Kolkata: The buddhijibis of Bengal — as the state’s intelligentsia community is known locally — came to be known as “Buddha-jibis (those loyal to former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee)” during Left rule. Come 2011, when Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress assumed office as chief minister, and a new term gained currency — “Mamata-jibi” — as many intellectuals turned towards her.
Ten years down the line, several intellectuals are no longer in Mamata’s corner. However, they say they would rather have another five years of her “misrule” than let the BJP form its maiden government in the state.
Being the birthplace of legends such as Rabindranath Tagore, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Satyajit Ray and Kazi Nazrul Islam, among others, Bengal has historically been identified as a cradle of arts.
The intellectuals of Bengal — including artists, playwrights, authors, academicians, singers, actors, filmmakers, and so on — have for decades played an important role in shaping public opinion, be it during the Leftist peasant movements in the 1970s, or against the Left Front after the 2007-08 Singur-Nandigram protests driven by land acquisition for industry.
Looking to unseat Mamata in the upcoming assembly election, the BJP has been trying to establish a rapport with the state’s intelligentsia, which is primarily aligned to the Left-Liberal school of thought. But it hasn’t met much success.
The BJP, however, makes light of those who dismiss the idea of supporting the party. The very tag of intellectuals for such people is questionable since they are not “free thinkers”, it says, pointing out that the party is instead reaching out to those who keep an open mind.
Also Read: Intellectuals opposing CAA are devils, parasites: West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh
Intellectuals and politics
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who also served as Jyoti Basu’s minister for culture and information in the 1990s, has been known as a patron of theatre and literature, primarily translated work of Left-aligned western authors.
During his 10-year stint as chief minister, Nandan, a state-owned theatre, served as his debate chamber.
The Kolkata International Film Festival, which revolved around Nandan and Leftist-Communist cinema, was his pet project.
Mamata, meanwhile, prides herself as a painter and poet. She has written over 100 books, painted dozens of portraits, and composed songs. While speaking at different programmes, she is known to recite lines from the work of Tagore and Islam.
As chief minister, she has modernised Nandan — besides dousing it in a fresh coat of blue and white (colours of the Trinamool Congress), and installing her pictures all around.
Under her, Bhattacharjee’s Left-centric film festival has become a glamorous and glitzy affair, with Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol invited as chief guests. She has brought the glamour of Tollywood film (as the Bengal film industry is known) and soap industry to the stage of her political programmes, where they occupy the front row.
She has also built a rapport with Bengali Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and Abhijit Banerjee, and made them members of government committees.
Mamata first began to court support with intellectuals in the late 2000s, when she emerged as a strong opposition force on the back of the Singur and Nandigram protests, which sought to challenge the Left government’s land acquisition for industrial projects.
After police firing in Nandigram killed 14 villagers, scores of artists, activists, and intellectuals — led by prominent faces such as actor-directors Aparna Sen and Kaushik Sen, author and social activist Mahasweta Devi, poet Sankho Ghosh, filmmaker Suman Mukhopadhyay, thespian and playwright Bratya Bose, artists Suvaprasanna and Jogen Choudhury, and singer-composers Kabir Suman and Indranil Sen — began to root for “poriborton (change)”. This word was also the pivot of Mamata’s successful 2011 campaign.
At least seven to eight of them later sided with Mamata after she assumed office in 2011, while some maintained a distance from her.
Today, many intellectuals describe her rule as one plagued by problems, including corruption. But they say the BJP is not the alternative they are looking for.
“Since 2011, we have gone through several changes in the state, witnessing an absolute misrule. Mamata Banerjee failed as an administrator and her party is corrupt and dishonest,” said actor-director Kaushik Sen.
“But we have also been witnessing changes in the country since 2014. We have seen destructive events like demonetisation, CAA-NRC, polarisation along religious lines, surveillance over eating habits and farmers’ protest,” he added, talking about BJP rule at the Centre.
“We will still be able to deal with Mamata’s misgovernance, her party’s dishonesty and corruption, but cannot encourage an organised fascist party taking over Bengal,” Sen said. “We know we are a divided house as many of our friends have now joined the Trinamool and are in no position to reach out to people. But we will try to resist the enemy number one,” he added.
Filmmaker Suman Mukhopadhyay said “we campaigned for ‘poriborton’ before 2011 as we saw the Left’s anti-people policies had reached the highest pinnacle”. “Apart from Mamata Banerjee, there was no alternative then,” he added.
“After 10 years of misgovernance, when we look at the present alternative force, we see an epitome of fascism, they are untouchables for us,” he said.
Also Read: Bengal BJP questions silence of ‘intellectuals’ on political killings of its workers
‘Not free thinkers’
For the past few years, the BJP has been trying to establish an appeal among Kolkata’s intelligentsia.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat visited the state for a meeting with intellectuals last December. Union Home Minister Amit Shah attempted a similar meeting in 2018, but was reportedly spurned by many intellectuals.
It is still a strained relationship. In 2020, the Bengal BJP censured those intellectuals who criticised the CAA. In 2019, the state BJP lashed out after many intellectuals from around India, including some leading names from Bengal, wrote to the Prime Minister against lynchings in the country.
Rantideb Sengupta, a senior columnist and convener of the BJP’s “intellectual cell” in Bengal, admitted that the party is trying to find support from the intelligentsia, but dismissed those who criticise it.
“Intellectuals mean free-thinkers. The scope for thinking freely goes when they become portfolio holders of any party. Rest, who remained independent, closed themselves into the Leftist thought,” he said.
“They protest in a selective manner, they speak on selective issues. We are trying to reach out to those who, despite having a different political faith, gave us a chance to present our case.”
‘Disconnect from masses’
Pro-Mamata intellectuals feel anti-incumbency is not a serious enough threat for Mamata right now.
“A party that promulgates love jihad law cannot be encouraged to rule,” said Kabir Suman, a noted singer-composer.
“We know change is inevitable and it will probably and eventually happen. But time is not rife for another ‘poriborton’,” added the former Trinamool MP.
Political experts, however, describe this as a sign of the Bengal intelligentsia’s “absolute disconnect with the masses”.
“The BJP is really weak in impressing the intellectuals, but the intellectuals too have lost connection and credibility,” said Samir Das, a political analyst.
“BJP may have some thinker-professors on board, but they are not known. However, the prominent faces in the state do not realise that a change of political narrative took place in rural Bengal,” he added.
Also Read: Dear proud Bengali, Tagore and Satyajit Ray are past. Please come out of the time trap