), buses were hardly visible on VIP Rd and some shops had been damaged by strike supporters. It followed with a news of damaging a private car at Baguiati junction. Apprehensive, it was a little late for me to go out to work.

The busy Baguiati junction (the busiest on VIP Rd) wore an absolutely unusual look- no buses (just saw one overcrowded mini bus of Airport-Jadabpur route in about 30 minutes apart from empty chartered buses refusing to entertain anybody attempting to stop and board them), hundreds of people in the middle of VIP Rd, police personnel and police vehicles. People were making calls to office or business associates updating the situation and giving an estimate of possible delay in reaching the destination. What beat me was the total absence of any govt bus, while today's Ananda Bazar Patrika reported about state govt's announcement to run as many buses as possible for the people who want to make it to work.

The news that shocked me after reaching office was that some strike supporters have wrecked havoc in DLF building (the major office complex of New Town, Rajarhat) and beaten up people including employees of IBM and Vodafone for defying the bandh. What, possibly what, can give BJP and/ or other seven marginal political parties supporting the strike the courage to do so and the other acts of violence, while BJP, the biggest of them doesn't have a single legistator in the state? Did they have patronage from some unexpected and powerful 'friends' in the political circuit?

Three 'strategic' gifts

The recent central rail budget looked like no short of an angel's gift to Bengalis. For everyone who's not a follower of the Rail Minister, the announcements, touching every strata of the society, were too good to believe. Among them the optimists' brigade may have thought even if 60% of the projects come through, it will change rail travel in Bengal.

And today marks a memorable follow-up to the budget. Two inauguration announcements and changing the name of one of the erstwhile metro rail terminal stations promise to leave a lasting impression on the Bengali's life. Inauguration of extension of metro from Tollygunge to Garia, kickstart of the first Ladies' Special train from Bandel to Howrah and renaming Tollygunge metro station as 'Uttam Kumar'- Bengal's greatest matinee idol- in the month of his death are something every Bengali concerned anywhere in the world is surely taking note of.

In the political perspective, it doesn't take more than common sense to see that timing all the three on the same day, that too a Sunday when everyone has the privilege to catch a live telecast of the same and just before the 21st July roadshow of Trinamool Congress, is a strategic move, keeping in mind the 2011 assembly elections. And by that count it has indeed hit the bull's eye.

A green revolution?

First, the stunning sweep in Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections (25 off 42 seats) in May 16, followed by the not-so-unexpected municipal elections (13 off 16 municipalities) end-June, the Trinamool Congress- Congress (Indian National Congress) combine is riding on the rock-solid anti-left wave. The fate of KMC elections next year is clearer and the predictions for the 2011 assembly elections in Bengal has probably started. Is a green revolution waiting to unfold two years from now?

Very interestingly the image of the Trinamool supremo has visibly started evolving since before the LS elections. Mamata Banerjee looked unusually calm (even on the face of provocative questions), smiled a lot (and with ease!!), used a rarely-witnessed sense of humour and quoted classic literature in the long TV interviews on Star Ananda in the build-up to the Lok Sabha polls. She has apparently discouraged victory processions even after the historic LS results and now telling her party's supporters to become 'modest' after victory.

All this is in a stark contrast to the Mamata we always knew. Needless to say she's scored quite a few brownie points among those who've never exactly liked her way of doing things. This Mamata is calm, more in line with strategic thinking, shows a healthy temperament and on a single-minded mission that is a complete washout of the Left Front in the 2011 assembly elections in Bengal. There are reasons for increasing creases on the foreheads of Alimuddin's top brass.

The overpowering Black Wednesday

What kept me from writing on this blog for long was the happening in Nandigram on 14 March, Wednesday that rocked Bengal and Bengalis all over the world and fellow Indians too. I could not justify any other topic for a new blog post and was struggling to find expression for the same.

It’s already a well-known fact thanks to wide coverage in local and national media. Thousands of policemen moved into Nandigram, which was isolated from the rest of Bengal by choice thereby protesting against the possibility of land acquisition by state government for industry. After early rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets they opened fire on the thousands-strong agitating armed mob. The casualties were horrible- a large no. of people died and got injured. The official figure, as expected was low- 14 people died. Unofficial figures say it was hundreds of both.

Media was prevented on the highway to Nandigram by cadres of ruling party, so that the ‘operation’ remains under wraps. The only channel that sneaked in was Kolkata TV, the Bengali news channel. Hence live footage could be seen only on this channel. As a result the channel was strangely stopped from being beamed in pockets of the state (Read local ruling party units ensuring cable operators do the needful).

What many media sources- print and electronic- have implied and confirmed that with police were CPI(M) cadres cleverly in disguise of policemen and they opened fire, beat up villagers brutally (Including children) and raped hapless women. Some bullets recovered from injured persons are not police bullets. Many people are still missing, including some who were seen injured while the firing was on. There have been reports of dead bodies thrown away at Haldi river.

This is the first of its kind in the left rule in Bengal. Not that there haven’t been instances of mass political and police killings and other excesses before (The Keshpur saga is still fresh on our minds), but everything pales before Nandigram. The only parallel I can draw is China’s Tienanmen Square in 1989. And it paints a radically different image of the chief minister (Who happens to be the home minister too, thereby directly responsible for this police operation). The CM I, and many like me, knew could not approve of such an operation. It is understood why such an operation was planned- Nandigram was a red bastion, i.e. six of the ten gram panchayats in Nandigram I (The area proposed for acquisition) belongs to CPI(M) and one to CPI. And in the wake of the ‘Save land from acquisition’ movement organised by Jamait Ulema-e-Hind and political parties especially Trinamool Congress, many left members and supporters were driven out of Nandigram. Those in control of the villages in Nandigram dug up roads and the ferry ghat was made dysfunctional, thereby isolating the area from civil administration. and police. While the lives of the left became miserable, the local CPI(M) units put pressure on their city headquarters to make way for their return to home. Meanwhile a no. of all-party meets were convened in Nandigram but they failed to reach consensus of all groups involved.

But it was indeed a high-risk task to force the desired situation with the help of police. While administrative interventions (All-party meets) failed, the government had to be more strategic and patient in using both political and administrative steps to bring back normalcy gradually. A large no. of people who died and were injured were children and women, as they were strategically put on forefront to dissuade police from firing. What, in such a scenario, prompted police to open fire, whatever have been the provocation (Stones and crude bombs were reportedly thrown to the police), is still being investigated. The initial CBI probe (Ordered by Calcutta High Court following a suo moto case immediately after the incident) has not found any evidence that substantiates it.

The government has not owned up responsibility for the whole incident and it has tried to present the incident as unavoidable. CPI(M) too hasn’t owned up the ruthless atrocities. There hasn’t been any known efforts of organising additional medical care for the injured admitted in the hospitals or declaring any compensation for the affected families. All this paints the picture of a ruling party possessing a terrible arrogance that grows out of a record thirty years in power. Such scaring arrogance is the sign of a typical communist government, like the Chinese government who ruthlessly killed students at Tienanmen Square. What the operation also suggests is that the CM can’t handle mounting pressure from his own party and take decisions that requires a matured political and administrative brain. Subsequent reports after 14 March have also shown glaring loopholes in his information network that should make him uncomfortable. He seemed to have no inkling of how heated the situation in Nadigram was.

All this has resulted in the intelligentsia of Kolkata distancing iself from the government it supported heartily. Prominent leftist theatre personalities have mass-resigned from the state drama academy and writers have mass-refused state literary awards. Celebrities, lawyers and journalists have held rallies in protest. They have voiced their frustrations and vented anger on television channels and newspapers. The general public showed their protest in a spontaneous support of the strike on March 17 called by all opposition parties.

I was numb for some time and living with restlessness for two days. What happened in a state ruled by a chief minister like Buddhadeb Bhattacharya was not in my wildest nightmares. All that I would like to say is that Nandigram left a scar that will take ages to heal, and it will change the course of land acquisition in Bengal and in India forever. It has already started in the state government’s notice that no land will be acquired in Nandigram and central govt.’s amending the land acquisition policy. It remains to be seen how many miles the CM has to tread before he restores his erstwhile legendary positive image that is badly messed up.

A different life

Yesterday I went to a place called Ghuni, a place in the countryside in the interiors of Baguiati. The occasion was a family picnic at a relative's friend's place. Soaked in pure nature to the heart's content.

In a short time, on a walk around, discovered that the place is just on the other side of a canal bordering New Town, Kokata's showcase township in-the-making. Got curious by looking at some large plots guarded by boundary walls and heard from a local farmer that they all are bought by builders. A startling fact came out. Before New Town happened, the land was sold at Rs 500-600 a cottah. And now the rate has gone up to Rs 300000 a cottah. Many builders have bought land for future development by offering such astronomical amount. Here I pointed out that local people must be happy having been able to make a killing by selling land that barely fetches enough crop to sustain a family, but the guy didn't share the consequence happily. He said while some have started business or put the big money to good use, many have misused it to enjoy the luxuries of life and are now left with paltry sums, ruing their luck.

Its common sense that an illiterate farmer can't handle big money out of a windfall. But where it struck me was that the opposition party of Bengal, Trinamool Congress, is against any kind of industry on farmland. According to them nothing can be a better substitute to farming even at this age of diminishing income from farming. And they provoke the farmers to guard their land against the state government's industrialization drive that requires large tracts of framland. But what do they have to say about such cases where farmers are tempted to sell their lands, and then on one hand don't find a suitable profession or business to keep themselves going and on the other hand blow up the money? Do they feel like standing by these hapless farmers and help them find a way of living? It's indeed in the best interest of everyone that the state government acquired the framland at Singur for the Tata Motors plant and took care of rehabilitating willing landlosers by providing them vocational training in collaboration with social organizations for their indirect employment in the project in arrangement with Tata Motors. Now, instead of this if industrialists start buying land directly from farmers, lots and lots of such cases will happen, as it happened in Ghuni.

The place has an interesting dichotomy, while their are people to buy Maggi noodles (Smaller, Rs 5 packs were hanging in chains in a retail shop) and a variety fruits, the place doesn't even have a bus route. Auto rickshaw and a few rickshaws were the only transport. The autos carry 7-8 passengers on an average. We were in a big group and had to rush to the nearest busstand so that we don't miss the last bus. And eight of us had to board a single auto. I had to sit at the front on one side to accomodate the ladies at the back and my hip joint started paining so much during the journey that I had to stand up somehow. One main reason for this apart from the sitting discomfort was extremely poor road condition. The road was simply not motorable. The driver revealed, when an auto breaks down midway, another auto passing by carrying a full load of passengers accomodate all the passengers in the other auto. And nobody will belive but the fact according to him is that sometimes this takes the passenger count to 18. I have no idea how that is possible and even if somehow possible, how safe that is on that kind of a road. Its scaring even thinking of the kind of life people back there live.

The new political game

This blog of late is talking political pretty often, but that was least intended. As it is, the burning topics are increasingly getting political making sensible citizens disoriented.

Bandhs (Strike) seem to be back in Bengal with a bang. This would be the least wished observation in the new year, but unfortunately it has turned out to be happening.

In keeping with the disturbing trend that the city witnessed last December, calling a bandh at the drop of a hat or with no objectivity, just to get political mileage and turning back to the very people who it is meant for, political parties started the new year with yet another Bangla (Bengal) bandh called today. Yesterday Congress, Trinamool Congress (TMC), BJP, SUCI (By now a familiar face in negative and cheap politics, quite far from their sincere pro-people movements in the past that didn't require bandhs much) and some naxalite outfits announced the bandh as a protest to the killings out of the political clash that broke out at last Saturday evening at Nandigram between supporters and members of CPM and opposition parties.

The clash was a repurcussion of the attacks on CPI(M) supporters and burning of CPI(M)'s party office in the last week. This was done by some over-enthusiastic people among a huge group of villagers agitated by the possibility of their land/ home being acquired by the state govt. for a special economic zone (SEZ). Though no public notice of land acquisition was supposed to be given right now, there was an internal administrative notification listing which mouzas are being eyed for the SEZ. This was leaked and the news spread like wildfire leading to the agitation. Needless to say there were political hands behind organizing thousands of villagers for the movement. Some naxal paeople incl. university students from outside Bengal were arrested and as The Telegraph reported today, Jamait-Ulema-i-Hind, an outfit with a strong base in Nandigram started preparation for the same three months back as soon as they came to know that land would be required for the proposed SEZ.

But a corresponding trend of people who are sick of bandhs is gradually gaining momentum. It's these people who went to work defying the SUCI-sponsored bandh on December 5 last year turning it into a big joke, and it's the scare of them that propelled Mamata Banerjee, the TMC chief to call off (She called it 'Postponed'!!) her proposed bandhs on Dec 21 and 22.

People did come out today also, like myself and most of my colleagues. And apart from govt. buses, quite a few private buses did ply. How far the bandh was defied is to be confirmed later, but the scar on people's mind caused by the bandh call will definitely strengthen the resolve of defying bandhs in the future of those who dared not to leave home today.

The new face of political hooliganism

A bunch of Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporters yesterday ransacked the head office of West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (At Council House St), the anchor organisation for the state's industrialization, like a perfect set-piece movement. They beat up employees who resisted, damaged computers, printers, lights, telephones, chairs, tables and also valuable government records in half an hour, shouting TMC slogans. Nobody even could call the police. Later two people who identified themselves as TMC supporters surrendered at Hare Street police station claiming to be part of the attack.

President of TMC's youth wing Madan Mitra, though not really admitting responsibility for the attack, said that the office is behind all conspiracy (Of industrialization?) and hence possibly agitated people chose it to vent their anger. He won't be surprised if such incidences are repeated in future.

While TMC's historic rampage in the assembly house just a while ago is fresh in public memory, this looks like an incident encouraged by that. The party looks like a perfect example of being directionless. While their supremo Mamata Banerjee creates a new record by fasting for 25 days at a stretch protesting for farmland acquisition in Singur for the Tata small car plant, her supporters have their way of undoing all the sympathy she gathered by subsequently acting in a militant way to protest on the same issue. Not to forget, the assembly incident was done at the provocation of Mamata herself, present at the venue. What is typical of TMC is that later on they never regret such incidents in public and punish those involved. That's another way of putting the party's official stamp on this kind of movement. It is indeed a misfortune of us citizens that this is what our main opposition is like.

What Mamata is repeatedly failing to understand is that all these political blunders at one hand will only strengthen the resolve of the state government in going about their aim of industrialization which is the need of the hour and on the other hand will erode her the valuable support base of the educated class in the city and elsewhere.