Vidyasagar – The Journey From Reformer To A Political Tool
17 years ago, my maternal grandfather taught me the Bengali alphabets from this book called Borno Porichoy. A recent article by Shikha Mukherjee reminded me of that. How deeply Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar affected the Bengali masses.
Borno Porichoy is a book of the basic Bengali script. It’s where everyone who ever learnt Bengali as a language started out. It’s where I started out. It allowed me to read Badal Sarkar’s Paaglaa Ghoda in the original Bengali language, the landmark play which eventually went on to make my nascent career in theater.
So, when the news of vandals taking sticks and stones to Vidyasagar’s bust came, it shook me to my core. I am no bipartisan epitome of neutrality. I saw the video. I saw the people and the colors they wore. I heard the chants they made and I am still reading the blatant jingoism that they are spreading across social media against Vidyasagar.
To them I ask. Are you insane? Do you even know the man you are speaking of? The pride that Bengalis take in calling this man one of our own? The pride we feel when we call a learned amidst our circle a Vidyasagar? One whose knowledge is more than the vast seas? Yes. His name is an actual compliment that we as a people bestow on our more knowledgeable friends.
What happened on May 14 in Kolkata?
BJP took out a gaudy roadshow in the middle of College Street with its own warped sense of purpose to preach Hindutva. A rather manufactured and twisted form of political gains ideology that has nothing to do with the religion and more with assertion of power.
This election has done something that we, the citizens of India didn’t think possible. It has made elections seem redundant. It is as if the elections are already done and BJP declared winner. The EC is halting campaigns 12-19 hours before expected but that has not really mattered whatsoever. The incumbents have found a way to campaign anyways. The entire vandalism incident? It has become a political standpoint.
Are you kidding me? This was a crime. A hate crime at that. Against one of the finest social reformer, educator, philosopher and activist that ever lived and breathed the lands of Bengal.
Saffron Revisited
If you are unaware, the state government is made up of TMC that rules with a clear majority in West Bengal. Trinamool Congress hasn’t had the cleanest image. It did end a 38 year long Left run at the helm of state politics. But now, it finds itself fighting against the right. The rather loud right.
Initial investigation into the incident has been marred by the political jigamoly that BJP and TMC have made around it. Both parties are equally to blame for politicizing a crime. One, to blame for trying to take up footage in a state where it has yet to understand its people. The other is to blame for just never shutting up. Seriously. TMC and Didi could really take a cue from Narendra Modi’s book. Sometimes, not saying anything is a bigger political move than coming out in support of whatever mass hysteria is driving up that day.
BJP came out with a statement where it distanced itself from the incident saying it was TMC workers who vandalized the bust. TMC on the other hand stuck to their guns about BJP volunteers and their unruly behavior.
Honestly, BJP is just bellyaching with its tales of homegrown legends. They don’t really understand how the bengali culture works in this regard. This is where Mamata Banerjee’s taunts of BJP being a ‘hindi bhaashi’ party that doesn’t belong strikes a chord among the masses. BJP on the other hand has taken up wings under the solitary run of Didi’s Bengal. They have given the masses unhappy with her a saffron tinged option eliminating the left and any other vestiges of the once proud CPM.
What happens now?
Vidyasagar is rooted within the Bengali soul. Desecrating that statue is going to cost BJP politically. The entire foreign entity in Bengal thing, trying so hard to find a way with Bengali voters, roping in actors, the grandson of Subhash Chandra Bose; it hasn’t really been a pretty ride and it will only get worse.
BJP needs to find a way to fix this instead of hiding behind their leader’s charismatic rally slogans. Mamata can counter those. It just gets a bit ridiculous when they get down to barbs over paying for a vandalized statue. The CPI-M, CPM and TMC Parties have all organized rallies against the incident and given the sheer number of people that ended up joining them, BJP really needs to rethink its strategy with regards to West Bengal.
Because right now? They might win in every other state but they have just ended up consolidating the opposition in West Bengal. And the longer this blame game continues, the more it anguishes the common Bengali.
