Opinion Taking the wrong left

We have been subjected to the backlash of political failure in the hands of Communists who believe,in Orwell’s words,that in an era of untrustworthy bipeds,all animals are born equal — but a bunch are more equal than the rest. They crushed enterprise and entrepreneurship,destroyed infrastructure,killed whatever work ethic we babus possessed,and have now commenced a comical U-turn to attract industrial investment,like the complicated intrigue of the windmill in Orwell’s Animal Farm that simply led to more senseless bloodshed.

Politics has many stale definitions,and the archaic principles of democracy have been hailed since Vedic-Greek times. That India flourishes as a democracy is one of the greatest miracles of social science. From nepotism to oligarchy,virtually two sides of the same coin,this past year has reduced us to being defined as the world’s largest kleptocracy. Dr. Ambedkar’s caveat that “democracy is only a top-dressing on an Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic” reverberates through our filthy corridors of crooked and self-serving governance at the Centre and in the states.

Amidst all this,the Communist governors of Bengal have for years been riding waves of unbridled anarchy and perpetuating the myth of rebellion in the preposterous legend of Sisyphus. Someone clever once said that in an ideal ‘Nowhere’,the two Houses of Parliament would be filled with utopian manure and that “that government is best which governs not at all. And when men are prepared for it,that is the kind of governance which they will have.” Philosophically I endorse that level of freedom. But then,am I the only one who thinks Bengal is not just ready for it philosophically,but has been a law unto itself,if I may use the term loosely,for three decades?

In 1913,a group of Indians had the courage to give up their ambition to make money and,in a small house on Hill Street in San Francisco,form the Hindustani Ghadar Party. Thousands gave it all up in the land of promise and returned to India to revolutionise political thought. Many were tortured and killed fighting for the cause. Years later,I met the Canadian founder of its reincarnation as the Communist Ghadar Party of India. It was formed on Christmas Day,December 25,1980,as a continuation of the “Hindustani Ghadar Party — Organisation of Indian Marxist-Leninists Abroad”. Their motto,their vision,proclaimed that,“it is the workers and peasants,women and youth,organised in their collectives,who should rule”. They rejected the farce of social democracy in India and aimed at making the toilers and tillers the masters of India. Unfortunately this intellectual move to motivate the young has,for all practical purposes,fizzled out: a great pity.

On the 150th birth anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore it would be appropriate to point out that Tagore was one of the pioneers of rural reconstruction in Bengal and India. I invite readers to study Tagore’s introduction to L.K. Elmhirst’s Robbery of the Soil for enlightenment in this world of worthless acquisition and “greed”.

Right now,there are many who feel Bengal is fumbling and bungling at a historic crossroads. All these years we’ve made a “left” at every crucial junction and the devil’s taken not just the hindmost but made life hell for frontrunners as well. We can wrap ourselves around clichés that shove us between rocks and hard places and have us leap out of the arms of the devil and be cast into fearsome deep seas and no matter what sizzling frying pans tip us unto burning pits of fire,wherever we look,the horns of our dilemma seem ready to gore.

So what does one do to refute theories that claim we shall plunge into anarchy and chaos? From Mihir Sen to Bula Choudhury,Bengalis have never been afraid of plunging into the deep end,and have emerged winners,literally and metaphorically.

I think the writing is clear on the headstone of a regime that has long been dead and will soon be buried. And we shall all breathe easier when the offensive stench of political putrefaction leaves us. Mamata will be in charge. She is a veritable Kalighat pataka that has turned the guns on the perpetrators of Bengal’s misfortunes. What’s more,she has guts and the ability to deliver what we need most: A restoration of faith and belief in ourselves.

Bengal needs to resurrect its rural wealth in terms of its history,its art and craft,its traditions,its agrarian people’s pride of place in society. Rural Bengal is our “sonar tari” and Mamata is the fresh and powerful wind in its sails. If we must have anarchy,let’s take a different leaf from the annals of American civilisation,besides baseball caps worn back to front,KFC and the Big Mac,and imbibe and establish Thoreau’s concept of green anarchism,agrarian collectivism and ultimately to create an awareness in our cities of the greatness of our countryside and our rural folk.

I chuckle to proclaim we’re with a winner here in Paschim Banga and there’s hope for us all.

It was Camus who said,“Throughout the whole absurd life I’d lived,a dark wind had been rising toward me from somewhere deep in my future,across years that were still to come,and as it passed,this wind levelled whatever was offered to me at the time,in years no more real than the ones I was living.” Let’s work to prove Camus was just an idle thinker and wasn’t thinking of us when he penned those lines.

Banerjee is an actor,activist and writer who spends most of his time birdwatching in the Himalaya