Whither Bengal?

Bhaskar Majumder

It’s alarming to think that what was once considered the cultural capital of India is now being overshadowed by rampant issues of violence and sexual assault, as highlighted by recent media reports. Since the tragic events of August 9, 2024, the civic society seems to be grappling with an unsettling reality. Despite the valiant efforts of the ‘Junior Doctors’ at medical colleges in West Bengal, who have rallied alongside passionate citizens in protest against the heinous murder of a young lady doctor at R G Kar Hospital in Kolkata, this crisis demands serious attention. It’s a situation that calls for a deeper exploration and understanding of the roots of such violence.

One cannot escape the agony of undivided Bengal which now has two parts, one East Pakistan or Bangladesh and the other West Bengal, because of the unwelcome partition of Bengal as a ‘gift’ of the 1947 transfer of power. The agony started since then. One may also glorify the pre-1947 days because of the cultured jewels of Bengal like Raja Rammohan Roy, Vidyasagar, Ravindranath Tagore, Vivekananda and other unnumbered visionaries who took India to international heights. The historical-spatial advantages of Bengal in British India were undeniable facts that included the first opportunity to be westernised by languages learned and the mobility of people. Education created both revolutionaries and reactionaries.

Instead of concentrating only on the well-known cultural history that many people in West Bengal are familiar with, it is important to explore the deep-rooted struggles that have persisted since 1947 and contributed to the current state of unrest. This struggle began even before the end of World War II and well before India gained independence. A significant turning point was the famine of 1943 in undivided Bengal, which was paradoxically a food-surplus region at the time.

Following independence and the partition of India, there was a massive influx of refugees into West Bengal from East Pakistan, many of whom could not be rehabilitated outside the region. This sudden movement resulted in a sharp increase in both population density and poverty levels. Although the flow of refugees slowed over time, it continued due to linguistic ties and economic factors, as people migrated from high-poverty areas to those with more opportunities. This influx exacerbated unemployment, strained resources, and disrupted the land-man ratio, further deepening the region’s struggles. The pain and suffering of this situation have been profound and ongoing.

The processes and the consequences of agony started manifesting themselves in hunger during the mid-1960s, the illegal market in foodgrains, political turmoil during the late 1960s often termed as Naxalism, lumpenisation of politics or cultural degradation during the mid-1970s, an Internal Emergency declared in 1975, and a little cultural revival in end-1970s. Some of these led to the killing of youth uncounted, some imprisoned, some disappeared, education obstructed, institutional or public health crises, and all that. Neither Left nor Right took adequate care to un-trap West Bengal from its low-level of cultural trap. Even the civil society was truncated as pro-Left and others during the long rule, rather misrule of 34 years by the CPM-led Left.

The agony continued, the political party voted to power and did not learn from cumulative agony. One single issue was probably pointed out for the fall of the Left rule which was the Singur land acquisition issue. With or without Singur, the state of West Bengal could not, or did not try to, come out of agony. Be it the mid-1960s or mid-1970s, or by the continuation of the 2020s, the agony took the shape of organised anarchy. This anarchy during the past decade was composed of lawlessness, sycophancy, biased public administration, criminals ruling the cultural space, unquestioned atrocities on women, and probably protection of criminals by the core state.

During the past decade, ending in 2024, there was a rise in absolute anarchy, where power seemed to reside with criminals. This period marked a troubling trend of the criminalization of politics and culture. In eastern India, the government implemented measures that appeared to support criminal behaviour. The main branches of the executive, particularly the police and public administration, often relied on the visible support of criminals to maintain control over crime.

While the media had previously been less proactive in disseminating unbiased information, it has recently become more active in sharing news, particularly through electronic platforms. Reports have surfaced concerning regular incidents of rape, gang rape, and occasional murders of girls and women of all ages, both married and unmarried, in a state that once prided itself on the dignity of women.

Civil society, particularly the middle class, had mostly remained silent during these troubling times. However, there was a notable shift when members of this community found the courage to protest, spurred on by junior doctors from R G Kar Medical College and Hospital after August 9, 2024. The fear that had previously silenced civil society was evident, particularly among those who had been rewarded or acknowledged by political powers, as well as those hoping for recognition.

Let there be no surprise that the state government or the core state on the circumference tried its best to conceal the social disease that remained concealed because of fear-indifference-miseducation and all that. It will not be wrong if a conspiracy theory is floated that many of the organized crime were state-sponsored. Why and how? If the government cannot provide regular jobs, then the fulfilment of basic needs is assured from the public domain like public authority allowing lumpens to steal public property, allowing them to search for women’s bodies that may be raped and murdered and go unpunished for the absence of evidence. The police may be used or misused to frame cases based on a collection of ‘no evidence’ that probably is a reflection of pressure from political power to protect the rapists or murderers.

Cultural disease, thus, gets converted into political disease once the culprits know they will remain protected even if they rape murder. The public witness does not matter much in crimes committed when the ruling power is strong enough to strangulate the public voice either by the provision of free food, housing, cash transfer or by direct intimidation at the local level. The state government can do this for the state is not an ethical unit. Because of ‘Parivartan’, it is the mono-power with no credible challenge from the polity. The state government can do this for the indifference of the civil society that often waits for awards and rewards from the government.

The ruling political power in West Bengal post-Left rule learnt more and better than its predecessor in capturing the local government like Municipalities and Panchayats and capturing the cultural clubs and governing bodies of educational institutions. All these were done better and faster under authoritarianism. The voters and lumpens accepted, or had to accept, the ‘Parivartan’ for a part of it was waiting to come out from prolonged Left Rule. Obstructed education helped the process.

If poverty can be prolonged, if miseducation can be prolonged, if cash transfer can be introduced to ensure loyalty and create a vote bank, if cultural clubs can be given doles in cash to organise Durga Puja and so on, ‘Parivartan’ remains unchanged and unchangeable. The core state representing the centre seems least bothered in examining the appropriateness of ‘Parivartan’ because of its political cost-benefit calculations. Why should the Centre intervene if West Bengal suffers from anarchy for the Centre has nothing to lose if the state that experienced a renaissance and showed a culture path to the rest of the country now experiences culture-retardation?

It may not be an exaggeration if the core state of West Bengal is accused of protecting the lumpen class that it nurtured and nourished. The lumpen class, not aware of human rights and delinked from education, violates the law of the land. If the lumpen class having only nuisance value is protected by the political administration, anarchy is the natural outcome.

No light at the end of the dark tunnel is visible for the concealed collusion of power between the centre and the state for the common purpose of maintaining the status quo or of cornering the wise people.

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Frontier
Vol 57, No. 22, Nov 24 - 30, 2024