West Bengal is an Indian state in the eastern part of the country, and the only one in India with an incumbent woman Chief Minister — Mamata Banerjee.
The region, which was the political heart of the Bengal Presidency during British Rule, was divided into East and West Bengal in 1947. Bengal was a hotbed of the Indian Independence movement and has remained one of the country’s great artistic and intellectual centres, being home to Nobel laureates Rabindranath Tagore, Mother Teresa, Amartya Sen and Abhijit Banerjee as well as freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose and Oscar winner Satyajit Ray.
Geographically, the state is happily situated with the Himalayas in the north and the Sundarbans in the south. It shares a roughly 2,200-sqkm border with Bangladesh (East Bengal at the time of Partition).
For the first 30 years, the Congress ruled Bengal, but made way for Left domination for the next 34 years. In 2011, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress — a breakaway from the Congress — came to power.
Are you planning to leave India as well after the India Open embarrassment, Jerry, or was your piece simply narrative-building rooted in familiar stereotypes?
The India Open did draw criticism—and rightly so—but by that logic, Indians themselves should also be subjected to the same sweeping scrutiny for being “obsessed with culture,” as you imply. So who, exactly, is expected to apologise now?
This is no longer a “Kolkata problem” or an expression of some so-called “Bengali weakness.” What is astonishing is how effortlessly an entire narrative has been constructed around a single incident. A case of plain mismanagement has suddenly been transformed into a civilisational report card on a state and its people.
If isolated failures are to be treated as evidence of societal decay, then what about the Kumbh Mela stampede? Did that reflect India’s overall moral or administrative collapse? If we are serious about generalisation, why not apply the same standard uniformly to the entire country? Of course, that would be politically inconvenient.
This selective outrage is precisely the problem.
What you present as analysis reads more like personal opinion masquerading as objective truth. The fallacy of hasty generalisation is on full display here. One incident—regardless of how unfortunate—cannot credibly be used to diagnose political, cultural, or social decay.
Such an incident could have occurred anywhere.
Linking administrative failure to political decay, and then further stretching it to question the “hollowness” of cultural practices, is intellectually hollow. Culture has little to do with crowd management failures, and invoking it only serves ideological ends.
Ultimately, the piece appears less like a genuine attempt at diagnosis or reform and more like a politically motivated commentary designed to appease a particular audience—rather than a serious, well-reasoned analysis.
Jerry are you planning to leave India as well after the India open embarrassment? Or was your piece narrative making based on stereotypes.
India open drew flak so Indians too should come under scrutiny for being obsessed with culture etc since. Besides, who should say sorry now?
It is no more a Kolkata thing or exposed Bengali weakness!
Personal opinion of your are not objective truth.
I’m amazed at how easily a whole narrative can be built around a single incident. A case of simple mismanagement suddenly becomes a “report card” on an entire state and its people.
What about the Kumbh Mela stampede? Didn’t that reflect India’s decay then? Before the release of Baahubali, fans were so desperate for tickets that the chaos almost turned into a stampede. What was that? Just a “fan moment”?
Yet when it comes to political convenience, one particular incident is blown completely out of proportion and generalized to judge an entire state. If we’re going to generalize, then why not apply the same standard to India as a whole? But of course, that wouldn’t be politically convenient.
It’s ridiculous.
It looks more like a personal opinion meant to satisfy or create a narrative rather than a genuine effort to improve something.
Making generalizations based on a single incident is nothing but pure logical fallacy.
Fallacy of generalization is being committed.
It could have happened anywhere.
Linking this incident to political decay is nothing but intellectual hollowness of the author.
Besides, questioning the hollowness of the cultural practices is not even related to the incident.
It appears to be a political piece meant to appease certain section rather than a well thought out analysis.
The author’s assertion that West Bengal is “beyond redemption” may be carrying things a bit too far as despite its multiple shortcomings the state still ranks as one of India’s top economies. West Bengal is also the largest economy in eastern India. The Messi episode in Kolkata, unfortunate as it was, cannot be used to justify the “beyond redemption” argument as worse instances have happened and continue to happen elsewhere too. As a respected business leader and seeming well-wisher of West Bengal, the author could have underlined specific measures through which the state can improve its act rather than apparently resort to the usage of words which may not prove of much help and possibly appear prejudicial to some. By the way, the Messi programs in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi were also held due to the initiative taken by one enterprising “Bengali”.
Mr.Rao (1) 1st point do y know Kolkata is only city where Messi visited twice ? And both time organizer or the person who bring him was Bengali..yes its right.Much to pain your back right…you should give credit to the Bengali organisation who bring him to India..or should I say hyderabad ,Delhi and Mumbai 1st time ?
If recent event of alleged assault on a female Bengali singer is anything to go by, then even the cultural ethos of Bengal is being challenged by idelogy bordering on fantacism. Wake up call for many but then who are we kidding. Educated Bengalis have been immigrating to outside India as well as to other Indian states in since generations now.