Killing the youth of Bengal

Eminent personalities protesting against the vandalism

It took Mamata Banerjee – the West Bengal Chief Minister – an unfortunate manhandling of her minister to realize that politics in this country has become “dirty” and “nasty”. The epiphany dawned on the temperamental chief of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) only after activists from the Student Federation of India (SFI) – an ‘undefined’ wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – heckled her and Amit Mitra (Bengal’s finance minister and the grand nephew of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose) outside the Planning Commission in Delhi on Tuesday where she had gone to discuss the financial future of her state. Mitra landed in AIIMS while the chief minister left for Kolkata and was admitted to a clinic for treatment after she complained of pain in her joints. 

The SFI manhandling of Amit Mitra and the subsequent retaliation by TMC at the Presidency University shows the nadir of student union politics. Should student unions be banned throughout the country or should our politicians behave more responsibly? 

Read my argument here: 

http://www.newsyaps.com/killing-the-youth-of-bengal/13039/

Please do not forget to air your views in the comments section below.

(img courtesy: news.in.msn.com)

What is the real problem with the Railways?

The Times of India published its views in today's paper on the Uttar Pradesh train accident that claimed 68 lives and injured 181 others. In its opinion under the headline 'Populist railway policies pushing up accident rate' the paper stated that the populist railway policies adopted by ministers from the Eastern part of the country were pushing up accident rate. The write-up seems to be politically influenced and does not reflects the ideology for which the paper claims it stands. 

The actual problem is not announcement of a slew of trains on the Delhi-Kolkata route by successive ministers from Bihar or Bengal as stated in the article. The real problem is POPULATION. Even today, some news channels were showing images of people climbing on the rooftops of the trains in Uttar Pradesh. One can witness the same situation in many parts of the country. It is the population explosion that has created a problem bigger than the flawed ministerial decisions.

Adding to the problem is the inherent desire of the people to cheat. What will any minister do if there are people who travel without tickets? What will the ministry do if the people themselves love to bypass rules? In case any minister DARES to punish them then all-hell will break loose. Won't the media criticize the minister? If someone from any other part of the country becomes the Railway minister, won't he/she favour his/her state?


A prudent person or in this case, a responsible media house, must meticulously observe any critical situation before passing a judgement never mind what facts they are based on. Yes, the decision by the minsters are wrong but they always are. Favoritism is ingrained in the ways of this country and we all are unfortunately living with it. Let us raise our thoughts beyond the filth of politics and we will be able to see how bad we ourselves are.


Just for the sake of the readers:

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?pageid=10&pagesize=&edid=TOI&edlabel=TOIM&mydateHid=12-07-2011&pubname=Times+of+India+-+Mumbai&edname=Mumbai&publabel=TOI

The ‘Red’ and ‘Green’ of West Bengal

Mamata Banerjee has done it. She has ended the 34 year reign of the Communists over the state of West Bengal. The news reports, articles and other write-ups published today are all praise of the charismatic wave created by her that made the public ‘dare to defy’ the Reds.

Honestly, elections in Bengal had become too boring. Each time the polls came around, the colour of Red was splashed all over the state as if there was no other colour available in the Legislative palette. For the first time in 34 years a new colour has emerged, that of Green. The victory of the Trinamool Congress was palpable from the manner in which they took the lead as soon as the counting began. By the afternoon, the victory was imminent. Expectedly, the supporters of Didi and her party were out on the streets singing, dancing and celebrating that in a way emblematic of the City of Joy. This time, however, the ‘City’ had expanded to mean the State itself.

 

The Communists had desperately tried to colour the entire state with Red flags this time again. They had perhaps thought that the people were still thinking of shedding their blood for them even if they didn’t do anything for the people. However, their colour did not fail to leave a mark. Only this time, the mark worked against them. Red was the colour on the people’s faces when they were seething on the failure of the gone government. Red with blood was the colour of the soil of Lalgarh. Red was the colour of the state economy which was signaling its total failure over the last three decades. Red was symbolized the shame on the faces of the CPI (M) members, including Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, when they were shown the exit door by the people.

Not for once did the people stop to think about the fallen comrades. They were too happy to do that. After all, they had been delivered from the ‘tyranny’ of the Leftists and their obscure ideologies. Didi was ‘hope’ clad in a saree and ordinary slippers. She walked her way into their hearts of people and ignited their souls with the dream of seeing development in a state that was unable to pay salaries to them. With the promise in mind, the people have given her the chance she desperately sought. They showed their allegiance towards her by smearing themselves and others with green abir (powder colour).

This colour of Green has the potential to become the new colour of Bengal. Green symbolizes prosperity and environment. Truly, there is now a new environment in and around Kolkata. The wind of change is expected to give back the trees their original colour. Expectations are on a very high pedestal. Rise in employment opportunities, growth in industries, beneficial agrarian sector, decrease in crime rates and elimination of the maoists are a few of the things expected from the new government. In other words, the people are expecting the government to give a green signal to restart the stalled economic machinery of the state.

Trinamool means grassroots which has the colour of green. Green was the agenda at Singur. The time has come for the party to mean its name. Bengal needs a complete makeover and it is now the task of Trinamool and Mamata Banerjee to paint the state Green. If they succeed in their endeavour then the Leftists are sure to turn Green with envy. Colours of politics have therefore a much deeper meaning.