Bengal loses what India does today

 By Avishek Ganguly

I am very thankful to my friend, Subhadeep, who has very well pointed out the apathy and ignorance Bengalis have towards their own state in his blog section Small Strokes. When it comes to criticizing and making faces at people of other states, the Bengalis are the first. However, when it comes to repeating the same political mistakes and acting in some uncivilized manner, they too acquire the first place. Take most Bengalis, when they go to some other city or state, the first thing that they do is to criticize that part of the country, in spite of completely ignoring the fact, that the place may have a completely different custom, tradition and way of living, which may not match with theirs. Such is the false vanity of Bengalis; they fail to get out of that well of “Bangla ego”.

Like my friend pointed out, Bengalis have always been influenced by some ideals, without even understanding or analyzing whether it is good for themselves, the nation, or not. Be it worshipping some communist leaders of Soviet to making fanfare about some sub standard Marxist writer, false idealism is a deep rooted aspect in Bengal. Please do not get me wrong, but I have noticed one thing. Most people in Bengal have deep reverence for Bengali freedom fighters compared to the other Indian nationalists. There is absolutely no problem with it but what ails me is the way some Bengalis criticize other nationalist leaders and completely disregard their contribution towards Indian freedom. To most of them, India gained independence only because of Bengalis. This very thought has a deep rooted sense of false vanity and ego, rather than any love for the state or the Bengali nationalist leaders.

What is more painful to see is the total apathy, ignorance and “do-not-work” attitude that has grasped the whole of the state. A race which once produced some of the best writers, scientists, political leaders and geniuses in almost all fields of knowledge has now turned into a docile and insignificant class of people which no ambition and ideals. Thanks to more than 30 years of Left rule, we have become a spineless and submissive race- “nobody thinks, nobody cares, no beliefs, no convictions, no enthusiasm”

Rajiv Gandhi had once remarked “Calcutta is a dying city”. Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam also echoed the same thing when he spoke about the deteriorating state of Bengal in a seminar two years back. Loyal to their age old customs, Bengalis started criticizing the remark, instead of properly understanding the causes why it was made. Perhaps it is a habit of Bengalis to criticize people who identify their faults, instead of rectifying the very mistakes. Why Bengalis fail to realize the fact that there is absolutely no disrespect involved in admitting a mistake and rectifying it, is a big mystery.

When Dr Kalam had made the statement, the Bengal intelligencia shot back with baseless excuses like “Bengal is the most cultured state in India”, “Bengalis are educated and creative class” and so on. The basic fact they failed to realize is that when a new comer comes to a city like Calcutta he or she does not peep into Coffee House or Rabindra Sadan to see what is happening, but is rather exasperated to see the sad traffic situation in the city or the “never-do-work” attitude in government offices. When the judiciary passed the law against street agitations and processions in Calcutta, our left politicians left no stones unturned to criticize the judiciary in harsh words. Their brigade, led by Biman Basu, even had the audacity to mock the judiciary. Remember the” Amitava Lala, Bangla Chere pala”, statement?

Well, I guess Basu and his left brigade have succeeded in their own way in making good sense retreat from the state. The young generation has already started migrating elsewhere and even senior citizens are now looking for settling in other states. It is really unfortunate that when the country is moving at a rocket’s pace, Bengal is moving at a snail’s pace.