The doctors protest has now assumed nationwide proportions. It began when a mob of “dara hua” people brutally attacked two young interns at NRS Medical College.
Everybody knows that Mamata Banerjee has lost her mind now and is only making things worse for herself. So, instead of talking to the doctors, she took a crazy hardline stance.
It left everyone asking: if the CM can sit on a dharna because of a CBI raid on her darling officer, why can’t doctors sit on a dharna when one of them is brutally attacked?
Also there is hardly any doubt that the “dara hua” mob was emboldened by patronage from the state govt for Islamic fundamentalism. At the moment, with 57% of Hindus voting for BJP, the Chief Minister is left with no recourse but to pander to every whim of the ‘peaceful’ community.
And her speeches are sounding more and more crazy by the day: “BJP wants that doctors should only treat the BJP patients,” she said. ROFL!
For BJP, this is almost too easy now. Bengal is practically falling into their lap. One has to check the subregional demographics of Bengal carefully to see how many outright M majority seats there are in the state. If that number is less than 30, it is possible that Mamata Banerjee may not even get the Leader of Opposition post after 2021.
This is “legendary” Bengali actor Aparna Sen taking on Mamata Banerjee.
There is a reason I put “legendary” in quotes. If you are from Bengal or you have grown up around a lot of Bengalis, you will hear about many such “legends”. Mediocre people, below mediocre people and outright pedestrian people who have been lionized as “intellectuals” in the popular Bengali culture.
They are called the “Bhadralok”. The expression literally means “gentle people”. They claim to represent the conscience of Bengal. Rather, they are supposed to own the conscience of Bengal. It’s the “middle class/upper middle class intelligentsia” consisting of everyone from so called “legendary” actors to petty bureaucrats at the British era Secretariat building in Kolkata.
Opposite to the “Bhadralok” are the so called “Chotolok”, literally meaning “little people”. This consists of the underclass of laborers, drivers, maids, petty shopkeepers and those who do odd jobs for a living.
This is the rigid stratification that divides Communist style Bengali society. Just as you would expect from any Communist setup, class mobility is minimal. Have you ever wondered how the supposedly caste blind Communist Party ended up with a 100% upper caste politburo? This is why.
One of the most noticeable things about the politics of Bengal is that caste does not matter. But why? Was this culture created through actual participation of all sections of society? Of course not. Rather, the “Bhadralok” went out and convinced the “Chotolok” that caste doesn’t matter and so the “Bhadralok” should keep all their privileges. That’s all.
Let me express here a controversial opinion: I believe the Bengali Bhadralok class is using this doctors protest as a genteel excuse to reorient themselves in support of the coming BJP order in Kolkata.
Have you seen all of the CM’s comments about Hindi speaking migrants from Bihar? What she was really doing was dog whistling that the BJP is the party of the “Chotolok”.
But now the BJP has won and the Bhadralok are in a tizzy. I mentioned this even on my post on May 23. The Bhadralok is sweating. Because the BJP wave has come from the poorest parts such as Medinipur and Purulia, the regions bordering Jharkhand and the North of the state. The Bhadralok lives in Kolkata and colonizes the rest of the state. It is in and around Kolkata that the TMC has managed to save face.
So what does the Bhadralok do now? Well, they do what they have always done. Salute the rising sun.
Till now, the Bhadralok of Kolkata have had four celebrated heroes : Winston Churchill, Dr. Bidhan Ray (CM of Bengal from 1948-1962), Jyoti babu and Mamata Didi.
It is not hard to notice that, coincidentally, this is also the list of everyone who has ruled. The Bhadralok will define history and Bengali culture to be whatever the rulers of the day want it to be. It doesn’t matter if Churchill killed 4 million Bengalis, because those were the Chotolok. The Bhadralok knows that Churchill was good at English grammar and that’s what matters. Then there was Dr. Bidhan Ray, who apparently could diagnose the illnesses of traffic policemen while his car was passing them on the street. Then there was the ‘incorruptible’ Jyoti Babu and his fight against American imperialism on the streets of Bengal. Jyoti Babu is perhaps the only politician in Indian history who did not face any questions about the rising business fortunes of his son.
And then there was Didi. And if she wanted the Bhadralok to say that Ram and Durga are from two completely different religions, they will gladly say that.
It is time for the Bhadralok to add Narendra Modi to their pantheon of heroes. And all they needed was an excuse.
But what could this excuse be to move from Didi to Modi? The Bhadralok could not just wrap themselves in saffron and go chanting Jai Shri Ram on the streets (they will do that eventually). Or demand a beef ban. That would be too transparent.
The brutal attack on the medical students at NRS was the perfect excuse. For those who may not know, the NRS or “Neel Ratan Sarkar Medical College” is one of the most venerable institutions in Bengal. The kids who get a medical seat at NRS are the beloved of all.
Finally, the Bhadralok had something around which they could rally against Mamata without losing face.
By saying this, am I trying to invalidate the doctors protests that have happened at NRS and spread all across the country? Absolutely not. Every uprising attracts opportunists. And that’s really not such a big problem. As I said a few days ago, remember who the opportunists are, identify them but do not in any way reject them. In fact, they are the force multipliers.
These Bengali Bhadralok are actually quite useful because they are plugged into cultural and historical circles. For a long time, BJP supporters have complained about being left out of the “elite narrative” as well as the anti-Hindu tone of that narrative. Good news. The citadel of “narrative” is not far away now. Wait till BJP forms the govt in Kolkata.
The BJP is about to set up its own durbar in Bengal. And applications for durbari status are pouring in. Be amused, be very amused. And use them as force multipliers.
dynastycrooks 
Dear Abhishek,
Thank you for these insights into Bengali society.
“It doesn’t matter if Churchill killed 4 million Bengalis, because those were the Chotolok. The Bhadralok knows that Churchill was good at English grammar and that’s what matters.”
Indeed, that is a very astute observation. A parallel would be Gandhi sending about two million Indian soldiers to fight in the WW-I and WW-II on behalf of the British because, hey, they were “chotolok” too. Another one would be the utter contempt in which our fiberals hold our soldiers, because the fiberals think (and even say) that only those who can’t get a job join the services. In a perverted way they are right. Any “connected” person could easily get a job as a media person or some other such job that does not require any brains. So only “unconnected” people join the services.
“This is the rigid stratification that divides Communist style Bengali society. Just as you would expect from any Communist setup, class mobility is minimal.”
I had indeed noticed that class mobility among Bengalis is virtually zero, compared to my fellow Andhras for example, but never understood why; thank you for this explanation.
“Every uprising attracts opportunists. [SNIP] These Bengali Bhadralok are actually quite useful …”
They are indeed Lenin’s “useful idiots.”
In closing, let me express a wish that some BJP politician would actually go and sit in solidarity with striking doctors, instead of just tweeting from their a/c rooms. In this regard, Harsh Vardhan in particular has come across as a complete idiot. Let me point out that, while the motivation was dubious, Mamata Banerjee got her big uplift by standing in solidarity with the Singur agitators. So here is an opportunity for an *honest* BJP leader; I do not know however whether any such leader actually exists in the BJP Bengal unit.
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It is very good to criticise Mamata but what about Modi’s appeasement (assistance to 5 crore Muslims).
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I think this time the blogger has gone overboard in his shallow analysis of the Bengali situation. Claiming himself to be a Bengali as his name suggests I find hardly anything he writes about Bengal worth the strict analysis which his writings should be subjected to. I do not know whether he can read and write in Bengali and if he does he has not based his comments on wide reading in the language.In fact I gave up for a long time his pedestrian and ill-directed efforts to collect quotes from newspapers articles and whining about the persistence of the echo system. Before I go into details, let me record Aparna Sen is no iconic actress for me but she is well-mannered woman whom I met in a hotel in Purulia and had some nice talk. Who is the hero for the blogger–the Shahrukh Khan or Devgan or any of the numerous stars who do not know what acting is and additionally subject to the dictates of the D gang?
Much has been made of Bengalis` love of English satirically thereby slyly implying that Bengalis can not write English But Bengal is one of the early states which made Bengali compulsory in school up to 5th or 6th standard. Bengalis love English and other foreign languages as much as Bengali. Incidentally comment about upward movement of castes or upward mobility is an unfortunate comment which would sound ill-considered without your furnishing the updated sociological data. So in the absence thereof this comment of yours sounds pedestrian to me though it may sound like manna to others from other states.
Let me be clear that I am one of the harshest critics of Mamata Banerji. You know why BJP will not make further headway in Bengal. It is because of supporters like you who have never criticised Modi in abandoning his supporters after election and like the so-called Bengali “Bhadralok” ( whom you satirise)never utter a word against Modi. Communists believe in glorification of their supreme leaders but I find you indulge in the same glorification so far as BJP leaders are concerned. This is another instance of bigotry resulting in pedestrianism and crypto Bengali Bhadralokism
Coming to other gems of wisdom in your blog , have you considered the statewise GDP growth data and the cumulative growth, say between Andhra and Bengal? If you had done that you would have found that there is not much difference. If there is difference in per capita income, it is because of higher population in Bengal. So the learned professor`s pejorative phrase “Waste Bengal”goes out of the window and famed wisdom peers in.
Now coming to cleanliness/ habits –Swachh Bharat or Nirmal Bangla as renamed in Bengal–I find Hyderabad-Secunderabad as one of the ugliest urban conglomerations–but I would not judge by that and I would take into consideration the Banjara Hills areas. Similarly Calcutta should not be projected as only the Burrabazar and around Howrah station areas where no Bengalis live and which has been colonised by non-Bengalis and who have made it dirty. I live in Salt Lake area and would ask any one to cite a similarly clean city in India. The Nalbon lake in salt lake is better that Hussain Sagar lake. Plus all the upgraded urban facilities. Incidentally we die hard Bengalis love to travel both abroad and internally. Having travelled in all parts of India I have decided that for clean living Calcutta is the best. The pollution data about Calcutta is picked up by the US Consulate in their locality (where Moon Moon Sen lives) which has the highest traffic density for seurity reasons.
Does the blogger think that Bengaluru is a very livable capital?
And finally I would ask the blogger when he did visit Bengal , which place ,which district and whom he met except some non-Bengali Rickshaw pullers who gave him wrong information and he quoted that as gospel truth. Does he know in Calcutta all autos run on CNG and Rickshaws have been phased out and replaced by battery operated Totos and Rickshaws. Hardly the case in Andhra and Karnataka.
And let me make a forecast–BJP is not coming back to powers in Bengal because of the blindness bias and pettyfoggingness of their supporters in the social media which tend to demonise Bengal without the support of data. Incidentally I visited Ranchi and Hazaribagh a couple of years back for the 3rd time and stayed in the Govt tourist lodge near the Rly Station for the days. I found both the cities utterly dirty and chaotic with auto exhausts–mostly run on kerosene–choking my lungs and breath.
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“Coming to other gems of wisdom in your blog , have you considered the statewise GDP growth data and the cumulative growth, say between Andhra and Bengal?”
This URL gives the Year-on-Year growth rate between 2004 and 2014 for each state in India. During those ten years, the GDP of Andhra Pradesh grew by a factor of 2.04 while that of West Bengal grew by a factor of 1.80. So WB grew at roughly 2% less every year compared to AP. You can perform other analyses as you wish.
Click to access DatabookDec2014%2059.pdf
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I am happy that Dynastycrooks blog of CW has started attracting the attention of a few members of Bengali “Bhadralok”.
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It seems you are well covered economically as you live in Salt Lake city. It is therefore logical that you are not that much into economic growth of WB as you have only mentioned your opinion of cleanliness or otherwise of the various cities. Coming to economy of WB, there is nothing much to speak of. Comparing Bangalore or AP/KAR growth to Calcutta or WB will definitely tell you the story of how WB has fallen behind many states in economic progress.
How about corruption in government offices in WB? May be you are well connected and don’t need to worry about such things, but the common man will tell you that nothing gets done without bribes. Things are not that bad in many other states.
What about Law and Order? Lives are cheap in WB. Thugs can make anyone vanish and nobody will be held for it.
If all these things do not matter then well WB is doing great as you claim.
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The turnaround in Bengal has been much faster and stunning than most of us expected. Just goes to show that if people are united, even a big tyrant cannot stop them. And social media unites people at the speed of light(and not at the speed of Jupiters escape velocity).
Bengal produced arguably the greatest human being of the last 200 years in Swami Vivekananda. Was always surprised why it was taking so much time for Bengal to realize that the communists are just charlatans. Atleast in the case of Mamta, the realization has come faster. Hope the Bengalis will soon start producing more people like Ramprasad, Ramakrishna, Vivekananda and Aurobindo.
BJP in Bengal will be a powerhouse and will lift up neighbouring states like UP and Orissa. That is if it gets earnestly on the job of healing Bengal – having Yogi as the neighbour should help immensely.
Incidentally, the “Chotolok” are the ones who have stood up time and again to defend Indian civilization. Wonder how the people of India can ever repay their sacrifices. The best way is to vigorously watch out for and defend threats to our civilization and do away with pathetic notions of non-violence.
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Sooner or later the power goes to the head and under Mamata’s rule the ‘Peaceful’ community felt invincible and when an eighty-five years old community member was on a death bed, an elaborate plan of arranging two Lorries and hundred some people from the same community to attack the interns.
As you stated every uprising attracts opportunists, it reminded me that in Gujarat there are numerous Sindhis who suffered very much during the bifurcation of India in 1947 and every time there is a racial riot, the Sindhi community is in front to punish the ‘peaceful’.
BJP should be very careful about these “Bhadralok” of WB. The agitation is in their blood. And nobody can rely on agitators for long. They are just looking for the opportunity.
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Bengali minds have to be rewired. For long they have been brainwashed by Communists to accept mediocrity as a standard for themselves in the name of solidarity. Unfortunate but true. THis is the first awakening of the Bengali Hindus after a long long time. Thanks to the Dictator Didi, the Bengali Hindus have now become a strong united front capable of electing people who can protect them and their interests. While Didi will be history in the next elections whenever they are held, it would take a few years of hard work and by the next government to bring back law and order in Bengal. Bengal became Waste Bengal due to absence of law and order and rampant corruption. Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing gets done without bribes.
It was said that to get a primary school teacher job one had to pay Rs. 3 lakhs in the nineties itself. Now it must be much much more!!
Let us hope BJP when it is elected to power changes the Bengali bhadralok culture like Modi changed the Lootyens culture in Delhi.
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off topic: Moan Moan Singh is not an MP anymore. He was a RS member from Assam and his election from there is impossible now with BJP having the numbers to elect their representative from Assam. Another former PM Deve Gowda also is not in parliament as he was defeated resoundingly in the elections.
MMS presided over the biggest loot in independent India. Under him Indian economy attained ‘fragile five’ status. Full credit to MMS for bringing Indian economy on the brink of a failed economy. Goes to show that PM Narasimha Rao has not been given the full credit for his achievements. Narasimha Rao should be the one to be credited with liberalisation of economy and putting India on the path to growth and not MMS. MMS just was warming the chair as he did earlier as a career bureaucrat.
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“Goes to show that PM Narasimha Rao has not been given the full credit for his achievements. Narasimha Rao should be the one to be credited with liberalisation of economy and putting India on the path to growth and not MMS. MMS just was warming the chair as he did earlier as a career bureaucrat.”
This has to be shouted from the rooftops because there are still some dumbos who believe that somehow MMS had a role in the 1991 reforms. He was just a clerk following orders, just as he has always been.
A few years ago I bought the biography of Narasimha Rao by Vinay Sitapati in both Telugu and English (“Half-Lion” in English and “Narasimhudu” in Telugu). I don’t know which is the original and which is a translation (or perhaps sitapati wrote both independently). Anyway: I have read large parts of the Telugu version but haven’t yet opened the English version. One thing that comes out clearly is that Antonia started undermining Rao as early as 1995! Remember that the supine Congress-wallahs first offered the PM position to her in 1991 after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. But her first “sacrifice” drama was in 1991 when she decided not to accept that offer. Despite that, she continued to pull strings and tried to undermine Rao. That is why the Congress-wallahs never mention his name anywhere.
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Off topic again: sorry to disrupt the discussion but just could not resist posting this msg that I received of the changing Indian economy:
India is in transmission form
1. Car Sales going down, OLA/UBER rising.
2. Restaurants are closing, food delivery increasing.
3. Tuition classes decreasing, Online studies increasing.
4. Traders struggling, Market place thriving.
5. Demand is down but consumption is going up.
6. Old commission business struggling, ONline service at low cost rising.
7. Cell Phone bills going down and internet penetration going up.
8. Govt. job creation decreasing and start up jobs are rising.
9. Broking business is dying, low cost broker rising.
Special Note: Those who are unaware and those business working with old tradition are struggling.
Economy is not Struggling, Business models are changing.
Economists and statisticians are caught in a time wrap and are yet to realise this fundamental fact and keep comparing irrelevant figures to come to wrong conclusions.
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Mobile phones and internet penetration take a lot of inefficiency and middlemen out of the equation. With the reduction in corruption and scams, less money is flowing into luxury goods. Hence unless the right indicators are used, we will not get a proper picture of the GDP.
If you separate the economy into productive class(those who produce something of value that can be charged) and non-productive class(not adding value to economy – middlemen, media, NGO’s etc), we will find that the productive class is doing better and the non-productive class is doing worse. This is as it should be in a healthy economy. Earlier a group of leeches were sucking off the cream from the Indian taxpayer, this has stopped.
Lastly, BJP is still socialist in nature and there are limits to economic improvement in a socialist economy. Also while there have been some improvements, the bureaucracy still remains largely colonial and rent extracting. A lot of government processes needs to move online without human intervention for the economy to really power up.
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Mr Kannan, I second your argument – “With the reduction in corruption and scams, less money is flowing into luxury goods.” As an artist (ex software professional), I can say that before demonetisation, lots of paintings would be bought, allegedly with black money. Post demonetisation, sales of paintings went drastically down because nobody wants to be caught with black money. Definitely some artists must have cursed Modiji’s demonetisation but that is a strong indicator that demonetisation actually did work in bringing down corruption and black money hoarding
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Bengalis may be getting disgusted with Mamata Banerjee Govt but BJP is not covering itself up with glory by not imposing President’s rule. The total breakdown of law and order is causing more and more murders and crimes by the day and the brunt is borne by the ordinary folk, BJP supporters and Karyakartas. By mouthing platitudes, like Dr Harshvardhan did, isn’t BJP treating its supporters, Karyakartas, ordinary Hindu folk as “Chhotolok” – that their lives don’t matter? BJP top leadership is just waiting in the wings to ascend to power, it doesn’t care two hoots for its supporters & ground level Karyakartas.
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Imposing presidents rule at this juncture is risky because the vote share of BJP and TMC is neck to neck. Mamta is a wily politician and will exploit the situation to gain sympathy votes. She already has minority voteshare of about 30%. If some Hindu voteshare tilts towards her, it could mean further five years of agony for the Hindus of Bengal. BJP must avoid Mamta getting a foot into the door at any juncture.
The situation is getting worse for Mamta day by day and at this rate, her government may not last long. The doctor strike has shown that people of Bengal are not worried about her threats anymore. The biggest sign that TMC is collapsing is that Quizmaster is completely silent after May 23.Before the elections, Quizmaster had boasted of TMC getting 42/42 but obviously elections are not Bournvita quiz show.
It would be better to find other ways or protecting the BJP karyakartas. For example, CRPF could be deployed with help line numbers to assist in the most risky areas. Central government could also hasten the process of throwing out the Bangladeshis.
Also the Governor should put continuous pressure on her to restore law and order. Finally, BJP should send warnings to the TMC workers that hell is waiting for them when they come to power.
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Dear Ms. Panda,
Just because people are turning away from Mamata, they will not automatically turn towards the BJP. The BJP leadership needs to earn the support of the Bhadralok. This is why I wrote above:
“In closing, let me express a wish that some BJP politician would actually go and sit in solidarity with striking doctors, instead of just tweeting from their a/c rooms.”
Unfortunately, as you have rightly pointed out, the BJP leaders have done nothing positive in support of the strikers.
WB-based observers like Rishi Bagree say that imposing President’s rule will help Mamata and I have to respect that. But, short of imposing President’s rule, there are many things the BJP can do to build pressure on her. Unfortunately these things involve these leaders actually hitting the ground and doing something instead of only tweeting — which is why the BJP leaders only tweet.
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Swapan Dasgupta has written an article on the same topic:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/right-and-wrong/mamata-walking-mulayam-path-bid-to-suppress-jai-sri-ram-will-backfire/
He has this to say:
“At the same time, the strategic importance of the bhadralok inheritance needs to be qualified. The post-poll data and a social dissection of those who suffered most from the ensuing violence is fascinating. It suggests that the BJP’s catchment area comprises backward castes, Dalits and adivasis — communities relatively detached from the bhadralok code. Unlike the past, the outlanders are setting the tone of a new politics.”
So, as I understand it, Dasgupta’s conclusion is different from that of Abhishek.
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Actually sir, Abhishek’s conclusion is the same. Chotolok are driving the change. Bhadralok are just waiting to change sides. Saluting the rising sun as he said.
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Ah, I got it. Thanks very much!
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Swapan Dasgupta’s article is interesting, especially his remark – ‘intellectuals routinely refer to the derisory projection of Ram and Lakshman in Michael Madhusudan Dutt’s Meghnadbadh Kabya’
Michael Dutt was a convert and it appears even in the 1800’s the evangelists used him for targeting the Hindu gods. Vivekananda also mentions how the missionaries would depict Hindu mothers throwing babies to the crocodiles in the Ganga (and painting the babies white to get both support and funding).
Vivekananda opened Ramakrishna Maths, Schools and missions in many places outside Bengal. This was a labour of love from an extraordinary person with a tremendously generous heart. The Ramakrishna Maths and the schools and missions have been the bulwark against the conversion mafia in many places, especially in Orissa.
Above all, the Ramakrishna Maths outside Bengal helped to coalesce Bengalis and other Hindus and this probably helped in defeating the cultural holocaust the Communists perpetuated. This is a template other states should probably copy and follow so that even if a tyrant takes hold the culture is still preserved.
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