Wise Dudu Takes Over
Wise Dudu Takes Over
Nidhu Bhusan Das
Rupam has a new boss.He is young,reticent,and wears the air of intellectuality.A
stubble moustache hides expression that may linger on his upper lip.The new boss Dudu Chakladar has inherited the chair and the property of his father who has died recently at a little known kolkata nursing home without any fanfare.The son has been quick to take over.Since then he has been quite prompt to establish his power and control on the mini media empire his father has built and left behind.Rupam has found a new importance in the dispensation of the new boss.Dudu is 35,father of one son,who is,unlike,Dudu lucky to have no sibling. Dudu need not think,like his father, of partitioning the property as he has the sole heir.
Dudu is confident he knows everything of the trade. Saurav Chakladar had a team of confidantes whom Dudu would not like to deal with. He,quite reasonably and expectedly, has chosen his own team of young people who respect and follow him faithfully.This has created a withdrawal mood among those who feel let down after the demise of the founder of the empire.They have their own interpretation of the attitude of Dudu.They say Dudu suffers from inferiority complex which his young followers would not take.Rupam feels Dudu is wise enough to discard the old haggards and pick up his dynamic young team.In fact, there is nothing wrong in it.Every leader should have the privilege to choose his own team,be it in business, sports, politics and in other fields.Dudu in his wisdom would have it that the senior employees quit, being embarrassed. This, of course, is a pragmatic idea.
Rupam , handpicked by the senior Chakladar for odd jobs , is a resourceful boy.He can sniff and follow events , decide which is the favourable current to float on. So,he quickfixed himself and remained constantly attached to Dudu when the father Chakladar was in the nursing home.Dudu has the impression Rupam was privy to the plans and programmes of his father,and,therefore, has made him his lieutenant. He thinks he would be able to keep his sister at bay from the media empire equipped with information shared from Rupam. In fact, he could.
Elated,Rupam uses all his means to help upgrade those who ,he thinks, will remain loyal to him,whatever be the consequences for the empire.Rupam knows Dudu remains engrossed in stock trading, and is dependent on him for information about the day to day activities in the media houses. The executives of the houses also are,by now,aware of the fact and,thus, Rupam also commands their awe.What Rupam assesses and says becomes the decision of Dudu.
Rupam felt Kalinath Roy,news-in-charge of The People should be replaced by Shyam Singh and Dudu in no time abliged him.Kalinath not being far away from retirement could not come in conflict with Dudu,who,he understands, is impertinent and see by the ear..With this change Dudu and Rupam have been able to strike terror on the old haggards and the executives to the delight of Rupam loyalists.The turn for Rupam to be rewarded handsomely has come. His loyalists are known to be close to the ruling party always,and party leaders ,in many cases, tend to be paper tigers.This fact has created opportunities for Rupam,his followers and Dudu.After the change of guards in the state,Dudu feels his extra-importance as a couple of ministers of the new government have established firm relationship with him.The new government pledged it would cleanse the academic institutions of corruptions and party-ism. But it has not happened,rather people alleged to be in corrupt practices are apparently sought to be relieved. Dudu asked Kalinath to contribute a post edit every week,and he issued a circular to the effect. Kalinath’s post edit on the the bungling of the couple of ministers at the Royal University irks Dudu who has been promised a large tract of land in Dreamland for his pet project of a tourist resort.
Dudu is right,Rupam is wise,his loyalists are happy.Newspaper is for business,and editors like Dudu make business in different ways.Business ethics may not always go with media ethics.writers in newspapers with such editors do not have the freedom to write what he knows to be true.They have to know what the editor in his business interest knows to be true,or they are to be thrown overboard.
Our Paramita
Our Paramita
Nidhu Bhusan Das
If you ask me what her Achilles’ heel is, I will readily say ‘She’ll break but not bend.’ Yes, she is determined, forward looking, and has the emotion and dream to do something for the people she leads.
Our Paramita is now on the pinnacle. She has scaled the height after a long struggle which was made difficult by dictatorship-of-the-proletariat-ideology, behind the scene manipulation of her parent organization and fatal attack on her person. Her birth in a little known family came in the way of her going ahead down a path strewn with roses – rather it was thorns all the way. In the male dominated state- politics she carved her niche facing odds. She earned the love and affection of her people demonstrating her uncompromising stance in respect their interest. Even she recorded a hunger strike of 26 days to press for the cause of the affected peasants of her state. Yet one cannot be sure how far she will succeed because the serpents are around spiting venom. People may misunderstand her vis-à-vis the concerted campaigns of her detractors within and outside her coalition. Besides, a horde of sycophants are all around to mislead her. Perhaps, she needs a fool, as we find in a Shakespearean tragedy like ‘King Lear’.
Her Dreamland was in the immediate past the fiefdom of the red rulers who earned the reputation of turning it into a graveyard – literally and metaphorically. After a resounding victory in the polls, she has formed a government to the relief of the people. Unwilling to lick the dust for long, the red are up and doing to resurrect with the help of former allies who are in the coalition government of Paramita as a junior partner. She understands it but is, most likely, unaware of the foul play of a section of her colleagues in the government and the party.
One of her senior colleagues in the cabinet has been registered as a PhD student under a red activist in Proscenium University with the understanding that another red activist allegedly involved in corruptions of huge proportions will be given the tactical space to go scot-free. Another cabinet colleague helped him in striking the deal. Many of her party colleagues at the grass root level are in the same role as the red were during their long rule. In fact, many from the red party were welcomed into the party by her junior colleagues to utilize their experienced hands for perpetuation of corruptions to their personal benefits, and, thus, to the detriment of the party and government. The duo have brought Dudu Chakladar, the editor- by- inheritance of the daily newspaper ‘ The Gatekeeper’ within their fold offering him a large tract of land for his pet project of a tourist resort. If she fails to understand this and remains unaware of the diabolic activities within her house, innocence will be the victim, and a dream will end in nullity.
Rituja, one of her party men says, ‘Didi (sister) is overworked … the state is in shambles, no money, no infrastructure, a politicized bureaucracy … it’s difficult.’ People may give her more time to bring the state back to track. ‘But how long?’ wondered Motilal, a resident of Nandigram which turned out to be the Waterloo of the red. This is a moot question, but could be a decider if her party colleagues continue to replicate the anti-people activities in the rural belt and the government fails to begin delivering the goods. ‘Paramita’, tells her wise octogenarian mother, ‘don’t go by what the sycophants say, give importance to the critics who point out mistakes and faults, throw suggestions. Remember, to err is human. Don’t be in the illusion that you cannot make mistakes.’
We don’t know if she will follow the advice of the mother.
Equity a Far Cry, in West Bengal Intolerance Rules
Nidhu Bhusan Das
Democracy degenerates when party politics overpowers governance.In West Bengal politics, dominated for a long time by the leftists,terms like fascism and fascists became clichés.The predecessor of Ms Mamata Banerjee betrayed his scarce respect for democracy when he said ‘we are 235 and they are 30’.If this presumption of Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharyya smacked of fascist tendency,the use of the phrase ‘barking dogs’ by the incumbent Chief Minister in oblique reference to her opponents suggests intolerance which is anathema to democracy.The present state of academic institutions and student politics demonstrates intolerance which may lead to anarchy, if allowed to persist unabated in the absence of the impartial role of the police which the Chief Minister promised on the assumption of power after a landslide victory in the assembly polls,and which is conspicuous in its absence till date.The assailants of the teacher-in-charge of Raigonj University College were booked under bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) while the assailants of the Principal of Majdia College were booked under non-bailable sections. The Home(Police) Department is held by the Chief Minister.Such discriminatory approach frustrates the Chief Minister’s espousal of a equity-based dispensation.
The people of the state voted out the Left Front believing Mamata would be able to live upto their expectation of an egalitarian society where equity and rule of law would prevail.The way police have dealt with the incidents in different colleges so far has belied the expectation. The controversy over ‘Indira Bhawan’ at Salt Lake,Kalkata between ruling coalition partners Trinamool Congress and Congress is unwarranted as much as the hurling of invectives between them has crossed all limits of decency and responsible behaviour. Trinamool Congress as the major partner of the coalition in the state has the primary responsibility to keep the flock together for the sake of good governance which reticent Chief Minister Mr. Nitish Kumar could have been able to provide in Bihar which was once thought to be a difficult state to govern.
The Chief Minister harps on the denial of special package by the centre for the revival of the economic health of the state. True,the package remains elusive. But what about the central schemes like NREG for which funds have been transferred ? The state government has miserably failed in different districts to guarantee to the rural poor employment for 100 days this financial year.The government may say it has not got a full year to implement the scheme but that would not justify the failure because they have passed seven months and a half which period is marked by inaction in respect of such projects. Inefficiency and lack of vision on the part of the concerned minister could be the cause of such failure.If these progammes could have been implemented in earnestness and with vision, the rural Bengal could have seen a semblance of development, if not a full scale resurgence.
.The government,no doubt, has been successful in taming the violent Jungle Mahal and Darjeeling hills,which are not a mean achievement. The peace is fragile and may, any time, be disturbed and lost if development activities can not be started within a reasonable time. However, if the government remains busy with trading blames, altercating and the interest of the ruling party is seen to be synonymous with public interest,good governance will be beyond the horizon.West Bengal will,eventually, slide into a state of hopelessness.
Democracy degenerates when party politics overpowers governance.In West Bengal politics, dominated for a long time by the leftists,terms like fascism and fascists became clichés.The predecessor of Ms Mamata Banerjee betrayed his scarce respect for democracy when he said ‘we are 235 and they are 30’.If this presumption of Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharyya smacked of fascist tendency,the use of the phrase ‘barking dogs’ by the incumbent Chief Minister in oblique reference to her opponents suggests intolerance which is anathema to democracy.The present state of academic institutions and student politics demonstrates intolerance which may lead to anarchy, if allowed to persist unabated in the absence of the impartial role of the police which the Chief Minister promised on the assumption of power after a landslide victory in the assembly polls,and which is conspicuous in its absence till date.The assailants of the teacher-in-charge of Raigonj University College were booked under bailable sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) while the assailants of the Principal of Majdia College were booked under non-bailable sections. The Home(Police) Department is held by the Chief Minister.Such discriminatory approach frustrates the Chief Minister’s espousal of a equity-based dispensation.
The people of the state voted out the Left Front believing Mamata would be able to live upto their expectation of an egalitarian society where equity and rule of law would prevail.The way police have dealt with the incidents in different colleges so far has belied the expectation. The controversy over ‘Indira Bhawan’ at Salt Lake,Kalkata between ruling coalition partners Trinamool Congress and Congress is unwarranted as much as the hurling of invectives between them has crossed all limits of decency and responsible behaviour. Trinamool Congress as the major partner of the coalition in the state has the primary responsibility to keep the flock together for the sake of good governance which reticent Chief Minister Mr. Nitish Kumar could have been able to provide in Bihar which was once thought to be a difficult state to govern.
The Chief Minister harps on the denial of special package by the centre for the revival of the economic health of the state. True,the package remains elusive. But what about the central schemes like NREG for which funds have been transferred ? The state government has miserably failed in different districts to guarantee to the rural poor employment for 100 days this financial year.The government may say it has not got a full year to implement the scheme but that would not justify the failure because they have passed seven months and a half which period is marked by inaction in respect of such projects. Inefficiency and lack of vision on the part of the concerned minister could be the cause of such failure.If these progammes could have been implemented in earnestness and with vision, the rural Bengal could have seen a semblance of development, if not a full scale resurgence.
.The government,no doubt, has been successful in taming the violent Jungle Mahal and Darjeeling hills,which are not a mean achievement. The peace is fragile and may, any time, be disturbed and lost if development activities can not be started within a reasonable time. However, if the government remains busy with trading blames, altercating and the interest of the ruling party is seen to be synonymous with public interest,good governance will be beyond the horizon.West Bengal will,eventually, slide into a state of hopelessness.
Pro-Active Marjit Shares Govt. Strategy With Anti-VC Agitationists
Nidhu Bhusan Das
The Empoyees’ Association agitating against the Vice- Chancellor of North Bengal
University (NBU) appears to have a privileged relationship with the Chairman of West Bengal State Council of Higher Education Prof. Sugata Marjit.They evidently share ideas and strategy against the VC who opened the Pandora’s Box of alleged corruptions in the university,lodged FIR against Registrar Dilip Sarkar and suspended him for reported financial irregularities involving crores of rupees.
The pro-active Chairman Prof. Marjit is in private correspondence with the General Secretary of the association sharing the intentions and roadmap of the government regarding the installation of the next vice- chancellor of the university.He appears to be apologetic to the General Secretary Debi Prasad Boot in his e-mail of 18 December last in quick reply to Mr. Boot’s .
Mr. Boot writes to Prof Marjit on 17 December : ‘ The CPM nominated VC and his coterie spreading the extension of his tenure after 31st December 2011.Kindly stop this venture immediately to save our university.’
While Mr. Boot simply sought his intervention to prevent the extension of the tenure of the VC,Prof. Marjit is elaborate enough and shares other pieces of information .He informs Mr Boot that the VC has sent him the copy of the office order regarding the salary/pension affair and the recovery of the extra payment.
He also shares the information that the Higher Education office ‘has advised the VC regarding the Acting Registrar appointment problem,and it is being looked into by the government.’
Prof. Marjit candidly assures Mr. Boot he is ‘not in the business of making false promises’ leaving scope to construe that he might have made genuine promises to Mr. Boot.
The Chairman says, ‘all of us here prefer an immediate change ( of VC)’ and urges Mr.
Boot to realize their constraints and also to appreciate the fact that in spite of repeated
lobbying from different quarters inside and outside the government for no change at
least for a year,they are initiating a process of change definitely by early next year,by the
beginning of April. ‘The extension for 3 months (of VC’s tenure),if that’s the case,is in
the view of the Hon’ble Chancellor,NOT MINE,’says Prof.Marjit apologetically who
concuded the letter saying ‘I have done all I could.’ The tone, tenor and content of the
e-mail suggests Prof.Marjit and Mr.Boot are on the same wavelength vis-à-vis the
incumbent VC.The Alimuddin Street and their comrades in Kolkata University were
hand- in- glove against late Prof Santosh Bhattacharyya during his tenure as VC, recall
independent people in the NBU campus.
The Empoyees’ Association agitating against the Vice- Chancellor of North Bengal
University (NBU) appears to have a privileged relationship with the Chairman of West Bengal State Council of Higher Education Prof. Sugata Marjit.They evidently share ideas and strategy against the VC who opened the Pandora’s Box of alleged corruptions in the university,lodged FIR against Registrar Dilip Sarkar and suspended him for reported financial irregularities involving crores of rupees.
The pro-active Chairman Prof. Marjit is in private correspondence with the General Secretary of the association sharing the intentions and roadmap of the government regarding the installation of the next vice- chancellor of the university.He appears to be apologetic to the General Secretary Debi Prasad Boot in his e-mail of 18 December last in quick reply to Mr. Boot’s .
Mr. Boot writes to Prof Marjit on 17 December : ‘ The CPM nominated VC and his coterie spreading the extension of his tenure after 31st December 2011.Kindly stop this venture immediately to save our university.’
While Mr. Boot simply sought his intervention to prevent the extension of the tenure of the VC,Prof. Marjit is elaborate enough and shares other pieces of information .He informs Mr Boot that the VC has sent him the copy of the office order regarding the salary/pension affair and the recovery of the extra payment.
He also shares the information that the Higher Education office ‘has advised the VC regarding the Acting Registrar appointment problem,and it is being looked into by the government.’
Prof. Marjit candidly assures Mr. Boot he is ‘not in the business of making false promises’ leaving scope to construe that he might have made genuine promises to Mr. Boot.
The Chairman says, ‘all of us here prefer an immediate change ( of VC)’ and urges Mr.
Boot to realize their constraints and also to appreciate the fact that in spite of repeated
lobbying from different quarters inside and outside the government for no change at
least for a year,they are initiating a process of change definitely by early next year,by the
beginning of April. ‘The extension for 3 months (of VC’s tenure),if that’s the case,is in
the view of the Hon’ble Chancellor,NOT MINE,’says Prof.Marjit apologetically who
concuded the letter saying ‘I have done all I could.’ The tone, tenor and content of the
e-mail suggests Prof.Marjit and Mr.Boot are on the same wavelength vis-à-vis the
incumbent VC.The Alimuddin Street and their comrades in Kolkata University were
hand- in- glove against late Prof Santosh Bhattacharyya during his tenure as VC, recall
independent people in the NBU campus.
DESIRE
DESIRE
( A Story )
She is 25, and a mother of two.She conceived first when she was 13.It was a girl,and not
a love-child, though a fruit of marital sex.She was ambitious adolescent of a decayed
feudal family of Chapramari in Alipurduar. She was married against her will at 13 to a man aged 27, and she was made to conceive within a week. She could not like the man for he was lazy and beastly.
She told she was attacked by political goondas.They burnt down the shanty ashram she built with administrative help . A journalist friend told me her story. One summer forenoon, she came to his office, face bruised and swollen; she came with her children Joya(12) & Bapi(10). She told political goondas have burnt to ashes her shanty ashram for destitute women around midnight a couple of days ago.
‘Ashram! Why? ’
‘I am left alone.’
‘Your husband? ’
‘He has another woman.’
‘Then?’
‘I chose my own way. Sought help from SDO Saheb.’ He told me of government projects for women like
me.”
‘How could you make your own project?’
‘SDO saheb advised me, helped me. I collected 9 more women from around to launch the project.’
‘9 more women!’
‘There are many women like me in our area & around. Women are wretched.’
Why goondas attack the ashram?
They exploit destitute women when they are alone. They sexually abuse them and sell them to brothels.
There are several cases.Last month two girls were rescuced from a Pune brothel and brought back to
Shalmari, not far away from Chapramari.The girls named three political goondas who have since been
arrested.
‘So you tried to protect yourself against destitution and sexual exploitation?’
And they would not like it. They felt, they had lost their scope to plough as many as ten fertile, saleable,
enjoyable women. They would not allow that to continue.
Did not you go to your Panchayet Pradhan?
‘I did. He grinned. Told his henchman to give me Rs.50 and said, ‘I will see.’
Did he do anything?
How can you think so? Do you think the goondas can exist without support from such people? We cannot
believe.
Well, we shall file a report on the attack on your ashram, promised my friend and offered her a hundred
rupee note.
She thanked for the promise with two drops of tears rolling off her vacant eyes down the bruised cheeks.
With folded hands she turned down the offer of the financial help. She left with a request to
secure for her a job at Siliguri saying she knew sewing.
My friend had asked her where she would stay.
‘At the Rail station,’ replied she, indifferently.
He told her to come after a couple of days.
My friend pondered over what the women related about her plight and that of nine others. Her courage and strength against odds astonished him. He decided he should do something for the destitute mother, bright with
the strength of an amazing personality. She is not a feminist but does have the sense of independence and self-confidence. These aspects of her inspired my friend to help her out.
He checked as far as possible and reasonable the information she left. Alipurduar police confirmed the destruction caused to the ashram and said no arrest was made. The SDO confirmed the ashram was set up on vest land allotted for the purpose with the central fund granted for the project. The report appeared in his paper the next day. She was excited. At the Siliguri Junction Railway Platform while Joya & Bapi were still asleep, she felt like running to my friend as she had read the story on the front page. She did not. She remembered she had been told to meet him after two days. So, she should see him only the next day.
Joya & Bapi find their mother in a happy mood. They are hungry yet happy to share the mother’s momentary jovial mood writ large in her oval face, marked with injuries.
Abandoned by husband, burdened with two children, she struggles against hunger and lust of scoundrels. She is beautiful in her struggle and her jest for life. Her eyes and body language tell something of her desire to have a man of her choice.
The next day at noon she revisited my friend. He had already procured a job for her at a tailor’s shop. He gave her a letter & advised her to join forthwith. She smiled and went away. After an hour the tailor master over telephone confirmed my friend that she had joined. The tailor master arranged for her accommodation, too. Report on her work and behaviour at the place of work was satisfactory. She would visit my friend once a week. After about a month & a half one day she told she would go to her aunt at Moinaguri for a week and the tailor master allowed her leave. She did not visit him for several weeks. The tailor master reported her absence after the leave period. My friend felt let down.On enquiry he came to know from the tailor master that she had not stolen anything and had paid the rent of the room whereshe lived in. My friend was relieved. Days went by and she was forgotten.
One morning at 11 when my friend was at work the telephone on the table rang . He picked up the receiver as usual and said ‘Hello!’
The caller said, Jyotsna speaking, Dada
‘Which Jyotsna?’
‘The one you helped.’
‘I am busy, don’t disturb.’
‘Please Dada, I have something to say.’
‘Hell with it.’
He dropped the receiver, perturbed.
But she would not leave at that. In a week one Monday morning she arrived at the office, alone, fresh and tidy in dress. The bearer told my friend a lady would like to see him. After sometime he went downstairs to the visitors’ corner to see the lady. It was that Jyotsna again. She prostrated and touched his feet. He reluctantly sat down face to face with her and ordered a cup of tea.
‘So, why have you come?’
‘Joya has been put to the orphanage at Cooch-Behar.’
‘It is good.’
‘And Bapi is admitted at Moinaguri Junior High School in class five. He is with my aunt.’
‘Now you are free to move about.’
‘Dada, I love you.’
‘Try to love your children.’
‘I also fear you.’
‘So, you have come to tell all these nonsense.’
‘Nonsense!’
‘Go and tell these to scoundrels. That will pay.’
‘How can I make you understand I hate scoundrels?’
What prompted you to leave the job? To show the scoundrels we can fight back.
‘Where do you get money for traveling and maintaining yourself?
‘I have a fat fund left by my father in a bank.’ She showed him the pass book and said ‘I would like to keep it with you.’
‘Why?’
‘I would be able to meet you every month.’
‘I don’t like to see you. You are not a good woman.’
‘But I love you, believe me!’
‘Leave me, let me go.’
He returned to his table and she went away.
My friend was taken aback. He could not at once decide whether the woman really loved him as a benefactor or he had become the object of her lust.
The next week she again came to his office but he did not meet her. She went off and made a call from a PCO booth. He picked up and answered. She requested an appointment. This time he could not turn down the request. He told her to come one Sunday. He knew he would be off that day. He thought if she came and she would understand she was unwanted. She did not fail to turn up in time. The reception told her he was off on Sunday. With head down and face gloomy she went away. The next morning at to 11 she was in the office, requested the receptionist to tell him. Informed he came down to meet her. Of course, he was annoyed. At the same time he could not but appreciate her tenacity.
She was desperate. She was determined to tell him what she had not been able to tell.
How are you?
You are cruel.
Why?
You dodged me yesterday.
Why do you come?
Out of love.
Love your children.
That I do. But I need your love.
Okay, I love you.
Would you give me a seed?
He was taken aback. The suggestion is loud and clear. He could not ever think she could aspire to such a thing as seed. Seductive girl, he said to himself., what do you mean? he asked.
Would you plant a seed in me?
You naughty girl?
She understood she could strike a chord.
You have two children. Why do you need more? Is it possible for you to bring up three?
I need a child fathered by a bright and good man like you.
But it would be unwanted!
Vis-à-vis the potential truth she bowed. She had her cup of tea in quick sips. With head down she left the office with the truth ringing in her mind- it would be a bastard. The next day she telephoned my friend to share the wisdom that dawned on her: Every desire does not get fulfilled.Yet you can fight the scoundrels,
She asserted, confident
( A Story )
She is 25, and a mother of two.She conceived first when she was 13.It was a girl,and not
a love-child, though a fruit of marital sex.She was ambitious adolescent of a decayed
feudal family of Chapramari in Alipurduar. She was married against her will at 13 to a man aged 27, and she was made to conceive within a week. She could not like the man for he was lazy and beastly.
She told she was attacked by political goondas.They burnt down the shanty ashram she built with administrative help . A journalist friend told me her story. One summer forenoon, she came to his office, face bruised and swollen; she came with her children Joya(12) & Bapi(10). She told political goondas have burnt to ashes her shanty ashram for destitute women around midnight a couple of days ago.
‘Ashram! Why? ’
‘I am left alone.’
‘Your husband? ’
‘He has another woman.’
‘Then?’
‘I chose my own way. Sought help from SDO Saheb.’ He told me of government projects for women like
me.”
‘How could you make your own project?’
‘SDO saheb advised me, helped me. I collected 9 more women from around to launch the project.’
‘9 more women!’
‘There are many women like me in our area & around. Women are wretched.’
Why goondas attack the ashram?
They exploit destitute women when they are alone. They sexually abuse them and sell them to brothels.
There are several cases.Last month two girls were rescuced from a Pune brothel and brought back to
Shalmari, not far away from Chapramari.The girls named three political goondas who have since been
arrested.
‘So you tried to protect yourself against destitution and sexual exploitation?’
And they would not like it. They felt, they had lost their scope to plough as many as ten fertile, saleable,
enjoyable women. They would not allow that to continue.
Did not you go to your Panchayet Pradhan?
‘I did. He grinned. Told his henchman to give me Rs.50 and said, ‘I will see.’
Did he do anything?
How can you think so? Do you think the goondas can exist without support from such people? We cannot
believe.
Well, we shall file a report on the attack on your ashram, promised my friend and offered her a hundred
rupee note.
She thanked for the promise with two drops of tears rolling off her vacant eyes down the bruised cheeks.
With folded hands she turned down the offer of the financial help. She left with a request to
secure for her a job at Siliguri saying she knew sewing.
My friend had asked her where she would stay.
‘At the Rail station,’ replied she, indifferently.
He told her to come after a couple of days.
My friend pondered over what the women related about her plight and that of nine others. Her courage and strength against odds astonished him. He decided he should do something for the destitute mother, bright with
the strength of an amazing personality. She is not a feminist but does have the sense of independence and self-confidence. These aspects of her inspired my friend to help her out.
He checked as far as possible and reasonable the information she left. Alipurduar police confirmed the destruction caused to the ashram and said no arrest was made. The SDO confirmed the ashram was set up on vest land allotted for the purpose with the central fund granted for the project. The report appeared in his paper the next day. She was excited. At the Siliguri Junction Railway Platform while Joya & Bapi were still asleep, she felt like running to my friend as she had read the story on the front page. She did not. She remembered she had been told to meet him after two days. So, she should see him only the next day.
Joya & Bapi find their mother in a happy mood. They are hungry yet happy to share the mother’s momentary jovial mood writ large in her oval face, marked with injuries.
Abandoned by husband, burdened with two children, she struggles against hunger and lust of scoundrels. She is beautiful in her struggle and her jest for life. Her eyes and body language tell something of her desire to have a man of her choice.
The next day at noon she revisited my friend. He had already procured a job for her at a tailor’s shop. He gave her a letter & advised her to join forthwith. She smiled and went away. After an hour the tailor master over telephone confirmed my friend that she had joined. The tailor master arranged for her accommodation, too. Report on her work and behaviour at the place of work was satisfactory. She would visit my friend once a week. After about a month & a half one day she told she would go to her aunt at Moinaguri for a week and the tailor master allowed her leave. She did not visit him for several weeks. The tailor master reported her absence after the leave period. My friend felt let down.On enquiry he came to know from the tailor master that she had not stolen anything and had paid the rent of the room whereshe lived in. My friend was relieved. Days went by and she was forgotten.
One morning at 11 when my friend was at work the telephone on the table rang . He picked up the receiver as usual and said ‘Hello!’
The caller said, Jyotsna speaking, Dada
‘Which Jyotsna?’
‘The one you helped.’
‘I am busy, don’t disturb.’
‘Please Dada, I have something to say.’
‘Hell with it.’
He dropped the receiver, perturbed.
But she would not leave at that. In a week one Monday morning she arrived at the office, alone, fresh and tidy in dress. The bearer told my friend a lady would like to see him. After sometime he went downstairs to the visitors’ corner to see the lady. It was that Jyotsna again. She prostrated and touched his feet. He reluctantly sat down face to face with her and ordered a cup of tea.
‘So, why have you come?’
‘Joya has been put to the orphanage at Cooch-Behar.’
‘It is good.’
‘And Bapi is admitted at Moinaguri Junior High School in class five. He is with my aunt.’
‘Now you are free to move about.’
‘Dada, I love you.’
‘Try to love your children.’
‘I also fear you.’
‘So, you have come to tell all these nonsense.’
‘Nonsense!’
‘Go and tell these to scoundrels. That will pay.’
‘How can I make you understand I hate scoundrels?’
What prompted you to leave the job? To show the scoundrels we can fight back.
‘Where do you get money for traveling and maintaining yourself?
‘I have a fat fund left by my father in a bank.’ She showed him the pass book and said ‘I would like to keep it with you.’
‘Why?’
‘I would be able to meet you every month.’
‘I don’t like to see you. You are not a good woman.’
‘But I love you, believe me!’
‘Leave me, let me go.’
He returned to his table and she went away.
My friend was taken aback. He could not at once decide whether the woman really loved him as a benefactor or he had become the object of her lust.
The next week she again came to his office but he did not meet her. She went off and made a call from a PCO booth. He picked up and answered. She requested an appointment. This time he could not turn down the request. He told her to come one Sunday. He knew he would be off that day. He thought if she came and she would understand she was unwanted. She did not fail to turn up in time. The reception told her he was off on Sunday. With head down and face gloomy she went away. The next morning at to 11 she was in the office, requested the receptionist to tell him. Informed he came down to meet her. Of course, he was annoyed. At the same time he could not but appreciate her tenacity.
She was desperate. She was determined to tell him what she had not been able to tell.
How are you?
You are cruel.
Why?
You dodged me yesterday.
Why do you come?
Out of love.
Love your children.
That I do. But I need your love.
Okay, I love you.
Would you give me a seed?
He was taken aback. The suggestion is loud and clear. He could not ever think she could aspire to such a thing as seed. Seductive girl, he said to himself., what do you mean? he asked.
Would you plant a seed in me?
You naughty girl?
She understood she could strike a chord.
You have two children. Why do you need more? Is it possible for you to bring up three?
I need a child fathered by a bright and good man like you.
But it would be unwanted!
Vis-à-vis the potential truth she bowed. She had her cup of tea in quick sips. With head down she left the office with the truth ringing in her mind- it would be a bastard. The next day she telephoned my friend to share the wisdom that dawned on her: Every desire does not get fulfilled.Yet you can fight the scoundrels,
She asserted, confident
ALL IS NOT WELL IN TRINAMOOL CONGRESS
Nidhu Bhusan Das
The floodgate of Trinamool Congress remains wide open for unwanted elements to rush into the new ruling party at different places of West Bengal despite the word of caution from its supremo Mamata Banerjee. As Chief Minister she has vowed to replace partycracy of the unseated Left Front by democracy, and told the police to function ignoring interference from political parties including hers. The top leadership of the party has dictated policy for its functionaries and workers against coercion, intimidation extortion and interference in the administration.
It appears the diktat does not work everywhere. In many places of rural North Bengal, it is reported, thugs who migrated from the major partner of the Left Front to the party are active in the business of coercion and extortion as before. This is ominous. This happened to the CPI (M) after they came to power in 1977.The discovery of human skeletons, fire arms and armory from and near the CPI (M) offices and residences of party leaders and workers tells loud and clear what went wrong with the party which once inspired popular imagination and dream of a better socio-economic order. The dream deflated when lumpen elements began to wield influence and unleashed terror on common people. The repeat is evident with trinamool on saddle of power.
The party supremo has the blessing and trust of the people. Her role as Chief Minister is seen as positive. However, if the thugs and lumpens can continue to disturb peace of the people, their dream of a terror-free life will be shattered to the disadvantage of the government for change and democracy. Entry of unwanted elements into the party cannot be possible without the nod of the local leaders. It is important that the top leadership identify those leaders in no time and stem the rot to retain the goodwill and trust of the people. It is the duty of the government and the party to establish meaningful democracy where people will be free and fearless to speak their mind to respect and maintain constitutional sanctity. Even development will not be possible if the lumpens have the hey day. West Bengal is in dire straits, and without massive development Ms Banerjee will not be able to fulfill her dream and meet the aspirations of the people she has enkindled.
The floodgate of Trinamool Congress remains wide open for unwanted elements to rush into the new ruling party at different places of West Bengal despite the word of caution from its supremo Mamata Banerjee. As Chief Minister she has vowed to replace partycracy of the unseated Left Front by democracy, and told the police to function ignoring interference from political parties including hers. The top leadership of the party has dictated policy for its functionaries and workers against coercion, intimidation extortion and interference in the administration.
It appears the diktat does not work everywhere. In many places of rural North Bengal, it is reported, thugs who migrated from the major partner of the Left Front to the party are active in the business of coercion and extortion as before. This is ominous. This happened to the CPI (M) after they came to power in 1977.The discovery of human skeletons, fire arms and armory from and near the CPI (M) offices and residences of party leaders and workers tells loud and clear what went wrong with the party which once inspired popular imagination and dream of a better socio-economic order. The dream deflated when lumpen elements began to wield influence and unleashed terror on common people. The repeat is evident with trinamool on saddle of power.
The party supremo has the blessing and trust of the people. Her role as Chief Minister is seen as positive. However, if the thugs and lumpens can continue to disturb peace of the people, their dream of a terror-free life will be shattered to the disadvantage of the government for change and democracy. Entry of unwanted elements into the party cannot be possible without the nod of the local leaders. It is important that the top leadership identify those leaders in no time and stem the rot to retain the goodwill and trust of the people. It is the duty of the government and the party to establish meaningful democracy where people will be free and fearless to speak their mind to respect and maintain constitutional sanctity. Even development will not be possible if the lumpens have the hey day. West Bengal is in dire straits, and without massive development Ms Banerjee will not be able to fulfill her dream and meet the aspirations of the people she has enkindled.
Marxist Sans Marxism
Nidhu Bhusan Das
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharyya has the recent refrain: Either leftism or death. Noble declamation. They swear by leftism but never again pays lip service to Marxism after the fall of the socialist regimes in East Europe and dismantling of the Soviet Union in the wake of Perestroika and Glasnost laid out by Mikhail Gorbachev.The Left Front led by CPI (M) rules the eastern Indian state since 1977.During their long rule the proletariat has not emerged as a distinct class with ability to govern. Instead, a red bourgeoisie has come into being, and a coalition between the left rulers and the capitalists is quite evident. This is, no doubt, a compromise.
Lenin, by way of discussing compromises in class struggle with the bourgeoisie, emphasized that they can be and, in the case of the opportunists, are a means of preserving and protecting the capitalist system, in the final analysis representing acts of treachery against the revolutionary proletariat. Way back in 1984, Alexander Titarenko, Head of the Chair of Ethics and the History of Philosophy at Moscow State University, in his essay ‘Lenin on the Relationship Between Politics and Morality’ wrote: ‘Principles and ideals cannot be changed at will, proceeding from considerations of success here and now.They are not subject to fashion like shoes or clothes. Principles and ideals form the humanist core of the communist world outlook, and it is precisely on their basis that man cognizes changes of reality and, at the same time, witnesses their further mutual enrichment and development.’ Lenin demanded that a Marxist politician should have high moral qualities such as depth of convictions, integrity, a keen conscience, a sense of class justice and loyalty to communist moral ideals.
The ruling Marxists in West Bengal appear to be miles away from the communist moral ideals. They have surrendered the ideals at the altar of electoral politics and forces of market economy which has phenomenal expansion across the globe under the process of globalization in the unipolar world. The forcible eviction of peasants from their land acquired for Tata Motors at Singur, the atrocities on the people of Nandigram who were unwilling to part with their fertile land for the chemical hub of the Salim Group of Indonesia demonstrate the abject surrender of the communist moral ideals.
A basic postulate of Marxism is that the superstructure of the society reflects the nature and interest of the class which dominates the basic structure i.e., the economy. Law represents the superstructure. The left government has invoked the law made by the British colonial rulers in 1894 to acquire land at Singur, and that too not in public interest but in the interest of a corporate house. The bonhomie of the Bengal Marxists with the corporate entities at home and abroad smacks of aberration.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharyya has the recent refrain: Either leftism or death. Noble declamation. They swear by leftism but never again pays lip service to Marxism after the fall of the socialist regimes in East Europe and dismantling of the Soviet Union in the wake of Perestroika and Glasnost laid out by Mikhail Gorbachev.The Left Front led by CPI (M) rules the eastern Indian state since 1977.During their long rule the proletariat has not emerged as a distinct class with ability to govern. Instead, a red bourgeoisie has come into being, and a coalition between the left rulers and the capitalists is quite evident. This is, no doubt, a compromise.
Lenin, by way of discussing compromises in class struggle with the bourgeoisie, emphasized that they can be and, in the case of the opportunists, are a means of preserving and protecting the capitalist system, in the final analysis representing acts of treachery against the revolutionary proletariat. Way back in 1984, Alexander Titarenko, Head of the Chair of Ethics and the History of Philosophy at Moscow State University, in his essay ‘Lenin on the Relationship Between Politics and Morality’ wrote: ‘Principles and ideals cannot be changed at will, proceeding from considerations of success here and now.They are not subject to fashion like shoes or clothes. Principles and ideals form the humanist core of the communist world outlook, and it is precisely on their basis that man cognizes changes of reality and, at the same time, witnesses their further mutual enrichment and development.’ Lenin demanded that a Marxist politician should have high moral qualities such as depth of convictions, integrity, a keen conscience, a sense of class justice and loyalty to communist moral ideals.
The ruling Marxists in West Bengal appear to be miles away from the communist moral ideals. They have surrendered the ideals at the altar of electoral politics and forces of market economy which has phenomenal expansion across the globe under the process of globalization in the unipolar world. The forcible eviction of peasants from their land acquired for Tata Motors at Singur, the atrocities on the people of Nandigram who were unwilling to part with their fertile land for the chemical hub of the Salim Group of Indonesia demonstrate the abject surrender of the communist moral ideals.
A basic postulate of Marxism is that the superstructure of the society reflects the nature and interest of the class which dominates the basic structure i.e., the economy. Law represents the superstructure. The left government has invoked the law made by the British colonial rulers in 1894 to acquire land at Singur, and that too not in public interest but in the interest of a corporate house. The bonhomie of the Bengal Marxists with the corporate entities at home and abroad smacks of aberration.
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