She also wants to change the state’s name to Bangla, something the Left Front government also tried to do. On 12 May, during a press conference in Kolkata, Mamata had even said she would pray to god to forgive “Bengalis who are maligning the image of Bengal”. The chief minister is playing up the ‘Bangla and Bangali’ refrain to counter criticism for Covid mismanagement. The Bengali pride has come to Mamata’s rescue in the coronavirus times too. Invoking Bengali pride and sub-nationalism has been one of the distinct traits of West Bengal’s politicians, who stir up such sentiments to cover up their administrative failures and to gain a political upper hand.īe it the Left Front a decade ago or Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress now, invoking Bengali pride has been their go-to answer to the state’s colossal problems. No doubt, they were great personalities, but for Bengali intellectuals, you’re not ‘Bengali’ enough if you haven’t read Tagore’s poems or seen Ray’s films.Īlthough I’m a Bengali too, I find it hard to stomach such cultural arrogance, especially when the state is plagued by so many problems for years now, which remain far from being resolved.Īlso read: Boroline - the cure-all that is stuck in time but still brings joy, especially to Bengalis They love to worship Rabindranath Tagore or Satyajit Ray. God bless my once and forever cityīengalis love to take pride in their culture, language, and identity, and it is non-negotiable. The books are priority, as they must always be in Calcutta. Later into the chat, I find out his house has also been damaged, but that’s almost an afterthought. He is distraught his book collection has been damaged. I wonder if they ever read up on the state’s poor finances and creaking infrastructure. They will never miss an opportunity to show off how much they prioritise books over everything else. Bengal’s intelligentsia or the ‘ buddhijibi’ (as they are known in Bangla) hardly ever talks about the state’s economic decay, shut industries, the unimaginable political violence during elections or lack of jobs, as for them, their favourite pastime is reminiscing about the illustrious past. Over the past few decades, West Bengal has degenerated into ‘ Waste Bengal’.Īlso read: Mamata plays Bengali card to push back a surging BJP and its ‘divisive politics’īengalis are, however, stuck in a time-warp, refusing to even talk about the state’s problems. What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow’ - the famous saying by social reformer and freedom fighter Gopal Krishna Gokhale is something that Bengalis swear by.īut Bengal, which was once the symbol of India’s intellectual modernity, is dying a slow death due to its crumbling social infrastructure, lack of jobs and economic stagnation.