Invoking Bengali pride has been one of the distinct traits of West Bengal’s politicians, whether it is to duck criticism on Covid or play the language card.
Scientists at Delhi’s CSIR-IGIB have developed a paper-based test strip for Covid-19, and named it after the fictional detective created by Satyajit Ray.
Arati Das (76) had worked with Satyajit Ray in 'Pratidwandi' and 'Seemabaddha'. She was also known as the 'Queen of Cabaret' for her outstanding dancing skills.
The kind of films we see today, where the line between parallel and mainstream cinema is blurring, were already being made by Tapan Sinha in the 1970s.
On his birth anniversary, ThePrint remembers Mrinal Sen, the pioneer of New Cinema movement, who was often criticised for making movies on human suffering.
When lynching, hate speech and bulldozer politics do not speedily invite the wrath of courts, then something is wrong with the third pillar of governance.
While releasing 'India Employment Report 2024', V Anantha Nageswaran said govt can't solve 'all social, economic challenges'. Congress leader Kharge says CEA protecting 'dear leader'.
In an interview with Gulistan News this week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the government would leave law and order to J&K Police and slowly withdraw troops.
The ‘idea’ Kejriwal's politics grew around was a no-holds-barred fight against corruption. That is the reason Modi govt has now tarred him and his entire party with the same paint.
See we are happy with what we have, how we are…not interfering into anything…yes i know when u don’t get news or articles u have to make up a good story mixing spices in it… firstly get some knowledge about the topic then try to express it not on a paper but openly…only if your so called “Bengali” people can control their rage…
The fact is bengal’s per capita income is less then half of my state and Bengal is indeed a failure of India, it’s shameful that a land of Bose and Tagore could not lead India but became a burden. Your wish if you want to disagree however facts/ numbers state otherwise and currently intellectual level of bengal has degraded so much that I can’t even honor my time by discussing such topic with any bengali
Rajput, I want to give you a muft ka gyan lelo. Just remember pci doesn’t shows how poor a person or his/her family is. It’s living standard. But because dollar has high valuability than rupees doesn’t mean that every American can have better lifestyle than an Indian. A big population in US can’t even get health facility like we get in India. Similarly, living standard of the people in WB can get better lifestyle than Indian states ofcourse like UP, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and this is a fact proven by economists. Ofcourse there are states better than us like Kerala, Goa, Punjab, Maharashtra etc.
A very simplistic take on a very complex subject…the economic devolution process of WB is not so simple. And certainly it has got nothing to do with the adulation of buddhi by Bengalis.
In so far as use of Bengali is concerned, the writer dies not seem to hv any idea about working in other states of indian union…u can’t avoid tye vernacular anywhere but in WB…in fact that’s what is creating a new specis…tye non-Bengali Bengalis.
She has to catch up with a lot of reading and research..unbiased and open.
And even if what she writes is true, she shd not be overly agitated….she is already is heaven…she shd be gloating in her superior Indian intellect.
Let us face our own battle, with all the troubles and yes, of course with Robindranath Thakur and Satyajit Ray et al.
Very poorly written. Uses hackneyed cliche`s. Of course a lot is wrong with Bengal but this opinion and judgement first with little contemporary context is a critique of Bengal that has had its run for many years. In CoffeeHouse and beyond right down to the carrom adda discussions. Print. You do much better than this everyday. Don’t let bunk class thinkers and writers sully your standards.
Brilliantly written article – I second it completely. Its sure to draw harsh criticism from a group of self proclaimed entitled Bengalis i call the “Bengali Bhakts”. They will present their same narrow minded narrative that knowing Bengali fluently, Satyajit Ray, Tagore are signs of being a good Bengali.
To these so called “Bengali Bhakts” i would like to throw some statistics:- Dear Sir, Ma’am – Do you even know whats the yardstick of Economic progression ?
Ans : No its not the amount of writers, singers, sports stars, film directors or cultural activists that a state/country produces but its the number of Entrepreneurs. Because entrepreneurs are the ones that create value and job opportunists to propel the economy and drive the socio economic development. WB is nearly 10% of India’s population which is the 2nd most populous country in the world. Yet not a single one has ever featured in the Forbes lists such a SHAME INDEED. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw as born to Bengali parents but they are Non Resident Bengali’s so cant consider her. There are hundreds of Indians who feature there do take a look its really interesting.
These bengali bhakts are basically daydreamers, living in the past, bragging about the glorious past but have no practicality or connection to current affairs whatsoever. Yet for these bhakts who are shy to back the reality Bengal continues to plunge in obsolescence and irrelevance.
Also Bengal was an industrial powerhouse only during the early colonial period due to its strategic location & East India company. Something what was lost post the capital was shifted to Delhi. It has nothing to do with Bengali’s at all.
TIP – How to counter these bengali bhakts ? – Its easy, Just throw statistics to them. Ideologically driven people cant argue with numbers or facts, because if they were they would’t have been a bhakt in the 1st place.
Kiran Mazumdar is a Gujrati. Yes, wikipedia is wrong. The fact that you don’t know about Bengali entrepreneurs shows how much statistics you can throw. Call me an arrogant non Bengali but please don’t ever throw statistics to Bengali, they are probably better than us in that field https://mobile.twitter.com/kiranshaw/status/396248913054687232?lang=en
Did you even read you point before replying ?? Or the compulsion of replying was so great that you forgot the point of your reply. I will reiterate … Can you name few bengali entrepreneurs who features in the fobres list in the last 30 yrs ?? I can name 100s of Gujarati’s.
I don’t think there is any world class or even national level singer, writer or scientist from Gujarat except one or two like Dr. Vikram Sarabhai.
And even my experience says there is hardly any Gujarati in top tier institutes of India like IISc or IITs or JNU or BHU.
These are also statistics! How can you ignore this?
You know why it’s like this? Cause most of them follow their family business or any new business. From a very tender age, their brains start engaging in business ideas, which make then great entrepreneurs.
And the entire Bengali community will also be proud to see you as a World Class Entrepreneur!
Good luck for you young man!
Thank you Sir. I will try surely.
This article shows judgemental comments and inexperienced thoughts and a pinch of revenge of not being able to get anything from Bengal or establish herself in Bengal…totally politically motivated mind …by saying that she has opposed mamta banerjee and cpm rule …so we know who she is working for…another Godi media mediocre reporter…and yes obviously her reply to all the comments above would be
“These people are emotional bengali fools who can’t take criticism”. Cheers to your career ….way to go
Open ur eyes and dumb mind and start seeing the reality instead of criticising the writer … Just because she criticise bengalis,TMC and CPM she is politically motivated? So with the same logic i can also accused u of being politically motivated cz its touched ur hurting nerve or u r not even open to take the criticism..
THIS CHILDISH REPLY BY RIK MUKHERJEE KEEPING HIS EYE CLOSED TO THE REALITY. IS SAD THAT IS EVEN AFTER SUFFERING FOR 43 YERS IN THE HANDS OF REGIONAL PARTIES, THIS MAN EULOGISING A LUNATIC WOMEN WOSE CONTRIBUTION TO BENGAL’S GROWTH IS NEGETIVE. WHEN BENGALIS WILL WOKE UP.
Chai wala dumb guy and his minions can go burn trains in gujarat.. hope kejriwal repeats his face pulping win over Blow job party in other states as well
Extremely poor quality , childish writing. Less said the better. Please review your articles before publishing such rubbish.
These bengali bhakts are basically daydreamers, living in the past, bragging about the glorious past but have no practicality or connection to current affairs whatsoever. Yet for these bhakts who are shy to back the reality Bengal continues to plunge in obsolescence and irrelevance.
Also Bengal was an industrial powerhouse only during the early colonial period due to its strategic location & East India company. Something what was lost post the capital was shifted to Delhi. It has nothing to do with Bengali’s at all.
I feel most of the statements made by the writer is from her own biased opinions . Well if she says that Bengalis boast of their rich culture then what’s wrong on that ? Like Gujratis boast of producing great businessmen , marathas boast of producing warriors like Shivaji . I feel every community must be proud of its culture and national identity as whole. The most bogus thing to hear was speaking Bengali is imposed in west Bengal , I bet thousands of marwadi or Bihari brothers who settled in Bengal can testify that no such imposition is done , as I myself have many non- Bengali friends who are born and brought up in Bengal but don’t know a single Bengali word. I also stand with this that no language should be imposed on any part of India . I think the writer misunderstood it with the ideology of Shivshena imposed by Bal Thackery in Maharashtra ” that maratha for Marathis” . No such ideology was ever imposed by any political party in west Bengal , infact the Cm herself makes important announcements in all Hindi , Bengali and English languages.Clearly writer has very less idea about Bengal. She must have confused it for South India where people only speak English and there own native language, and that’s also in my few no wrong , everyone can speak any Language of their desire in a free country like India. And if the writer feels promotion of her mother tongue within her linguistic community as an imposition then she must be ashamed of such a mindset . I really resisted myself from reporting this comment , as I appreciate the articles of Print. I don’t know whether Quint reviews comments on its articles , but if it does so I request it not to hire such novice , biased writers to write articles
Once the ecconomy moves downwards, every thing will go away slowly. Bengal is suffering from that. Add to that the illegal migrants from
Bangladsh. The entire scociety is hinged on engine of growth i.e ecconomy. Unless ther ecconomy of the state is set right , things will not improve. There are moee suisides in Bengal than in any other states. Being based in Ahmedabad, I have come accross thousands of gujaratis, marwaris who were born in
Bengal but sadly have to move out due to lac of engine of growth., There is no industrialiazation in Bengal unlike in the west , south and some part of north. Because of lac of opputunities, even like Bangladeshis , poor Bengalis are moving out of Bengal. They work as land labourers, Drivers, Security Guards, women work as Maid servents, , Muslim men folk work as tailors, unskilled labours in the industries etc.
I just have one thing to say to the author. If you are so concerned about Bengal and it’s state of misery, why sit in a New Delhi office, working for a company that has nothing to do with Bengal? Come back, struggle and work with the millions within the state to make it great again. If you can’t do that, don’t sit some thousand kilometers away and whine about Bengalis. This is the problem, we tend try and get off a sinking ship the first chance we get. Peace out, Sister.
Haha! Can’t believe how negative the author thinks about “his” bengal. These are the people who don’t take pride in our bhasha nor can read or write fluently (even if they do they will hide it). FYI Bengal is doing one of the best in the country when tackling with the pandemic.The number of cases is less than the national average after more than 1 lakh testing.Please get your facts correct. Maybe you are one of those Bhakts sent to a non BJP state to defame our CM.Did you know Bengal was given only 2 testing centres till end of April (NICED & SSKM) when the other states were testing in pvt labs too? And please don’t get me started on the faulty testing kits. 34 years of industrial stagnantion thanks to the CPI(M) government cannot be changed in a day my dear. It will take 60 years atleast. Open your eyes and please don’t talk utter rubbish about ‘amar shonar bangla’. We do and we will take pride in being superior to the rest even if you like it or not. Thanks 🙂
Never read such a poor article from The Print, the author seems to written out the frustration of her from the few bengali people of her acquaintances.
Though a non-Bengali, I have great admiration for Bengali culture & intellectual strength of Bengalis all over India. However, there seems to be a mismatch between very high capabilities of Bengalis & average prosperity & mediocre development seen on ground in West Bengal, which to me is a paradox. Author is not denigrating anything or anybody and I think his point is to be taken in right spirit.
Your matured views are commendable, which seems perfect as far as Bengalis of Bengal concerned, who have degenerated Bengal into such shape. But their miopic observations call it ‘Unnayon’.
If possible Mr. Bengali hate man please please please change your blood of Bengali parents and change genetic characters those you have got by birth. If not, just go through all literatures, science, culture of today way after Satyajit or Tagore – you will find many more interesting and encouraging developments in all field.
Hope you have contributed a lot to the society, specially for betterment of bengali culture, intellectual activities and many more which we can feel.
If not, then please stop hating bengali….
If we look at the present we all know about noble laureate Abhijit Banerjee. So I don’t agree we are trapped in the past. There are various other fields where Bengalis are leading. I do agree the conditions are not much appreciable in Bengal, still it’s not so worse as much mentioned herein. Also we can’t only blame Bengal politics , in fact the whole of Indian politics shares the blame as a whole.
I can’t agree with the conclusion of the author. Bengali speaking population are in every corner of the world and their present contributions in all areas of knowledge are recognised by all.This is reflected in the honours awarded by different countries, institutions etc.to bengali speaking persons. Author should make more research before any conclusion.
I have a personal experience that Bengalis when settles outside forget Bengal and feels everything is worst in Bengal. Some of them even loves and proudly announces that they cannot read / write Bengali. Yes there are issues but no point of linking them with Tagore or Satyajit . Blaming only past or present Government is not the correct option. There are other factors which the writer has not taken into consideration. I have stayed outside Bengal for 40 years but never used to say our Bengal is worst. If I say Bengal is worst so proudly , it is an act of disrespect to our Parents. Other than Tagore and Satyajit , there are many Bengalis who are at leading position in various fields in Industries. Author is not aware of same. There could be more people like her and we have to expose all of them.
Dear D Sarkar,
Your Opinion on Probasi Bangali is just Like “Bongo Santaan”.
Roam Out of Bengal in Durga Puja days,When Probasi Bangalis are in Bangali Mood. Here people Arrange Bangla Natak,Singing Bangla Rabindra Sangeet,Competition on Art and Culture.
YES,THEY TALK IN BANGLA, AND NOT IN HINDI,OR,OTHER STATE LANGUAGE THEY ARE LIVING.
I GO BENGAL EVERY YEAR.
AND I BECOME FRUSTRATED AND IRRITATED TO SEE THEIR LATEST MODI TYPE HINDI PREM,SOUTH FILM TUPE DANCE, BOLLYWOOD TYPE DIALOGUE….
EXCEPT BENGALI LANGUAGE,EXCEPT BENGALI CULTURE EVERYTHING CAN BE SEEN IN BANGLA.
I AM 7TH GEN OUT OF WEST BENGAL/BANGLA, AND WRITE,SPEAK ,LECTURE IN FLUENT BANGLA.
The writer of this article should be ashamed of himself/herself. You mentioned a point about imposition of the Bengali language as a political vendetta but have you noticed the fact the the Bengali language is itself dying out. How many of this generation can fluently read and write Bengali? The government is trying to save the language from dying out. And about the health infrastructure I am sorry to say this the govt. Does provide enough for it it’s up-to the people how they use it how they maintain it. The govt can’t teach them do this and do that. When we talk about Ray and Tagore or of Amarty sen and others it’s a matter of Bengali pride. And for the poor economic condition, the fact is who is going to listen to intellectuals. Indians are always swayed by communal politics and Bengal is also not above it. Unless and until we do away with this communalism Indian economy will not flourished nor will of Bengal.
What’s wrong with this person! Don’t call yourself a bengali. Every human should remember his past and be more proud if it is glorious. Most of states in India have regional language in their state government offices and why not? Industry and jobs don’t bring cultures. Otherwise another states and countries could have better cultures. Cultures comes from intelligence, test and understanding. And it is said well that ” what bengali will think today , rest of the country will think tomorrow.” West Bengal 1st said about the faulty covid kits. Then the other states said. We know we are decaying, I truly believe we will take care of that. Don’t be hateful, rather be furious if you can, like Bengalis.
WORST ARTICLE WRITTEN BY A FAUSTIAN BARGAIN . BENGAL REJECTS THE VIEWS OF AN IGNORANT SUFFERING FROM INFERIORITY COMPLEX FEEDING THE EGOS OF THE IDIOTS PERHAPS FOR CONSIDERATIONS OTHER THAN TRUTH.
THIS IS AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY A JOURNALIST WHO HAS MADE A FAUSTIAN BARGAIN.
BENGALIS ARE AND WILL REMAIN AT THE TOP.
THE BENGALI BASHERS SUFFER FROM INFERIORITY COMPLEX. THEY ARE DWARFED IN FRONT OF THE COLOSSUSSES BENGAL’S ART AND ARCHITECTURE, LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, SPORTS AND ADVENTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, TRADE AND COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND ENTERPRISE,JOURNALISM AND TELEVISION NEWS FEATURES PRESENTATION,DANCE AND MUSIC, THEATRE AND CINEMA AND FINALLY MILITARY MIGHTS.
COUNTING WOULD BE EMBARASSING BUT IN RECENT TIMES I FIND THIS AS THE WORST ARTICLE WRITTEN TO FEED THE EGOS OF THE IDIOTS PERHAPS FOR CONSIDERATIONS OTHER THAN TRUTH!
EAST BENGAL IS DOING WELL WITHOUT THE NON BENGALIS WEST BENGAL WILL DO BETTER STILL!
What exactly are you so proud of… I mean look at the state of today’s Bengal. This is not what you call a developed state rather decaying one. Not a single major industry can be found that can give the Bengalis enough jobs to keep the state economy going. Things are more bleak than they were ever before and thinking about architecture language and literature of the old is just hanging on to the achievement of the people before you. That is just having an escape from reality in form of pride.
Looks like you’ve never stepped out of the state or never have seen hard work of middle class.
I never commented on anything like this before but after reading this article Yeah i have too. Yes, this is so true and current situation of bengal needs to get evolved and developed.This will not going to stop the politics, crime, riots and lack of jobs until we step forward. I always believe in power of unity with a correct light. We all need to stand up and needs to change the face of bengal by changing our mindset. The tagore , subhash bose and satyajit are the icons there is nothing wrong by remembering them and get nostalgic. The problem is after modi government established in 2013 ,people are having keen interest in politics. The people of small towns are more interested in discussing politics that too criticizing modi. People need to accept him (specially benaglis) and start focusing on themselves what they are meant for and what they are doing for county and their state. At the end west bengal is still powerful and can manage everything . Just they need the right light to focus on.
Don’t think so. We Bengalis have always been too much interested in Politics. Especially in roadside tea shops.
This should be an article in a Bengali daily. There is very little a non-Bengali can say about the state of the State of Bengal as anything one says will be rejected anyway with “we know better”. It is the equivalent of “you know who I am” in Delhi.
The author has a point but articulated it so badly.
Dear Feel Ashamed To Be A Bengali – your views are yours, it doesn’t effect my feelings or pride for my roots, my Bangla. Write whatever you want to but atleast use basic spell check and grammar – your tagline weather it is to duck…, It should be whether in this case. Weather signifies Climate.
Dear Feel Ashamed To Be A Bengali – your views are yours, it doesn’t effect my feelings or pride for my roots, my Bangla. Write whatever you want to but atleast use basic spell check and grammar – your tagline “weather it is to duck…”, It should be whether in this case. Weather signifies Climate.
Common people of West Bengal are being fed our glorious past of Bengal in the name election by worst politics . Yes it’s the burning time to think about the future generations of West Bengal instead of being confined into the trap of bad politics which have been eating our vital. Time has come to think about the development of industry and business to boost up the state economy with solidarity . The state has still potential to formulate a new dimension flawlessly to prosper . The more we think positively the more we recover firmly.
All i want to say is, I do not think it is a coincidence that this article has been published a couple of days after the state of WB and Odisha has been completely obliterated by a cyclone! Kudos to The Print for your vulture journalism. I admit this is something you can debate and it is a valid one, but now?
WOW! and for what? for a few extra clicks? this is shameful jounalism!
Ban the writer for ever, who can’t support her motherland has no authority to write anymore. I am ashamed of this “Bengali”.. She should ask for pardon.
I stopped reading when the author brought up the term ‘Waste Bengal’ which is usually used by Bengali-hating degenerates via Whatsapp forwards and Facebook.
Yes , Bengal has problems. We need to address that.
But if you think that printing such an article after the disastrous Amphan amidst Covid and using terms as above is helpful, then I guess you should steer clear of our state.
A load of bullshit parading as an opinion piece. Demanding respect for the local language is cited as an instance of regressive behaviour. It is because of this kind of thought that cultures decay, not by looking to stalwarts like Tagore for inspiration.
Extremely shallow write-up from a “not so proud Bengali” who has discounted the fact that the buddhijibis has contributed to 6 nobles prizes and an Oscar which are immortal achievements carved into Indian history..
She may have discounted the sacrifices of the Bengali freedom fighters without whom the freedom of India was all but a distant dream.
Yeah impossible to nullify that Bengal is victim of extreme trade unionism , stupendous industrial policies which has seen a consistent routing of the industrial portfolio of the state, but when entire India is taken into context it’s impractical to compare against Maharashtra,Gujarat ,Tamil Nadu and Karnataka which has propelled light years away from the rest of the states.
Well Wb is the 5th highest gdp contributor to India and this is one fact our author should take account off.
I am not surprised by this article as this is the mindset of majority of the Bengali population who takes immense pride in neighbouring states and has extreme apathy to their own..not surprised that the entire country makes fun of us.
Socrates needs to be called to figure out the probable reasons for the abrupt degeneration of such a highly distinguished culture, to a state of waste, in so short a time span of less than a hundred years. However all may have not been lost for the Bengali-speaking tribe. While Bengal declined because of its pseudo-intellectual pride and possibly communistic leanings, East Pakistanis have somewhat demonstrated the potential of the Bengalee after shedding their aggressively Islamist masters. Bengalees of Bangladesh are on a growth path with their economy now outstripping that of Pakistan.
It is therefore possible that with good leadership and administration, West Bengal will regain some of its lost ground in future.
A horrible article. Not everything is good in West Bengal. But still it has so many positive aspects of life! It’s cultural and intellectual life is still thriving. No casteism. Politics is less colored by religion and caste compare to other states of India. Industrial progression should not be the only yardstick to judge a civilisation’s progress. This pandemic should teach us that.
Extremely shallow write-up from a “not so proud Bengali” who has discounted the fact that the buddhijibis has contributed to 6 nobles prizes and an Oscar which are immortal achievements carved into Indian history..
She may have discounted the sacrifices of the Bengali freedom fighters without whom the freedom of India was all but a distant dream.
Yeah impossible to nullify that Bengal is victim of extreme trade unionism , stupendous industrial policies which has seen a consistent routing of the industrial portfolio of the state, but when entire India is taken into context it’s impractical to compare against Maharashtra,Gujarat ,Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Well Wb is the 5th highest gdp contributor to India and this is one fact our author should take account off.
I am not surprised by this article as this is the mindset of majority of the Bengali population who takes immense pride in neighbouring states and has extreme apathy to their own..not surprised that the entire country makes fun of us.
||Weather-Where did this come from? || Invoking Bengali pride has been one of the distinct traits of West Bengal’s politicians, weather it is to duck criticism on Covid or play the language card.
What’s the issue in invoking pride in one’s own state and culture?what makes u so sore about that?state politicians play these tricks in each state..Bal Saheb Thackeray was the biggest proponent of Jai Maharashtra and bashing the outside population in a regular intervals so ur logic is rubbish..and when u speak of Covid why don’t u take a notice of Gujarat which initially boasted of the state of the art facility yet miserably failing in managing the infection..Or what about the inhuman and insensitive state of Migrant labours who has flooded the national highways and being left to rot while the central govt is busy extracting the NRI from foreign countries..
Well, if they have such gems from the past why shouldn’t they take pride in them? Every community does that. Also it is interesting that the author forgot to mention laws like freight equalisation which along with other factors contributed to the industrial decline of Eastern India in general and Bengal in particular.
I think there is a great misconception in author’s mind and some who are commenting. Well I am a physicist pursuing my studies in one of the top 3 Universities of India. Let me tell you, about 30-40% professors and students in Central Universities and research institues are Bengali! Yes, this the actual picture! You can verify this fact from any faculty list of these institutes. And most of our proud professors are either from University of Calcutta or Jadavpur University. The picture is similar for both Science and Arts!
Even today if some Indian wins a Nobel prize, he is a Bengali!
Even in COVID-19 fight, Bengali researchers did a great job of successfully creating 1Cr instant testing kits!
What a shit of a writer. Due to bengalis like these west bengal stands behind every other state despite of having alot. And a state like gujarat is shown as tising sun just with sheer marketing. Bengalis like the writer is killing bengal and no one else.
Why do you people write on these topics highlighting the most cliché points? Atleast have some variety or check facts before writing. Shame on the publishers who promote such unorganised and amateur writing. Very poorly written, you self loathing Bengali.
I am not a Bengali but I’m tired of reading self loathing Bengalis writing articles about Bengal without facts, contrary to what most people Bengal was never a industrial powerhouse, it had industries, it still has some but calling it a powerhouse is bit too much. Bengal’s healthcare is good is if not great, I’ve seen several people from my state(Jharkhand) crossing over to Bengal and get treated. The poverty statistics, healthcare statistics nowhere shows that Bengal is doing very poorly. Adivasi rights, gender equality, regional equality is much better. I’ve been to North Karnataka, Marathwada, East Gujrat etc, you can see the state’s neglect in these regions. The west coast benefited from the oil boom in 70 80s. Bengal suffered from freight equalisation policy at the same time. Jadavpur and Calcutta univ are the top state funded universities in QS global rankings. Books are great, instead of invoking some Maratha pride and erecting statues or doing drama over tallest Ram statues, Bengalis talk about Tagore, Ray, classical sangeet, I don’t see too much damage being done by this kind of pride.
Sir I salute you and as a Bengali take pride in showing this except of urs to the kind that this author belongs to.
So correct you are. Our great regret is we have such Bengalis among ourselves who doesn’t belong to our community.
West Bengal is beyond saving. It breaks my heart to say this but it is true. Union-raj and the Syndicate-raj, are the two main pillars of economic vandalism in west bengal, two seeds both sowed by the left and then brought up by Mamata Banerjee, and now both have swamped the state.
I am a bengali, born and brought up in Bengal. I know the vibe of the people. People can not see the truth. Ones who do are deemed as “not bengali enough” and rejected. It takes 10years to build a 4km stretch of a metro line, and we are still proud of it. Our cocoon is so thick that a reality can not hurt our ego. But if we are drowning inside our body then how will our cocoon save us?
tagore and satyajit ray are past ! their visions are everything we need to restore as bengalis indians and human beings – discarding aggresive national – regional nationalism, love of equality, humanity, diversity , aim for economic self sufficiency, a vision for a better humane world – this is what they envisioned – so we all need to follow tagore and ray in their spirit – only then can we live in a better world – not discard them and move on
Excellent article. For too long Bengal has wallowed in its past glories and has justified its present miseries on the ‘other’. To misquote Shakespeare, the fault my deard, lies not in the others, but in ourselves that we are underlings. The parochialism which makes us cast the rest of the universe as the non-Bengali, as if we are some kind of superior beings, has made us an object of mirth and pity. Lets acknowledge our past failures and mistaken vanity and embrace the future with humility.
A section of Bengalis living outside Bengal shade crocodile tears based on wrong or half cooked information from media houses run by or controlled by vested interests .
Sir with all due respect I think you don’t know some big names in the area of research and education like Prof. Ashoke Sen and Prof. A. K. Roychowdhury and there are many more in this area. I can present many facts in front of you but I will not because it seems that the above article is not fact based its based on narrative.
Is it only tradeunionism or flight of capital following shift of power centre from Britsh Kolkata that resulted in Marwaris and Gujratis moving out their capital’s from the state?And about Tagore and Ray, they are evergreen and their views and works would be relevant even 100 years from now
Since independence the leaders irrespective of their political affiliations and ideology destroyed what was once known as Bengal. Dr B C Roy though socially towering personality was a politically minnow handed over some revenue bearing districts to other states on the insistence of his leader Nehru which caused great harm to QUINTUPLICATE Bengal financially.Bengal was modern even before the rein of Dr B C Roy. But after the death of him it was and still is a sorry state of affairs in all spheres of life. The goons have taken over the political and economic spaces long ago. Education system once upon a time best in the entire South Asia systemetically destroyed to serve the political ends. The so called bhuddigibis are basically parasites collecting their pound of flesh from corpses I.e Bengali.
Couldn’t have agreed more. Shocked to see The Print is finding meaning in these write ups!
The authors essay speaks from my heart. Being originally from East Bengal, our family always put on more weight towards science, maths, chemistry and physics. I never understood the preoccupation of West Bengalis with arts and culture. You can label me ignorant, but I prefer a physics book any day over Tagore. And I think Bengali students and engineers need to be much more rigorous in studying and applying science, if ever West Bengal wants to move out of its self- created frog’s well.
It a proven facts that only Bengali ( like this writer) spit on their own people and culture in front of Nation.
It a proven facts that only Bengali ( like this writer) spit on their own people and culture in front of Nation.
Oh so your fight is between science vs arts
😂😂
My dear! Go and read some good books on great scientists. You’ll find that they read philosophy and literature extensively. In Tagore’s writing you’ll find them both.
You don’t have any temperament of scientific knowledge. You are a big fool.
Do you have any arguments, or are you just into name calling, kido? First learn to debate then come back, where the grown- ups are.
Hello, can you go through the lines of meeting between Albert Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore. I am sure your empty vessel sound much will evaporate within a millisecond. I am sorry to say that many comments here only expressed their ignorance only.
So nice comment sir
Biased idiotic article. Do these even go through some editor? What are the facts? Entire India can be proud of their heritage but not Bengal because that’s what this joke of an author thinks. Stop publishing bs and making a joke of yourself.
See we are happy with what we have, how we are…not interfering into anything…yes i know when u don’t get news or articles u have to make up a good story mixing spices in it… firstly get some knowledge about the topic then try to express it not on a paper but openly…only if your so called “Bengali” people can control their rage…
The fact is bengal’s per capita income is less then half of my state and Bengal is indeed a failure of India, it’s shameful that a land of Bose and Tagore could not lead India but became a burden. Your wish if you want to disagree however facts/ numbers state otherwise and currently intellectual level of bengal has degraded so much that I can’t even honor my time by discussing such topic with any bengali
Rajput, I want to give you a muft ka gyan lelo. Just remember pci doesn’t shows how poor a person or his/her family is. It’s living standard. But because dollar has high valuability than rupees doesn’t mean that every American can have better lifestyle than an Indian. A big population in US can’t even get health facility like we get in India. Similarly, living standard of the people in WB can get better lifestyle than Indian states ofcourse like UP, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Bihar, Assam, Odisha and this is a fact proven by economists. Ofcourse there are states better than us like Kerala, Goa, Punjab, Maharashtra etc.
A very simplistic take on a very complex subject…the economic devolution process of WB is not so simple. And certainly it has got nothing to do with the adulation of buddhi by Bengalis.
In so far as use of Bengali is concerned, the writer dies not seem to hv any idea about working in other states of indian union…u can’t avoid tye vernacular anywhere but in WB…in fact that’s what is creating a new specis…tye non-Bengali Bengalis.
She has to catch up with a lot of reading and research..unbiased and open.
And even if what she writes is true, she shd not be overly agitated….she is already is heaven…she shd be gloating in her superior Indian intellect.
Let us face our own battle, with all the troubles and yes, of course with Robindranath Thakur and Satyajit Ray et al.
Bad. Very badly written.
Very poorly written. Uses hackneyed cliche`s. Of course a lot is wrong with Bengal but this opinion and judgement first with little contemporary context is a critique of Bengal that has had its run for many years. In CoffeeHouse and beyond right down to the carrom adda discussions. Print. You do much better than this everyday. Don’t let bunk class thinkers and writers sully your standards.
Brilliantly written article – I second it completely. Its sure to draw harsh criticism from a group of self proclaimed entitled Bengalis i call the “Bengali Bhakts”. They will present their same narrow minded narrative that knowing Bengali fluently, Satyajit Ray, Tagore are signs of being a good Bengali.
To these so called “Bengali Bhakts” i would like to throw some statistics:- Dear Sir, Ma’am – Do you even know whats the yardstick of Economic progression ?
Ans : No its not the amount of writers, singers, sports stars, film directors or cultural activists that a state/country produces but its the number of Entrepreneurs. Because entrepreneurs are the ones that create value and job opportunists to propel the economy and drive the socio economic development. WB is nearly 10% of India’s population which is the 2nd most populous country in the world. Yet not a single one has ever featured in the Forbes lists such a SHAME INDEED. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw as born to Bengali parents but they are Non Resident Bengali’s so cant consider her. There are hundreds of Indians who feature there do take a look its really interesting.
These bengali bhakts are basically daydreamers, living in the past, bragging about the glorious past but have no practicality or connection to current affairs whatsoever. Yet for these bhakts who are shy to back the reality Bengal continues to plunge in obsolescence and irrelevance.
Also Bengal was an industrial powerhouse only during the early colonial period due to its strategic location & East India company. Something what was lost post the capital was shifted to Delhi. It has nothing to do with Bengali’s at all.
TIP – How to counter these bengali bhakts ? – Its easy, Just throw statistics to them. Ideologically driven people cant argue with numbers or facts, because if they were they would’t have been a bhakt in the 1st place.
Kiran Mazumdar is a Gujrati. Yes, wikipedia is wrong. The fact that you don’t know about Bengali entrepreneurs shows how much statistics you can throw. Call me an arrogant non Bengali but please don’t ever throw statistics to Bengali, they are probably better than us in that field
https://mobile.twitter.com/kiranshaw/status/396248913054687232?lang=en
Did you even read you point before replying ?? Or the compulsion of replying was so great that you forgot the point of your reply. I will reiterate … Can you name few bengali entrepreneurs who features in the fobres list in the last 30 yrs ?? I can name 100s of Gujarati’s.
I don’t think there is any world class or even national level singer, writer or scientist from Gujarat except one or two like Dr. Vikram Sarabhai.
And even my experience says there is hardly any Gujarati in top tier institutes of India like IISc or IITs or JNU or BHU.
These are also statistics! How can you ignore this?
You know why it’s like this? Cause most of them follow their family business or any new business. From a very tender age, their brains start engaging in business ideas, which make then great entrepreneurs.
And the entire Bengali community will also be proud to see you as a World Class Entrepreneur!
Good luck for you young man!
Thank you Sir. I will try surely.
This article shows judgemental comments and inexperienced thoughts and a pinch of revenge of not being able to get anything from Bengal or establish herself in Bengal…totally politically motivated mind …by saying that she has opposed mamta banerjee and cpm rule …so we know who she is working for…another Godi media mediocre reporter…and yes obviously her reply to all the comments above would be
“These people are emotional bengali fools who can’t take criticism”. Cheers to your career ….way to go
Open ur eyes and dumb mind and start seeing the reality instead of criticising the writer … Just because she criticise bengalis,TMC and CPM she is politically motivated? So with the same logic i can also accused u of being politically motivated cz its touched ur hurting nerve or u r not even open to take the criticism..
THIS CHILDISH REPLY BY RIK MUKHERJEE KEEPING HIS EYE CLOSED TO THE REALITY. IS SAD THAT IS EVEN AFTER SUFFERING FOR 43 YERS IN THE HANDS OF REGIONAL PARTIES, THIS MAN EULOGISING A LUNATIC WOMEN WOSE CONTRIBUTION TO BENGAL’S GROWTH IS NEGETIVE. WHEN BENGALIS WILL WOKE UP.
Chai wala dumb guy and his minions can go burn trains in gujarat.. hope kejriwal repeats his face pulping win over Blow job party in other states as well
Extremely poor quality , childish writing. Less said the better. Please review your articles before publishing such rubbish.
These bengali bhakts are basically daydreamers, living in the past, bragging about the glorious past but have no practicality or connection to current affairs whatsoever. Yet for these bhakts who are shy to back the reality Bengal continues to plunge in obsolescence and irrelevance.
Also Bengal was an industrial powerhouse only during the early colonial period due to its strategic location & East India company. Something what was lost post the capital was shifted to Delhi. It has nothing to do with Bengali’s at all.
I feel most of the statements made by the writer is from her own biased opinions . Well if she says that Bengalis boast of their rich culture then what’s wrong on that ? Like Gujratis boast of producing great businessmen , marathas boast of producing warriors like Shivaji . I feel every community must be proud of its culture and national identity as whole. The most bogus thing to hear was speaking Bengali is imposed in west Bengal , I bet thousands of marwadi or Bihari brothers who settled in Bengal can testify that no such imposition is done , as I myself have many non- Bengali friends who are born and brought up in Bengal but don’t know a single Bengali word. I also stand with this that no language should be imposed on any part of India . I think the writer misunderstood it with the ideology of Shivshena imposed by Bal Thackery in Maharashtra ” that maratha for Marathis” . No such ideology was ever imposed by any political party in west Bengal , infact the Cm herself makes important announcements in all Hindi , Bengali and English languages.Clearly writer has very less idea about Bengal. She must have confused it for South India where people only speak English and there own native language, and that’s also in my few no wrong , everyone can speak any Language of their desire in a free country like India. And if the writer feels promotion of her mother tongue within her linguistic community as an imposition then she must be ashamed of such a mindset . I really resisted myself from reporting this comment , as I appreciate the articles of Print. I don’t know whether Quint reviews comments on its articles , but if it does so I request it not to hire such novice , biased writers to write articles
Once the ecconomy moves downwards, every thing will go away slowly. Bengal is suffering from that. Add to that the illegal migrants from
Bangladsh. The entire scociety is hinged on engine of growth i.e ecconomy. Unless ther ecconomy of the state is set right , things will not improve. There are moee suisides in Bengal than in any other states. Being based in Ahmedabad, I have come accross thousands of gujaratis, marwaris who were born in
Bengal but sadly have to move out due to lac of engine of growth., There is no industrialiazation in Bengal unlike in the west , south and some part of north. Because of lac of opputunities, even like Bangladeshis , poor Bengalis are moving out of Bengal. They work as land labourers, Drivers, Security Guards, women work as Maid servents, , Muslim men folk work as tailors, unskilled labours in the industries etc.
I just have one thing to say to the author. If you are so concerned about Bengal and it’s state of misery, why sit in a New Delhi office, working for a company that has nothing to do with Bengal? Come back, struggle and work with the millions within the state to make it great again. If you can’t do that, don’t sit some thousand kilometers away and whine about Bengalis. This is the problem, we tend try and get off a sinking ship the first chance we get. Peace out, Sister.
Haha! Can’t believe how negative the author thinks about “his” bengal. These are the people who don’t take pride in our bhasha nor can read or write fluently (even if they do they will hide it). FYI Bengal is doing one of the best in the country when tackling with the pandemic.The number of cases is less than the national average after more than 1 lakh testing.Please get your facts correct. Maybe you are one of those Bhakts sent to a non BJP state to defame our CM.Did you know Bengal was given only 2 testing centres till end of April (NICED & SSKM) when the other states were testing in pvt labs too? And please don’t get me started on the faulty testing kits. 34 years of industrial stagnantion thanks to the CPI(M) government cannot be changed in a day my dear. It will take 60 years atleast. Open your eyes and please don’t talk utter rubbish about ‘amar shonar bangla’. We do and we will take pride in being superior to the rest even if you like it or not. Thanks 🙂
Never read such a poor article from The Print, the author seems to written out the frustration of her from the few bengali people of her acquaintances.
Though a non-Bengali, I have great admiration for Bengali culture & intellectual strength of Bengalis all over India. However, there seems to be a mismatch between very high capabilities of Bengalis & average prosperity & mediocre development seen on ground in West Bengal, which to me is a paradox. Author is not denigrating anything or anybody and I think his point is to be taken in right spirit.
Your matured views are commendable, which seems perfect as far as Bengalis of Bengal concerned, who have degenerated Bengal into such shape. But their miopic observations call it ‘Unnayon’.
If possible Mr. Bengali hate man please please please change your blood of Bengali parents and change genetic characters those you have got by birth. If not, just go through all literatures, science, culture of today way after Satyajit or Tagore – you will find many more interesting and encouraging developments in all field.
Hope you have contributed a lot to the society, specially for betterment of bengali culture, intellectual activities and many more which we can feel.
If not, then please stop hating bengali….
Sotyi ta shonar shahosh acchey?
If we look at the present we all know about noble laureate Abhijit Banerjee. So I don’t agree we are trapped in the past. There are various other fields where Bengalis are leading. I do agree the conditions are not much appreciable in Bengal, still it’s not so worse as much mentioned herein. Also we can’t only blame Bengal politics , in fact the whole of Indian politics shares the blame as a whole.
I can’t agree with the conclusion of the author. Bengali speaking population are in every corner of the world and their present contributions in all areas of knowledge are recognised by all.This is reflected in the honours awarded by different countries, institutions etc.to bengali speaking persons. Author should make more research before any conclusion.
I have a personal experience that Bengalis when settles outside forget Bengal and feels everything is worst in Bengal. Some of them even loves and proudly announces that they cannot read / write Bengali. Yes there are issues but no point of linking them with Tagore or Satyajit . Blaming only past or present Government is not the correct option. There are other factors which the writer has not taken into consideration. I have stayed outside Bengal for 40 years but never used to say our Bengal is worst. If I say Bengal is worst so proudly , it is an act of disrespect to our Parents. Other than Tagore and Satyajit , there are many Bengalis who are at leading position in various fields in Industries. Author is not aware of same. There could be more people like her and we have to expose all of them.
Dear D Sarkar,
Your Opinion on Probasi Bangali is just Like “Bongo Santaan”.
Roam Out of Bengal in Durga Puja days,When Probasi Bangalis are in Bangali Mood. Here people Arrange Bangla Natak,Singing Bangla Rabindra Sangeet,Competition on Art and Culture.
YES,THEY TALK IN BANGLA, AND NOT IN HINDI,OR,OTHER STATE LANGUAGE THEY ARE LIVING.
I GO BENGAL EVERY YEAR.
AND I BECOME FRUSTRATED AND IRRITATED TO SEE THEIR LATEST MODI TYPE HINDI PREM,SOUTH FILM TUPE DANCE, BOLLYWOOD TYPE DIALOGUE….
EXCEPT BENGALI LANGUAGE,EXCEPT BENGALI CULTURE EVERYTHING CAN BE SEEN IN BANGLA.
I AM 7TH GEN OUT OF WEST BENGAL/BANGLA, AND WRITE,SPEAK ,LECTURE IN FLUENT BANGLA.
The writer of this article should be ashamed of himself/herself. You mentioned a point about imposition of the Bengali language as a political vendetta but have you noticed the fact the the Bengali language is itself dying out. How many of this generation can fluently read and write Bengali? The government is trying to save the language from dying out. And about the health infrastructure I am sorry to say this the govt. Does provide enough for it it’s up-to the people how they use it how they maintain it. The govt can’t teach them do this and do that. When we talk about Ray and Tagore or of Amarty sen and others it’s a matter of Bengali pride. And for the poor economic condition, the fact is who is going to listen to intellectuals. Indians are always swayed by communal politics and Bengal is also not above it. Unless and until we do away with this communalism Indian economy will not flourished nor will of Bengal.
What’s wrong with this person! Don’t call yourself a bengali. Every human should remember his past and be more proud if it is glorious. Most of states in India have regional language in their state government offices and why not? Industry and jobs don’t bring cultures. Otherwise another states and countries could have better cultures. Cultures comes from intelligence, test and understanding. And it is said well that ” what bengali will think today , rest of the country will think tomorrow.” West Bengal 1st said about the faulty covid kits. Then the other states said. We know we are decaying, I truly believe we will take care of that. Don’t be hateful, rather be furious if you can, like Bengalis.
WORST ARTICLE WRITTEN BY A FAUSTIAN BARGAIN . BENGAL REJECTS THE VIEWS OF AN IGNORANT SUFFERING FROM INFERIORITY COMPLEX FEEDING THE EGOS OF THE IDIOTS PERHAPS FOR CONSIDERATIONS OTHER THAN TRUTH.
Truth hurts dude
THIS IS AN ARTICLE WRITTEN BY A JOURNALIST WHO HAS MADE A FAUSTIAN BARGAIN.
BENGALIS ARE AND WILL REMAIN AT THE TOP.
THE BENGALI BASHERS SUFFER FROM INFERIORITY COMPLEX. THEY ARE DWARFED IN FRONT OF THE COLOSSUSSES BENGAL’S ART AND ARCHITECTURE, LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, SPORTS AND ADVENTURE, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, TRADE AND COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND ENTERPRISE,JOURNALISM AND TELEVISION NEWS FEATURES PRESENTATION,DANCE AND MUSIC, THEATRE AND CINEMA AND FINALLY MILITARY MIGHTS.
COUNTING WOULD BE EMBARASSING BUT IN RECENT TIMES I FIND THIS AS THE WORST ARTICLE WRITTEN TO FEED THE EGOS OF THE IDIOTS PERHAPS FOR CONSIDERATIONS OTHER THAN TRUTH!
EAST BENGAL IS DOING WELL WITHOUT THE NON BENGALIS WEST BENGAL WILL DO BETTER STILL!
What exactly are you so proud of… I mean look at the state of today’s Bengal. This is not what you call a developed state rather decaying one. Not a single major industry can be found that can give the Bengalis enough jobs to keep the state economy going. Things are more bleak than they were ever before and thinking about architecture language and literature of the old is just hanging on to the achievement of the people before you. That is just having an escape from reality in form of pride.
Looks like you’ve never stepped out of the state or never have seen hard work of middle class.
I never commented on anything like this before but after reading this article Yeah i have too. Yes, this is so true and current situation of bengal needs to get evolved and developed.This will not going to stop the politics, crime, riots and lack of jobs until we step forward. I always believe in power of unity with a correct light. We all need to stand up and needs to change the face of bengal by changing our mindset. The tagore , subhash bose and satyajit are the icons there is nothing wrong by remembering them and get nostalgic. The problem is after modi government established in 2013 ,people are having keen interest in politics. The people of small towns are more interested in discussing politics that too criticizing modi. People need to accept him (specially benaglis) and start focusing on themselves what they are meant for and what they are doing for county and their state. At the end west bengal is still powerful and can manage everything . Just they need the right light to focus on.
Don’t think so. We Bengalis have always been too much interested in Politics. Especially in roadside tea shops.
This should be an article in a Bengali daily. There is very little a non-Bengali can say about the state of the State of Bengal as anything one says will be rejected anyway with “we know better”. It is the equivalent of “you know who I am” in Delhi.
The author has a point but articulated it so badly.
Dear Feel Ashamed To Be A Bengali – your views are yours, it doesn’t effect my feelings or pride for my roots, my Bangla. Write whatever you want to but atleast use basic spell check and grammar – your tagline weather it is to duck…, It should be whether in this case. Weather signifies Climate.
Dear Feel Ashamed To Be A Bengali – your views are yours, it doesn’t effect my feelings or pride for my roots, my Bangla. Write whatever you want to but atleast use basic spell check and grammar – your tagline “weather it is to duck…”, It should be whether in this case. Weather signifies Climate.
There is no cause and effect between rise of sub nationalism and decline in economic growth. Case in point being Tamil Nadu.
Haven’t read an article more awful than this in recent times.
Common people of West Bengal are being fed our glorious past of Bengal in the name election by worst politics . Yes it’s the burning time to think about the future generations of West Bengal instead of being confined into the trap of bad politics which have been eating our vital. Time has come to think about the development of industry and business to boost up the state economy with solidarity . The state has still potential to formulate a new dimension flawlessly to prosper . The more we think positively the more we recover firmly.
All i want to say is, I do not think it is a coincidence that this article has been published a couple of days after the state of WB and Odisha has been completely obliterated by a cyclone! Kudos to The Print for your vulture journalism. I admit this is something you can debate and it is a valid one, but now?
WOW! and for what? for a few extra clicks? this is shameful jounalism!
Ban the writer for ever, who can’t support her motherland has no authority to write anymore. I am ashamed of this “Bengali”.. She should ask for pardon.
I stopped reading when the author brought up the term ‘Waste Bengal’ which is usually used by Bengali-hating degenerates via Whatsapp forwards and Facebook.
Yes , Bengal has problems. We need to address that.
But if you think that printing such an article after the disastrous Amphan amidst Covid and using terms as above is helpful, then I guess you should steer clear of our state.
A load of bullshit parading as an opinion piece. Demanding respect for the local language is cited as an instance of regressive behaviour. It is because of this kind of thought that cultures decay, not by looking to stalwarts like Tagore for inspiration.
Extremely shallow write-up from a “not so proud Bengali” who has discounted the fact that the buddhijibis has contributed to 6 nobles prizes and an Oscar which are immortal achievements carved into Indian history..
She may have discounted the sacrifices of the Bengali freedom fighters without whom the freedom of India was all but a distant dream.
Yeah impossible to nullify that Bengal is victim of extreme trade unionism , stupendous industrial policies which has seen a consistent routing of the industrial portfolio of the state, but when entire India is taken into context it’s impractical to compare against Maharashtra,Gujarat ,Tamil Nadu and Karnataka which has propelled light years away from the rest of the states.
Well Wb is the 5th highest gdp contributor to India and this is one fact our author should take account off.
I am not surprised by this article as this is the mindset of majority of the Bengali population who takes immense pride in neighbouring states and has extreme apathy to their own..not surprised that the entire country makes fun of us.
Rascal writer.
Socrates needs to be called to figure out the probable reasons for the abrupt degeneration of such a highly distinguished culture, to a state of waste, in so short a time span of less than a hundred years. However all may have not been lost for the Bengali-speaking tribe. While Bengal declined because of its pseudo-intellectual pride and possibly communistic leanings, East Pakistanis have somewhat demonstrated the potential of the Bengalee after shedding their aggressively Islamist masters. Bengalees of Bangladesh are on a growth path with their economy now outstripping that of Pakistan.
It is therefore possible that with good leadership and administration, West Bengal will regain some of its lost ground in future.
A horrible article. Not everything is good in West Bengal. But still it has so many positive aspects of life! It’s cultural and intellectual life is still thriving. No casteism. Politics is less colored by religion and caste compare to other states of India. Industrial progression should not be the only yardstick to judge a civilisation’s progress. This pandemic should teach us that.
Extremely shallow write-up from a “not so proud Bengali” who has discounted the fact that the buddhijibis has contributed to 6 nobles prizes and an Oscar which are immortal achievements carved into Indian history..
She may have discounted the sacrifices of the Bengali freedom fighters without whom the freedom of India was all but a distant dream.
Yeah impossible to nullify that Bengal is victim of extreme trade unionism , stupendous industrial policies which has seen a consistent routing of the industrial portfolio of the state, but when entire India is taken into context it’s impractical to compare against Maharashtra,Gujarat ,Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Well Wb is the 5th highest gdp contributor to India and this is one fact our author should take account off.
I am not surprised by this article as this is the mindset of majority of the Bengali population who takes immense pride in neighbouring states and has extreme apathy to their own..not surprised that the entire country makes fun of us.
||Weather-Where did this come from? || Invoking Bengali pride has been one of the distinct traits of West Bengal’s politicians, weather it is to duck criticism on Covid or play the language card.
What’s the issue in invoking pride in one’s own state and culture?what makes u so sore about that?state politicians play these tricks in each state..Bal Saheb Thackeray was the biggest proponent of Jai Maharashtra and bashing the outside population in a regular intervals so ur logic is rubbish..and when u speak of Covid why don’t u take a notice of Gujarat which initially boasted of the state of the art facility yet miserably failing in managing the infection..Or what about the inhuman and insensitive state of Migrant labours who has flooded the national highways and being left to rot while the central govt is busy extracting the NRI from foreign countries..
Well, if they have such gems from the past why shouldn’t they take pride in them? Every community does that. Also it is interesting that the author forgot to mention laws like freight equalisation which along with other factors contributed to the industrial decline of Eastern India in general and Bengal in particular.
I think there is a great misconception in author’s mind and some who are commenting. Well I am a physicist pursuing my studies in one of the top 3 Universities of India. Let me tell you, about 30-40% professors and students in Central Universities and research institues are Bengali! Yes, this the actual picture! You can verify this fact from any faculty list of these institutes. And most of our proud professors are either from University of Calcutta or Jadavpur University. The picture is similar for both Science and Arts!
Even today if some Indian wins a Nobel prize, he is a Bengali!
Even in COVID-19 fight, Bengali researchers did a great job of successfully creating 1Cr instant testing kits!
First Congress should cons out of Indira and Rajeev.. Seriously print has problem with all except Rahul
What a shit of a writer. Due to bengalis like these west bengal stands behind every other state despite of having alot. And a state like gujarat is shown as tising sun just with sheer marketing. Bengalis like the writer is killing bengal and no one else.
Get a dictionary… Open letter T… There is a word, “Timeless”… learn the word and it’s meaning. Please.
Why do you people write on these topics highlighting the most cliché points? Atleast have some variety or check facts before writing. Shame on the publishers who promote such unorganised and amateur writing. Very poorly written, you self loathing Bengali.
I am not a Bengali but I’m tired of reading self loathing Bengalis writing articles about Bengal without facts, contrary to what most people Bengal was never a industrial powerhouse, it had industries, it still has some but calling it a powerhouse is bit too much. Bengal’s healthcare is good is if not great, I’ve seen several people from my state(Jharkhand) crossing over to Bengal and get treated. The poverty statistics, healthcare statistics nowhere shows that Bengal is doing very poorly. Adivasi rights, gender equality, regional equality is much better. I’ve been to North Karnataka, Marathwada, East Gujrat etc, you can see the state’s neglect in these regions. The west coast benefited from the oil boom in 70 80s. Bengal suffered from freight equalisation policy at the same time. Jadavpur and Calcutta univ are the top state funded universities in QS global rankings. Books are great, instead of invoking some Maratha pride and erecting statues or doing drama over tallest Ram statues, Bengalis talk about Tagore, Ray, classical sangeet, I don’t see too much damage being done by this kind of pride.
Sir I salute you and as a Bengali take pride in showing this except of urs to the kind that this author belongs to.
So correct you are. Our great regret is we have such Bengalis among ourselves who doesn’t belong to our community.
West Bengal is beyond saving. It breaks my heart to say this but it is true. Union-raj and the Syndicate-raj, are the two main pillars of economic vandalism in west bengal, two seeds both sowed by the left and then brought up by Mamata Banerjee, and now both have swamped the state.
I am a bengali, born and brought up in Bengal. I know the vibe of the people. People can not see the truth. Ones who do are deemed as “not bengali enough” and rejected. It takes 10years to build a 4km stretch of a metro line, and we are still proud of it. Our cocoon is so thick that a reality can not hurt our ego. But if we are drowning inside our body then how will our cocoon save us?
Bitter Truth.
tagore and satyajit ray are past ! their visions are everything we need to restore as bengalis indians and human beings – discarding aggresive national – regional nationalism, love of equality, humanity, diversity , aim for economic self sufficiency, a vision for a better humane world – this is what they envisioned – so we all need to follow tagore and ray in their spirit – only then can we live in a better world – not discard them and move on
Excellent article. For too long Bengal has wallowed in its past glories and has justified its present miseries on the ‘other’. To misquote Shakespeare, the fault my deard, lies not in the others, but in ourselves that we are underlings. The parochialism which makes us cast the rest of the universe as the non-Bengali, as if we are some kind of superior beings, has made us an object of mirth and pity. Lets acknowledge our past failures and mistaken vanity and embrace the future with humility.
A section of Bengalis living outside Bengal shade crocodile tears based on wrong or half cooked information from media houses run by or controlled by vested interests .
Sir with all due respect I think you don’t know some big names in the area of research and education like Prof. Ashoke Sen and Prof. A. K. Roychowdhury and there are many more in this area. I can present many facts in front of you but I will not because it seems that the above article is not fact based its based on narrative.
Is it only tradeunionism or flight of capital following shift of power centre from Britsh Kolkata that resulted in Marwaris and Gujratis moving out their capital’s from the state?And about Tagore and Ray, they are evergreen and their views and works would be relevant even 100 years from now
Since independence the leaders irrespective of their political affiliations and ideology destroyed what was once known as Bengal. Dr B C Roy though socially towering personality was a politically minnow handed over some revenue bearing districts to other states on the insistence of his leader Nehru which caused great harm to QUINTUPLICATE Bengal financially.Bengal was modern even before the rein of Dr B C Roy. But after the death of him it was and still is a sorry state of affairs in all spheres of life. The goons have taken over the political and economic spaces long ago. Education system once upon a time best in the entire South Asia systemetically destroyed to serve the political ends. The so called bhuddigibis are basically parasites collecting their pound of flesh from corpses I.e Bengali.
Very poorly written….. No facts, only narratives……
Couldn’t have agreed more. Shocked to see The Print is finding meaning in these write ups!
The authors essay speaks from my heart. Being originally from East Bengal, our family always put on more weight towards science, maths, chemistry and physics. I never understood the preoccupation of West Bengalis with arts and culture. You can label me ignorant, but I prefer a physics book any day over Tagore. And I think Bengali students and engineers need to be much more rigorous in studying and applying science, if ever West Bengal wants to move out of its self- created frog’s well.
It a proven facts that only Bengali ( like this writer) spit on their own people and culture in front of Nation.
It a proven facts that only Bengali ( like this writer) spit on their own people and culture in front of Nation.
Oh so your fight is between science vs arts
😂😂
My dear! Go and read some good books on great scientists. You’ll find that they read philosophy and literature extensively. In Tagore’s writing you’ll find them both.
You don’t have any temperament of scientific knowledge. You are a big fool.
Do you have any arguments, or are you just into name calling, kido? First learn to debate then come back, where the grown- ups are.
Hello, can you go through the lines of meeting between Albert Einstein and Rabindranath Tagore. I am sure your empty vessel sound much will evaporate within a millisecond. I am sorry to say that many comments here only expressed their ignorance only.
So nice comment sir
Biased idiotic article. Do these even go through some editor? What are the facts? Entire India can be proud of their heritage but not Bengal because that’s what this joke of an author thinks. Stop publishing bs and making a joke of yourself.
Sahitya Sangeet kalabihina sakshat pashu puchhabishan Hina.
Pls go back to east bengal….
Who told you I’m in waste Bengal?
Yes. You are an it cell agent in disguise of a bong. What else can we expect ? You are directly insulting our mother land.