Opinion Sanjeev Sanyal as WhatsApp uncle: Blaming Bengalis and UPSC aspirants
It is a bit rich that one of the principal economists in the government of India is literally victim-blaming the drivers of the much-touted demographic dividend
While there is at least the kernel of an issue in the obsession with clearing the UPSC exam, Sanjeev Sanyal's anti-Bengali statements are almost bigoted. (Photo: Sanjeev Sanyal/ X) 
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There is a thin line between privilege and entitlement, one that’s quite easy to breach. Privilege, like deprivation, is often an accident of birth, a function of luck. It turns into entitlement when the privileged lose all sense of context, of gratitude and, as a result, empathy. It can make people, especially those who are successful and intelligent, forget that while they do owe their place in life to individual effort and brilliance, they would not be among the elite in a deeply unequal society were it not for the catapult of a silver spoon.
Sanjeev Sanyal, economist of repute, author of, among others, a fine book on the Indian Ocean and Member of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council, has walked into political controversies of his own making. He first chided millions of UPSC aspirants for “wasting time” with multiple attempts at the civil services exam and went on to scold young Indians about their “poverty of aspiration”. “Although it’s (becoming a civil servant) better than being a goon, even that is a poverty of aspiration. I mean, at the end of it, why even… if you must dream, surely you should dream to be Elon Musk or Mukesh Ambani. Why did you dream to be joint secretary? You’re not dreaming of being Sachin and Binny Bansal of Flipkart,” he said in an interview.
My podcast on The Neon Show where I discuss the "poverty of aspiration", the manipulation of narratives by foreign NGOs, the unhealthy craze for UPSC and the cause of Kolkata's decline: https://t.co/esNoGEWKNv
— Sanjeev Sanyal (@sanjeevsanyal) March 23, 2024
Not satisfied with upsetting the bureaucracy, Sanyal then spouted tired cliches about Bengal and Bengalis. After a simplistic rant against Left rule and Jyoti Basu (in which he more or less said the state’s voters don’t know what they are doing), he blamed the Bengalis for their “poverty of aspiration” as well: “If your society aspires that the highest form of life is a union leader or an adda intellectual… That is your aspiration that you are sitting around smoking and sipping your Old Monk and passing judgement on the rest of the world, rather than doing anything.”
The obsession with and aspiration for a government job, and the fact that many young people end up chasing that dream through their most productive years, is certainly something to reckon with. But to blame “poverty of aspiration” is about as “let them eat cake” a statement as there can be. Many, many Indians have a ceiling on their dreams. Many have seen the power, job security and, most of all, respect, officers of the state wield.
To dream of being Elon Musk requires context and vocabulary. To be Sachin Bansal requires an education ecosystem, a state that’s supportive and in fact, the very joint secretaries Sanyal so chides to do their jobs at the Ministries of Finance, Education, Commerce, Urban Development and many more. It is a bit rich, after all, to lecture the young for wanting the prestige that Mr Sanyal enjoys — as a lateral-entry technocratic adviser to the government, a position that still opens many a door for him — and the chance to serve the public.
It is also a bit worrying that one of the principal economists in the government of India is literally victim-blaming the drivers of the much-touted demographic dividend. It is to intellectuals like him and the government they work for to tell us why the private sector seems unable to attract the educated youth. Or why it cannot accommodate them.
While there is at least the kernel of an issue in the obsession with clearing the UPSC exam, Sanyal’s anti-Bengali statements are almost bigoted. His statements echo ones often made in private, on WhatsApp groups by overbearing, ignorant uncles. Going by his books and CV, Sanyal does not appear to be a parochial person. He went to the best schools and universities in India and abroad. He is, in fact, an intellectual – though, it would seem, it is worse to be an “adda” intellectual than a sarkari one.
As to the clichés he spouts, there is nothing wrong with being happy with just a glass of rum and a bit of tobacco. There is joy in debate, in art and a decency of purpose in standing up for workers’ rights. It could be argued that the real poverty of aspiration is joining the rat race. But as Sanyal likely knows, the cliches about Bengalis are more false than true. Some of us are economists, others CEOs — many would argue that much of the country has benefitted from our labour. Why is Bengal unable to grow its economy? Why is Calcutta in seeming decline? Why hasn’t industry flourished, even so long after Left rule ended (if the CPM is indeed to blame)?
Perhaps someday, an economist will be kind enough to tell us over an adda. Until then, best to avoid Marie Antoinette-like sweeping statements.
aakash.joshi@expressindia.com
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