Mamata is not Invincible

Mamata is not Invincible

Nidhu Bhusan Das

"In an autocracy,one person has his way".

-Celia Green

Should it be seen as a simple downturn soon to turn into an upswing,or the beginning of a  countdown to the final collapse? The sharp decline of Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) in the recent Lok Sabha polls from 34 seats won in 2014 to 22 in 2019 is an evidence of the erosion of popular support for the party and it's omnipotent leader.The redoubtable Chief Minister of West Bengal Ms Banerjee is identified as the supremo of the party which in 2011 dethroned the apparently invincible Left Front which ruled West Bengal for 34 years with iron grip as typical of the communist dispensation.While in the Left Front,constituents like the CPI(M) has the Stalinist dictatorship in the name of democratic centralism in place,AITC is blessed with the supremo who has the iron grip in the party and the Government. Such iron grip has the inherent weakness and faultline which cannot ultimately hold together the organisational structure and edifice of power.Once the grip begins to loosen, the structure exposes it's cracks and cleavages hidden so long meticulously by the ring of sycophants.Autocracy thrives under sycophancy.

The syndrome of inferiority complex is,perhaps, the hallmark of an autocrat.This syndrome finds expression in the desire to occupy every space  to show the person's grandeur in omnipresence. Mamata Banerjee has presented herself as a polymath-poet,essayist,painter,song writer and a prolific author,besides being a politician.She claims she runs her party with funds received as royalty from her books and huge proceeds from the sales of her paintings.

Arrogance and stubbornness are the twin attributes of autocracy.Ms Banerjee shows her dogged determination to pursue her policy of minority appeasement to the chagrin of the majority and the enlightened section of the minority.An autocrat breaks but does not bend.The breakdown of Ms Banerjee is likely to be the natural consequence if she fails to reason why her party had to yield a huge space to BJP in the parliamentary polls.

The decline,it is obvious, set in for the following reasons:

01.The explicit minority appeasement .

02. The alleged rampant corruption in the form of syndicate raj and extortion by party workers, and  bribery at different levels of party and administration.

03.The alleged inaction in respect of enforcing law against crime and criminals.

04.The resultant disenchantment of the people.

05.The deprivation of a large number of  rural people in many areas from exercising their right to vote in the Panchayat polls accelerated the disenchantment.

06. An inevitable  huge Hindu backlash against the overt and assertive minority appeasement.

06.The over-assertiveness of Muslims in many places,especially in the border areas.

07.The perceived infiltration of  NRC affected Muslims from Assam and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar via Bangladesh and their settlement in the state went against the ruling party.

07.The impudent and vituperative language of the ruling party supremo against Prime Minister Modi

offended many in the electorate.

08. Intra-party clash and squabble weakened the party.

If a judicious policy and well thought out strategy are not put in place, the decline may lead to the collapse of the party in the next democratic exercises like the municipal elections and the Assembly elections of 2021.BJP's win of 18 Lok Sabha seats is equivalent to  126 assembly seats in the Assembly of 294 seats.Trinamool Congress is no longer on a strong wicket and invincible.It is already decimated.

China Against Global War on Terror

China Against Global

War on Terror

Nidhu Bhusan Das

China has again,naturally,done it - blocked the listing of Jaish-e- Mohammad Chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist” at the UNSC Resolution 1267 sanctions committee.China Wednesday did it at Pakistan’s behest.This is consistent with Chinese policy to support genocide,terrorism  for expansionist gains.Beijing supported genocide of Pakistan in Bangladesh way back in 1971.They have shielded Azhar the fourth time in ten years.

For Beijing,Pakistan can never do any wrong insofar as Islamabad serves their geo-political interests and further their expansionist designs.China stands to gain in respect of their territorial expansion, preventing Islamic fundamentalist uprising in their Xinjiang province with this unflinching support to Pakistan and Ajhar.So,Beijing does not hesitate to go against the global war against terrorism.

Jaish-e-Mohammad owned up the February 14 Pulwama terror attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.New Delhi launched diplomatic offensive against Islamabad which harbours,trains terrorists and sends them to India to kill and terrorise Indians.

All the veto-wielding powers except China  were active to get Azhar designated as a global terrorist.Not only this,the proposal this time had the impressive number of co-sponsors — 13 in all. Besides the US, UK, France and Germany, other co-sponsors were Poland, Belgium, Italy, Bangladesh, Maldives, Bhutan, Equatorial Guinea, Japan and Australia. While some of them were at the UNSC as non-permanent members, others came as UN members. This reflected the support India had this time.

What They Say!

What They Say !

Nidhu Bhusan Das

What they say is chocolate-like

They’re pied-piper,not of Hamelin,

Superior rather, able to manipulate

Common folks,as Brutus,and then

Antony could swing the Romans.

They’re great, what they say

Being beyond comprehension.

They enthral with promises,often,

Not to keep.I like character-play

No matter,film or stage,even public pulpit.

Our orators, original or script-reader

Move us,and we don’t understand

What they say, exactly, at election

Rallies.They,no doubt, must be great.

Obscurantists

  We are not Obscurantists

   Nidhu Bhusan Das

Rabindranath Tagore in his Upanishadic and aesthetic wisdom describes the Taj Mahal as “the Brightest White on the Cheek of Time”.This mausoleum was conceived and executed by the Mughal architect-emperor Shahjahan in memory of his beloved wife.Tagore paid his glowing tribute to the emblem of love in his long eulogy to the great Mughal.

Of late disturbing puny voices are in the air against the  monument.It appears these are the voices of those who have the luxury to be content with the belief that ignorance is bliss.

My erudite friend and editor Dr. Rajendra Prasad Singh has condemned such voices with sound logic.I cannot but go by his standpoint since I believe with strong logic that the rich Indian Culture is a synthesis of many a culture and reflects the “Unity in Diversity” of India.

Now if we contend that the Mughals and other Muslim rulers are foreign invaders we ignore the fact that they made India their home like the Aryans.If we are constrained to accept the fact that Mughals contributed to Indian civilization,we cannot accept the contribution of the Aryans as well.In that case such voices smacks of ignorance and lose relevance.

The Aryans are early comers and brought with them a culture which enriches itself adopting and adapting suitably the existing Indian culture.India and Indian way of life existed before the advent of the Aryans who contributed to the culture once they made India their home.Aryans learned agriculture in the country from the Austric people who had been in agriculture here.The word “langalam” (plough) in Sanskrit vocabulary is a derivation from the Austric word “langal”.How can we ignore the existence of the advanced Harappan civilization much before the advent of the Aryans?

Like the Aryans,the Muslim rulers also made India their home and enriched the Indian culture.The Mughal architecture, cuisine,gardening are some examples.We cannot deny the contribution of rulers like Sher Shah who left behind for us the Grand Trunk Road,the land tenure system. The greatness of Indian civilization lies in its capacity to accept different cultures and experiences. India is an experience.The dynamism of Indian soul is amazing.We have been able to absorb Portuguese,French,English and many other ways of life which enriched our experience.

We have developed many Indian languages and literatures.Urdu,for example,has its birth in India out of the interaction between Hindustani and Persian,the court language of the Muslim rulers. Many Indian languages like Bengali have Persian words like “ukil” (pleader),”adalat”(court of law), Portuguese words like “anaras”(pineapple),”Alpin"(pin). Should we delete them from our vocabulary and disown the fact that Urdu is our language?

If we disown and delete these and monuments like the Taj, we are at perils of being equated by the educated and aesthetically enlightened world with those who have destroyed the statues of the Buddha at Bamiyan in Afghanistan.We cannot give in to the whims and caprices of certain crazy obscurantists and regressive forces.Civilization worth the name looks ahead for progress and retrospects to understand the the heritage to build upon.

Indian civilization is strong and mature enough to withstand assaults.

Keats teaches us,”Beauty is truth,truth beauty” and the core of Indian wisdom is:”Satyam,Shivam,Sundaram”.

The Taj is the incarnation of Beauty and Love which every normal human cherishes and appreciates in joy. Beauty is beauty itself,nothing else,and cannot be tinged with extraneous colour.Beauty emerges,cannot be constructed.It is the manifestation of Joy,not of thought.Even if there is thought behind beauty, that thought transmutes into joy for beauty to emerge.Hence Beauty is universal and cannot be compartmentalized.Let us try to realise the essence of beauty to understand truth.What is the essential difference between a potted rose and a wild flower when we can appreciate beauty?So,let the Brightest White on the Cheek of Time remain undefiled by the poison emanating from Ignorance.If we can do this,many a discord in our national life may disappear.

After all, “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever”.

When Populism Rules the Roost

When Populism Rules the Roost

Nidhu Bhusan Das

Democratic India has changed a lot.A bullet train project,first of its kind in the country, has recently been inaugurated,with loan from Japan and Japenese technology.This is that Japan which was doomed in 1945 under the severe impact of two atom bomb blasts on Hiroshima ( 6 August) and Nagasaki ( 9 August). India got Independence in August 1947 - two years from that doom of Japan.

True,India suffered from colonial exploitation for a couple of centuries and received Independence conceding the partition plan of the British.But it was not reduced to ashes like Japan which could have turned around and be back to the path of prosperity soon enough.It was possible because of the sheer determination of the Japanese and their political leadership.The discipline, etiquette and work culture of the Japanese are enviable and worth emulation.

Japan has not been in the throes of populist politics as we have in India.The politics there, evidently,is mainly focused on economy and economic welfare through effective employment of people.An epitome of humility,they are willing to work with diligence and always wear a smile.We have foregrounded politics and failed to provide a level playing ground for all sections and castes of the population despite the lofty ideals and dreams of the members of the consembly as found expression in our Constitution.Instead,we have succeeded in bringing in identity politics, and thereby divided the polity into myriad fragments,all for gains in electoral politics.We do not have an work culture which may be compared with that of the Japanese.

The consequences are there for us to see and suffer from.We are far behind Japan.We have played minority and caste cards but it has not helped their economic uplift.Whenever a government in recent times gave primacy to economics,and pulled the economy back to track from the brink of collapse,it was rewarded with rebuff at the hustings.The Narasimha Rao

government was denied a second term.Mohammad - bin - Tughlak is denigrated even today with the pejorative “Tughloki” for,inter alia,his economic measures.The humiliation of Narsimha Rao when he was Prime Minister is a matter of record.We heap Shahjahan with praise and consider him with awe as the architect Emperor for his Tajmahal and other architectural sites.However,historians of subaltern school highlight the miseries suffered by his subjects because of famine following the drainage of the exchequer as a consequence.What is in store for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government is right now a matter of conjecture if the electorate is swayed by populism.

Corruption is a bane of Indian politics.A section of influential politicians wear the garb of secularism and try to shield themselves as saviours of the minority when corruption charges come up against them and legal proceedings are drawn.In India populist and identity politics has often been found to  set in motion or accelerate corruption.

Topmost Global Scholar Prof.Nincompoop PhD

  Exclusive Interview With

 Topmost Global Scholar

 Prof.Nincompoop PhD

The Globe-trotter Prof, set to win Noball Prize for omni-knowledge anytime for his erudition, hypocrisy unlimited and wonderful capacity for turncoat-ism, has blessed us in The Eldorado Expose with time for a freewheeling discussion on 25 July, the red-letter-day in the history of human knowledge and which is also his birthday, when the world began to get rid of ignorance with the emergence of the solar-son. Human race is grateful to the Hypo-God for sending this saviour who was greeted in the cradle by three idiots and whose prayer for his immortality was granted by the God we worship now. The Excerpt:

The Expose : Prof. Nincompoop, you’re hailed worldwide for your  ignorant-knowledge and the Make-Believe University has been flooded with letters of appreciation from universities far and wide for awarding the PhD for your omni-knowledge and Himalayan Ignorance. How do you feel Mr. Brilliant?

Prof:  Well, I don’t care. You see, I’m everything, be it ignorance or be it omni-knowledge.Rether I am had giervance for the lateness in the Awared.If the professor wife of an professor feirend of myne at the estoopidity eunivarcity of aoar repooblic deed not discovord mai wondorfool noleze, I deed nat no wat kud hepon.

The Expose : We understand your grievance is genuine, you being a nincompoop.

Prof:   Junoon eu telled? Eat ish uper junoon.Eu no, dey form de Hobard eunivarcity gife mi – wat eat ish- too righting e garamar diconsary for mai supper noleze in Lengatistiksh.

The Expose: We know Dr.Nincompoop PhD, Noam Chomsky would like to appreciate your wonderful knowledge in Linguistics. You are gifted, indeed.

Prof:   Eu deed nat no, de sand a teem of enthoropliks wit a porpozal too estudi viomodikol espokt of enthoropoji.I telled dem I am mad bizi.

The Expose: That’s right Dr. Nincompoop, we understand. We feel we should not eat away your valuable time. We have many things to understand from you. One thing more, Sir. We have come to know, meanwhile, His Majesty and Her Majesty asked you to grace them dining in the Foyal Palace next Friday.

Prof:    Eu aar ebusulootly rite, mai feirend (with a wide smile). I heb hanged a shineboot acorosh de gait ov mai racidance: Hire lif Daktar Porfeshur.Nincompoop PhD, Toppermosh Golobal EScolor. Mai nibarsh suloot de aboot.

The Expose: Thanks sir, for slicing your valuable time for us.

Prof:     Woolkum for selising.

Editor: The interview is audio-recorded. We have tried to retain the pronunciation of Prof. Nincompoop PhD.

Gurung Has Promised the Sun

Nidhu Bhusan Das

It’s wise not to promise to pluck the sun for gifting to the people.Only those who don't know their limitations make such unrealizable commitment. Science tells us the sun is inaccessible; the mythological tale of Icarus’ futile attempt confirms it.Leaders who, from time to time, spearheaded the “Gorkhaland Agitation” may not have tried to find the wisdom in the aphorism:Fools rush where angels fear to tread.

However,it may not be wise to take them to be fools.Rather they appear to be sufficiently worldly wise.While most of the common hill people, meek,gentle and credulous,are incredibly poor,the political elite live in affluence.

Penury versus affluence is the stark reality in the hills.Hegemony has helped sustain the scenario.Hence one-party hegemony is the norm in Darjeeling Politics.Whenever such an hegemony faces challenge or financial audit is sought to be initiated,the hegemony stirs into action and force the innocent people to respond to their call to shut the hills to the perils of the commoners and their untold misery.

Is it possible for Mr. Gurung and his loyalists to give the people of the hill the eldorado of Ghorkhaland?Why is such a demand? What good has they been able to deliver to the common people with the fund made available to the GTA? Mr. Gurung should co-operate with the State Government in carrying out the audit so that the people of the hills and the country may know how the fund has been utilized and who are the beneficiaries.It is important.Mr.Gurung is a politician,and swears he believes in democracy.If democracy is his chosen path,he is supposed to be accountable to the people of the hills and of the country.He must prove how much he is accountable,and be subject to public scrutiny.

At the same time, he should not go against the democratic process his party and others have initiated with the participation in the dialogue with the State Government which is encouraged by the Union Government.It’s strange,he and his close associate Mr. Roshan Giri have abstained from the talks. It’s, perhaps, unwise to believe that Gorkhaland is going to be a reality given ,inter alia,the strategic location of the hills vis-a-vis the visible territorial ambition of one of our neighbours.

If Mr. Gurung and his coterie choose to isolate themselves from the democratic process,they may invite their possible doom.The campaigns for Gorkhaland since 1980s has caused great harm to the international reputation of the hills as an education hub, best quality tea producer and tourist destination.The ecology of the hills also declined severely during the period. Sanity should rule,not stirred emotion, for the revival of the economy and sustainable development of the area.