This is in response to the “Brilliant Article”, People!!! No Thank You by Vijai G, put up on the EmPower Research blogsite. Nice to know that Bangalore also had mills that were regarded as spearheads of industry yesteryears. I come from a place known as Chandernagore (It’s a French Town on the banks of the Ganges, 30 km upstream from Kolkata). It’s famous for Red Curd (Laal Doi) and once also boasted of the erstwhile Gondalpara Jute Mills that along with Tribeni Tissues was a common name in every household not only in Bengal, but also in India. Now the former has been shut down and the latter is running in the midst of losses.
Bandel, 20 km from Chandernagore and 52 km from Kolkata by train, once boasted of the world-renowned Dunlop Tyres and Industries. Now it is in shambles.
Perhaps you have heard of Hindustan Motors that manufactures the Ambassador, still the most sought after car for its hardiness and extra comfortability, which is also running under losses. It is located at Hindmotor, a place 19 kms downstream Chandernagore.
The people of Bengal are frustrated because whenever she (Bengal) has tried to stand on her feet, she has been pecked by unwanted political vandalism. First it was the CPM, then came the Congress, briefly, and finally it is now a tug of war between Trinamool Congress and CPM.
God has given us one earth and we had drawn lines on it and divided the land into entities that belong to you and me. I am thankful of the fact that the moon is the satellite of the earth and is far away from us. If it would have been on earth, we would have divided it too.
Such articles bring out the disgust that the people of Bengal are facing. Sourav Ganguly recently pointed out that he wants his daughter to grow up and settle in Bengal only, but is doubtful as he says “I don’t want Sana to grow up and see there are no jobs in Bengal”.
And CPM-led coalition government in West Bengal is dreaming out of no-where of Sourav becoming the BRAND AMBASSADOR of HAPLESS BENGAL, IF NOT HOPELESS.
By Arunava Das
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
HAPLESS BENGAL, If Not HOPELESS
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
That's a strong opinion from you Arunava. I agree to your points and would like to say why Bengal has allowed CPM to rule for three decades in Bengal.
The answer is quite simple, Bengalis have no viable alternatives. Here is the reason why. An average Calcuttan or a rural Bengali possess utter disdain for uneducated politicians. So the chance for goons to contest is out of question. Secondly, Bengalis are by and large secular, so parties with ideals resting on caste/religion have no place. Above all Bengalis have a remarkable level of complacency - it helps the CPM to play the cards right.
Being a Bengali myself (grown up outside the state), even I feel the same as you. Calcutta and thus Bengal just stands as a forgotten former capital - still lost in a reverie of its former glory, indifferent to the changing world.
Post a Comment