New Delhi: West Bengal is in the news for the upcoming assembly elections and the mammoth Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that was undertaken right before the polls.
Global media takes note of the state’s demographics and capital Kolkata’s infrastructure, ahead of the election.
In the BBC, Snigdhendu Bhattacharya reports on the “political turmoil” that the deletion of nine million voters from the rolls has caused, and what it could mean for the Trinamool Congress, the party that has been in power in the state for the last 14 years.
The revision of electoral rolls has led to the removal of 12% of West Bengal’s 76 million electorate.
“Of these nine million, more than six million names were struck off as absentee or deceased voters, while the fate of another 2.7 million remains undecided and will be determined by tribunals,” says the report.
Yet, the Supreme Court has allowed the Election Commission of India to go ahead with the polls before the pending disputes are settled, Bhattacharya notes.
“Thirteen states and federally-administered territories have undergone the SIR process so far, but West Bengal is the only one where it was followed by an additional layer of special adjudication,” the report adds.
Moreover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose party BJP is the main challenger to the Trinamool, has in his poll campaign speeches said the SIR is aimed at identifying “illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators”, a term which the Trinamool alleges is used to refer to Muslims.
Of the nine million deleted names, Muslims account for 3.11 million, which Bhattacharya points out is 34% of total deletions, far higher than Muslims’ overall share in Bengal’s population, 27%, based on the 2011 Census.
The Economist writes about Kolkata’s “pleasantness” and why it’s “not something to celebrate”. The column is premised on the idea that the city has become India’s “most liveable” megacity.
“Rents and home prices are the lowest among India’s biggest cities. So are fees for high-quality schools and good healthcare. A rich tradition of art, music and literature supports its self-proclaimed status as the country’s cultural capital, and it is liberal on matters of religion and gender relations.”
At the same time, the city is also seeing a rise in elevated roads that offer better connectivity, upmarket restaurants, and towering structures that add a touch of “Mumbai-style glamour to the skyline”.
While attributing the city’s progress to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the column also quickly turns critical of the “stagnation”.
“Run by communists for the previous 34 years, it had become notorious for labour unrest and hostility to business. Ms Banerjee modernised the city and rolled out welfare schemes for minorities, women and the poor. The mix of low prices and handouts has made Kolkata the best big Indian city in which to be poor or middle-class,” it says.
But the column notes that Mamata is “less hospitable” to those with greater ambitions.
With only a few white-collar jobs being added, West Bengal’s contribution to the national output has continued to decline.
“Talented young Bengalis leave in droves. Graduates from the rest of India rarely move there. Population growth is the slowest of India’s five biggest cities. That Kolkata no longer offers direct flights to London is particularly hurtful to its Anglophile elites,” it adds.
The column further highlights the many reasons why Kolkata still “appears to be thriving”.
First, because of its default status as “the commercial capital of India’s vast and deprived eastern region”. Second, it’s a magnet for migrants from Bihar and Jharkhand. Third, the post-pandemic work-from-home culture has brought IT professionals and consultants back to the city. “But judged by its potential, Kolkata is a chronic underachiever,” says The Economist.
In The New York Times, Pragati K.B. reflects on the life and legacy of Asha Bhosle, the beloved singer who died Sunday aged 92.
According to the hospital statement, she died of cardiac arrest that followed multiple organ failure.
“For more than eight decades, Ms. Bhosle’s voice was threaded through the fabric of Indian cinema, particularly Bollywood, the Hindi film industry. She recorded thousands of songs across genres and languages, earning recognition from the Guinness World Records for the most studio recordings by any artist.”
Although success did not come easily—especially after being overshadowed by her sister Lata Mangeshkar—Bhosle started singing in films as a child, recording her first song in 1943.
“Her breakthrough came through her collaboration with the composer O.P. Nayyar, whose sensuous and playful compositions like “Aaiye Meherbaan” (“Come, kind sir”) and “Yeh Hai Reshmi Zulfon Ka Andhera” (“The darkness of silky tresses”) suited her huskier voice,” says NYT.
Later, her partnership with R.D. Burman, marital and musical, gave her the ideal medium for singing. “Mr. Burman’s experimental arrangements and global influences of jazz, rock and Latin rhythms found their ideal medium in Ms. Bhosle. Together they produced some of the most iconic songs in Indian cinema, including the sultry “Piya Tu Ab Toh Aaja” (“Beloved, come to me now”), from “Caravan” (1971).”
NYT notes that Bhosle remained relevant through generations and made music in different eras: from working with A.R. Rahman, 30 years younger to her, to international music collaborations with artists like Boy George, Michael Stipe and even the cricketer Brett Lee.
Bhosle received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the Padma Vibhushan and was nominated twice for a Grammy.
Bhosle and Lata’s relationship, “marked by both familial closeness and professional rivalry, became one of the defining narratives of Indian popular music”, says the report, adding, if Lata “embodied a desexualised and melodic classicism”, Bhosle “represented playful reinvention”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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