My article today in Wall Street Journal (WSJ.com) [Link]
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Dispensing unsolicited opinions since 2004
My article today in Wall Street Journal (WSJ.com) [Link]
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
Well sums it up.
2nd!!!? 😀
On a serious note, what difference, you think, will this make to the state? In few other states, people seem to be voting for progress (say, Bihar). Do you think there is any such incentive for the people of WB in this?
Bengal, from the fire to the frying pan, or is it the other way round.
@Tejas,
Bengal’s concept of progress is a little different than the run-of-the-mill. While they will crib about the flight of business capital from the state, during election time they will vote for the person responsible for precisely that because “she” stood upto big business.
idhar kua udhar khaai….chalo khaai me hi kood jate hain
Well….to sum it up….TMC win is good for railways….cant say the same for Bengal though
While i am plain happy that CPM (and left) has lost its strongest foothold I cannot feel happy that their alternative is Didi. But I think it is a good start for WB. Maybe they will get someone like Nitish in the future.
i like the results , lets kick the communists out once and for all. even the fat south indian aunty seems better than the one-eyed dacoit. his daughter is known as kani :)for whatever reasons.
Well at least the people whoa re on the payrolls of the Chinese have been voted out of power in both Kerala and Bengal…I hopw without a permamnent base in Bengal Chinese-licking communism is totally decimated from India…They are a cancer from within….
sharing this on FB with ur due permission
Sure Venkat.
Arnab,
I’ve been introduced to your blog a few days back by my son and really enjoy your writings. Great article on WSJ. It’s true that CPM destroyed WB but what will follow now will be many times worse. Ironically Mamata has come to power by following CPM tactics only while Buddha has been voted out because he has been attempting a change much to the ire of his partymen. Buddha epitomised the badhralok with his ideals while Mamata uses vandalism and outright anarchy. Perhaps its a commentary on the culture of the State.
However one thing I don’t agree with in your article is the aim of turning Kolkata to Ahmedabad. I live in Delhi and recently had the pleasure of visiting the city. 15 minutes spent in the State and I understood why Narendra Modi gets elected again and again and why he’s such a phenomenon. Call him all the names you want but noone can deny the tremendous grassroots work it has done in all spheres – electricity, roads, infrastructure, combatting corruption with his often derided autocratic methods and above all the wonderful balance between industry and agriculture in whats arguably India’s most developed state. From my friends, I heard of a new program whereby he wants to run a world class incubation center for training budding entrepreneurs. Rarely do we see such initiatives. Most Op-Ed writers, media moguls only talk about the alleged crimes of 2002 ignoring almost everything else. I detest muscular Hindutva, feel horrible about 2002 (what preceded and what followed) but I don’t think there’s anyone of his callibre in India. I remember an auto driver telling me, what can Congress give me other than corruption and leaders who come every 5 years and then get back to business after election is over. TMC is just a B team of Congress at centre.
You really think a motley crew of anarchists, vandals, Ex CPM “intellectuals” who’ve switched sides conveniently, Ex Tollywood actors and corrupt, violent cadre led by a madwoman can change the State into a 2nd Gujarat? 85% of the money goes into paying Party planted school teachers. Where’s the money for development? It’d be great if you can leave a reply, I relish reading your erudite views.
Very soon I will respond to the queries on “Top Five Richest Bollywood Fictional Characters”.
[deleted]
Woops. Another ‘personal agenda’ post gets deleted 🙂
H2B2,
I thought you would not be back here after the “decrease in standards” here particularly after the dramatic way you bid adieu last time. One might think you dont have anywhere better to go. Surely not. 🙂 And yes personal agenda posts will be deleted, since I know your agenda and this blog isnt a place for sloganeering. Please go to the Maidan for that.
To clarify, I dont mind a random link here and there. But you come with a consistent agenda and removing/editing comments is too much of an overhead on my time.
Rajeev,
I said TMC should aspire for something smaller than London. A positive example like Ahmedabad but still a smaller goal to aspire for. When someone says London, it becomes a joke.
@ HHBB
I am sure Momota di had the same “London” in mind as you are pointing to (the emerging London-istan one, with associated beards and bristles).
Based on some reports I am getting from both the 24 Parganas, there is very serious tension simmering in the the villages with the iminent change of gaurd amongst the powerbrokers. While the powerplay unfolds between the two major political parties, supporters of one particular religious community (from both parties) will be the recieving end if violence breaks out, a la, Krishak-Praja Party, ML and Congress situation of the 1940s Bengal.
Bracing for some violent times ahead, and hoping for the best, while feeling sad that the old Left has been replaced by a new Left.
No, Arnab, again you’re wrong.
I said I’d respond to the points raised in “Top 5 richest blah blah blah” and then quit. Thus I asked you there “am I permitted to respond”.
I’ll respond to that and then quit as there will be some added value as you will see.
The fact that I have not even bothered to respond to the allegations for over 2 weeks must show you I am not that concerned anyway.
As you will notice, I have been rarely posting on this blogsite over the last 2 years, winding down considerably. I have been in constant touch with organizations who have been trying to do something positive about the menance, like the Quilliam Foundation in UK, JihadWatch & IPT.
Some of the articles I sent them have been acted upon. Their strategy includes, inter alia, creating and uploading videos on youtube to broadcast the message. My article on the close links between Na*ism and Isl*m which you so cavaliarly omitted in one fell swoop has been treated with far more importance by these organizations. Check out youtube and you will see postings on this, near word for word to what I posted on this blogsite.
Don’t worry. I will post my final comments on that comment and move on. I believe you think I value this blogsite with far more reverence than I really do.
H2B2, Well I wonder why then on this comment thread you came to put your words of wisdom and a (wink) link. Surely you did not misread it as “Top 5 blah blah” did you? I would be glad to think you have better things to do
As a lame joke.
Utsav,
And thanks for managing to read the important linke before puritanical zeal pounced on it with immediate alacrity.
And as it has been deleted, you are now 1% off topic and prime for a violent catharsis with a snide remark.
Only to be followed by 35 pages of ream after ream of useless comments posted by Balal Sangh, 10 pages on evil Hindu terrorists, and another 25 on egregious humour employing a liberal dosage of rectal terms.
Yeah, standards have really risen in the comments section.
Anyway good luck to you, yourfan2, BengalVoice, wtf ittaburi, Ravi Ivaturi and others. I shall post my final comments on “Top 5 blah blah blah) and depart.
And now comes the mock surprise “Oh, H2B2 is STILL posting on this thread !! Oh how shocking”
@ HHBB
Even in argument, you and Arnab maintain such a high level of intellect and wit; reminds me of the 5 minutes spat between Bond and Vespar, in Casino Royale, when they first meet, except that you guys can go at it forever, despite being on the same page on most things ( from where i am looking )
With this change of Government in Bengal, and the associated pros and cons that will come with it, some people are looking to form a “think tank” of sorts, in Kolkata.
Your participation will be greatly valued.
hi HHBB welcome back dude…for a minute i thought u had joined the TMC…anyway despite all the negatives about TMC..in the long run we are much better off in getting rid of the left…i hope TMC is vicious and completely decimates the left from root up…that will pave the way for others to come through…
Hmm.
Quite fitting that you, with your right-leaning Islamophobia, can’t see a better example than Ahmedabad as a model of development 😀
Then, again, what more can one expect from someone who pours out nationalistic jargon day in and day out, sitting in America, trying to prove that he is still a “patriot”?
p.s. India winning the football (of course, you American-desis love to call it soccer!) World Cup is more probable than the Left Front losing?
Come on GB, look into that crystal ball of yours 😀 Do you see India even reaching the World Cup?
The article says you are an assistant professor. I must congratulate you on that (assuming this is a recent event). How is that you find time to do all that needs to be done to get tenure and also make sure you are on top of everything that you comment on?
Good article GB. I also recently chanced upon a post by your mother on this blog – where she talks about her FIL (which was very well written BTW)and then your tweet that your grandfather was actually a founding member of the CPIM. Ironic that his grandson should be so virulently anti-left. But what actually led to such immense popularity of the left in Bengal in the decades post independence – with hordes of genuinely talented and committed people gravitating towards the movement? On a related note, with a good chunk of WB population being East Bengali refugees uprooted from there – it sounds quite illogical that communism should become the dominant force, rather than communalism. Especially given that Bengal was one of the frontrunners in communal politics leading upto partition.
CPI(M) is now CPI(Mamata)…version 2.0
hogs twice the memory, has better graphics and animation and hangs and freezes faster
Hey Arnab,
Great post on WSJ. Did you see the World Bank rankings and report on doing business [Ref: http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings%5D. India ranks a dismal 134 out of the 183 countries.
And Kolkata is the worst place in India to do business! [Ref: http://www.doingbusiness.org/Rankings/india%5D
Not surprisingly though, India ranks 182 out of 183 to enforce a contract! Falling behind only war ridden Timor Leste. So much for our rock solid judiciary.
Dear Arnab,
Nicely written as usual.
Couple of points:
I) Am glad you mentioned Ahmedabad – a very pertinent example which is a lot more realisitc as a comparable (and a goal) for Kolkata than London (London probably was a good comparable in 1910 – now such a comparison is better drawn in a stand-up comedy show). Completely agree with Mr. Rajeev Sen on Ahmedabad – a city I have to visit very often for professional reasons. The development, the harmony of agriculture and industry and the future growth plans for Ahmedabad as well as Gujarat in general, is awe-inspiring. But for the taints of 2002, Mr. Modi would have my complete respect. There are similarities between Didi’s position and Mr, Modi’s position – especially in being the sole power center in the respective States, personal integrity and (hopefully) ambition to improve the state of their respective States. I strongly hope that Didi takes Kolkata closer to Ahmedabad, without introducing prohibition ofcourse 🙂
II) I have recently come to the conclusion that the demographics of daily wage earning laborers, domestic helps, construction workers, cycle-rickshaw pullers in Delhi-NCR (as opposed to Mumbai/Chennai/Bangalore all of which have varying levels of resistance to migrants, especially at a blue-collar sector – something which is missing in Delhi-NCR since Delhi-NCR has no bhumi-putras)is a good indicator of economic health of a particular State. Till a few years back, the predominant ethnic group in the aforesaid blue-collar bracket in Delhi-NCR was from Bihar – when Bihar was at its worst. Over the last 2-3 years, the demographic is overwhelmingly dominated by Bengalis! it seems every household in Gurgaon/Noida has a Bengali servant, 2/3 rds of the construction workers and almost all of cycle-rickshaw pullers in Delhi-NCR are Bengalis. And when I use the word ‘Bengali’ here, I am not including Bangladeshi nationals (being of a ‘Bangal’ origin and fairly fluent with some of the Bangladeshi dialects, I am fairly capable of finding out if someone is from this side of Bengal or that – once they open their mouth.). While this indicator of relative affluence of States may be dismissed as anecdotal by academics, I would love to have your views on this.
@Arnab Thanks for the reply.
@Sudipta I agree that the London comparison would’ve been apt in 1910 when London suffered similar kinds of problems like unemployment, poverty and high crime. Now it’s too far fetched. As a whole India in 2011 is where America was in the 1930s but then again they never had high population to deal with. And about Modi, I used to be very apprehensive about him as a person but my visit totally changed all perception. I wouldn’t have thought of voting BJP ever in my life but looking at the mess Manmohan has led this nation into, I think I’ll give them a thought in 2014.
And about the Bengali servants in Delhi, sometimes it’s really quite frustrating. I live close to Vasant Kunj in Delhi and have plenty of friends in Gurgaon/Noida and they ALL have Bengali maidservants. We have become the new Bhaiyyas (no offence to anyone) of the capital. Thats the image we project before the snooty Punjabis with all their bungalows, BMWs and lavish weddings. The State which could’ve led India from the front in all affairs of education, business, healthcare has become a basket case and a joke in the eyes of everyone else. All thanks to CPM and self anointed “intellectuals”. Lets see where Mamata takes Bengal, to Congo Basin or sub Saharan Africa.
“I used to be very apprehensive about him as a person but my visit totally changed all perception. I wouldn’t have thought of voting BJP ever in my life but looking at the mess Manmohan has led this nation into, I think I’ll give them a thought in 2014”
Rajeev, same here
did your article come in the print edition?
“But what actually led to such immense popularity of the left in Bengal in the decades post independence – with hordes of genuinely talented and committed people gravitating towards the movement?”
Post-mortem needs to start from 30s, not past independence. Great depression following the roaring twenties had a big impact, both materially and intellectually.
Some numbers from “The great depression and agrarian economy” –
In terms of macro-economic metrics, the total value of all agricultural crops in India fell from Rs. 1021 crores in 1928-29 to only Rs. 474 crores in 1933-34. The prices of exported articles fell more than the prices of imported articles — deflation not being uniform is a crucial point — increasing rural indebtedness and creating a balance of payments crisis. The outstanding feature of export trade of India during the early 30s was a slump in raw cotton trade. Export prices halved in 3 years between 29-32. Export of jute fell to one-fifth in 1931 of what it was in 1926. The price of rice fell to 32%. During the same time, number of sugar factories in India quadrupled because of GOI decision to protect emerging domestic sugar industry by imposing tariffs.
No prizes for guessing which states suffered the most and which states benefited. ML/KPP surge in popularity among rural Bengali Muslim farmers has to be evaluated in this economic context.
Add to this the failure of Das and Bose brothers to either comprehensively crush Gandhi-Nehru faction or at least find a working relationship, and eventual marginalization and expulsion from INC, ending decades of idealogical and practical leadership in national politics.
Intellectually, the “failure of free market” created a leftist shift in economic thinking across the political spectrum. Absolute central control over all spheres of economic production, a policy which naturally leads to what Atanu has been describing as “Authoritarian Maximalist” (AM) governments instead of “Freedom maximizing” (FM) governments, was suddenly getting much love.
Bengali political parties set up as a consequence of Bengali defeat in and expulsion from National congress has to be evaluated in this global context.
Add to this what followed – planned famine and unplanned partition.
Add to this Bengali emotional psyche – if the whole world is conspiring against us, we will create our bizarro world where “left is right and right is wrong”.
Wish this reversed yesterday. But like Arnab, don’t think so.
Arnab, you write for the f***ing Wall Street Journal?? THE WSJ??? Respect for you just increased boss!! 🙂
I somehow feel WB, will not be worse-off than what they are now. In case Elder sister actually thinks of development, CPM will do to her what she did to them in Singur. So State jahan hai, wahin rahega!!!
Congratulations for getting published in WSJ
Not a big supporter of any particular party/front but the cynicism is disheartening.
30 years of left rule leads to an ultra-left rule, how befitting!
Dipanjan Chakraborty: the problem is that these NRIs like to make jibes from outside. Why does he not return to his state and make it better?
@ Dipanjan above,
But for that the self-styled great-bong 😀 will have to take the return flight first! And that, as he is tearfully wrote,(check his blogpost on the joys of flying home to Kolkata) is sooooo challenging!
p.s. By the way, isn’t Ahmedabad the home-town of Chetan Bhagat – the very mention of whose name is enough to make Great-Bong lose his bowel-movement 😀
P. Ghosh, it is unclear if Arnab will ‘lose his bowel-movement’, but you seem to have lost yours already and now spraying here indiscriminately.
@p.ghosh -Ahmedabad was where he did his MBA I think. Seems like a punjabi to me…
I found the WSJ artice a little soft on Didi. If i recall correctly, a much earlier post of yours was scathing in its criticism for her, even calling her the ‘new left’. I think this was around when Singur happened. I am not much of a follower of regional politics, so I am not sure if her ways have changed since then and what it really means for Bengal. Any thoughts?
If CMs in all states in India have the pride and planning to do what Modi and Nitish are doing in Gujarat and Bihar respectively, India will really be a top economy in 10-15 yrs. Both of them want their states to be no.1 in India and are looking at developing the state to be the best. This also stems from the mindset of people – gujarat has enterprise & hardwork while Bihar has hardwork and more hardwork. States like UP and Bengal which have large populations and are internally embroiled in petty politics are going to lose out. Whatever you say about Modi – he has done more good than harm. He has kept development at the forefront and has been a CEO. Bengal is not likely to turn round the corner anytime soon just because the alternative – Didi is an activist. She has not displayed the shrewdness and smartness of Nitish or Modi. Rather than looking at making things work ala Modi/Nitish she has been (and had to) fighting the left all her life and that is what she knows best. How to bring capital to the state is a different matter altogether.
@GB
Congrats on the WSJ article. Please do not moderate my response below to HHBB as I will take the conversation offline with him, going forward.
@HHBB
It would be a sad day for the underdogs if you took umbrage and stopped posting your comments because of the above arguments.
Continuing with what Utsav wrote, I will take this conversation offline and soon send you an email to your m*********_1 email address to discuss your online participation in the independent Think-Tank that is seriously in progress.
I strongly believe that a man of your talents, knowledge and energies can write incisive papers (to protect what is left of Bengal and India) that will be ‘Thought Leaders’ and illuminate the minds of millions of Bengalis and Indians – irrespective of wherever they live on this planet.
Please do not forget your duty towards your motherland: “Janani Janmabhoomishcha Swargadapi Gareeyasi”. 🙂
P.S: FYI – I have met Robert Spencer at a past conference. But please do not trust Quilliam (which might well be a Trojan Horse). If you don’t believe me, please see the Wikipedia article for “Quilliam (think tank)” and read about their spirited opposition to Geert Wilders, as well as the founders’ Hizb-ut-T backgrounds. They may claim that they have “reformed”, but it could be just eyewash.
2 headlines from today’s newspaper:
AHMEDABAD: A 17-year-old girl was raped by her foster father repeatedly over a period of two years.
RAJKOT: A teenager has accused a mahant of sodomy, sending shock waves among his followers across the city.
Welcome to Narendra Modi’s Gujarat!
Asish –
I hardly think a CM can be held responsible for one or two social screwed up mishaps. Society is made of the people, and it will be as good or as bad as the people choose to make it. If you consider that, none of us should be proud of being Indian, of whatever our religion, or even human.
Had you taken the example of serial gold-chain snatching in Ahmedabad, or the continuous rise of Ponzi schemes (in Gujarat and all over the nation), or the rise of land-mafioso, it would have been a valid argument. Right now you just sound like a karyakar of Gujarat congress, who even when a dog runs after his scooter, goes on to blame Narendra Modi .
@tejas…i think asish meant the quality of newspaper headlines in gujarat is too bad. no one can be so dumb to think the way you interpretted it…aint it?
@Asish
i suggest you take a logic and deduction class.
@Dhoni Fanboy – I bow out. 😀
@tejas …hehe
Is the Asish above, Asish Nandy?
Is Asish above really referring to quality of news??? Then why the last statement “Welcome to Narendra Modi’s Gujarat!” ????? I doubt.
I agree with logic and deduction class comment.
@Tejas
The reason is obvious: Because, no matter what, Modi must be made to pay
@Sabalil, Ramrajvi – *Ouch* 🙂
@nandhini… u rock
@ Rajeev Sen and Sudipta Bhattacharjee
I agree with many of the points you have made.
Prof. Saradindu Mukherji (Dept of History, University of Delhi) has summarized the ground-realities in his eye-opening article:
Bengal election results May 2011: What next?
@Sudipta
Just FYI ….The Prohibition Law in Gujarat has been in force since the very first day the state was founded on May 1, 1960 (when the state was ruled by the Congress). In Gujarat, prohibition law is based on Gandhian ideology – the official excuse being that Gandhiji was born in Gujarat (Go figure!!).
Prohibition was continuously in effect during several decades of Congress rule (including 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s). This prohibition has continued to this day. If anyone tries to officially and fully remove “Prohibition”, it will be construed as an insult to Gandhiji and may provoke protests by Gandhians. But from what I hear, the rules have been relaxed in SEZs, for armed forces personnel, for medical consumption and for foreigners. Alcohol is generally available to those who know where to find it. 😉
Interestingly, the other “dry” state in India is Mizoram where it is not Gandhigiri, but the Church diktats that lead the way.
@ BengalVoice,
Relax. Its not a big deal. If one can live under 30 years of totalitarianism followed by a few more years of Maoist rule, I would say it wont be much of a big transition to live under a Shariah rule, again.
@D
Funny 🙂
Hey GB, I have been here and trashed you before. I am back. And as before, let me mention that i know you, personally. One question for you this time, who the fuck do you think you are? I know from experience that if you faced a hundredth of what Didi has faced, in order to do what she has done, you would have pissed in your pants a hundred times over! You are one of those who take SHELTER behind words! That is what you are – let me mention that for the benefit of your gullible sycophants! Not that they are in any danger of deriving benefit form that!
@dribbler then according to you there should be no criticism in this world?? And writers write…just bcoz they r not running a political party or a state doesnt mean they should keep quiet and not write abt things they like or dislike.
@Nandhini, not at all, let writers write, and let people point out once in a while – their true character. I am not pretending to be a saint here – “i know you” is the operative phrase in my comment above. I AM hitting GB below the belt and I AM taking advantage of the fact that I can do that incognito. Feel free to judge me for doing so. I care the least, I am not trying to stitch together a band of followers here. My outburst was only because given what I understand about Didi and what I KNOW about GB, my self control gives away once in a while.
@Nandhini
don’t feed the troll. you know these inflated ego types.
I guess all the inflated ego types should realise that THEIR comments(actually abuses) appear here only bcoz GB allows them.
I honestly dont think TMC is against industry. Just because they fought against land acquisition does not mean they should be dubbed such. We have to be able to differentiate between industrial development vs. sustained industrialization that addresses all sections of society. In the case of Singur & Nandigram (& even Rajarhat), I do believe that the step taken was a good one. Mamata has gone on record saying that the Tata’s are welcome to start a factory in the 600 acres (after returning 400 acres back to the farmers). Will Tata take up this offer? If no, then I am convinced that they were up to no good initially!
Secondly, in politics, you need a plank. Mamata needed a fuel to burn the left. Singur & Nandigram provided that. It is not a reflection of her long term policies. Of course, there is no way of know what her long term political stance is..only time will tell. But as of now, she is making the right & positive statements. Lets wait & watch.
@Rajeev Sen : Modi came to power support by muscular hindutva. Do we really think anybody could defeat the CPM without muscle power. You need a stone (a bigger tougher one) to break a stone. Now that she is in with such an overwhelming majority, let us give her a chance. After all, such a huge percentage of electorate cant be wrong. Also, 35 years of misrule cannot be negated in a few years. What you see in Gujarat is after years of work by Modi, amply supported by the roaring Gujju entrepreneurial spirit. In Bengal, before doing anything else, Mamata has the tough job of changing the mindset. It is not a question of whether Mamata Banerjee can do it or not. It is a question of whether the people of Bengal can do it or not. We are a democracy & not a dictatorship. Nothing can happen just because the CM wants it to happen. The people need to make it happen.
@Bengal Voice
The article you have linked is the biggest load of reactionary crap I have read in weeks.
HHBB- Love you with every single drop of my blood. Will post a long comment soon.
@yourfan2
bracing for a deluge of ridicule in case you are pulling poor h2b2’s leg …. i agree with u wholeheartedly …
undoubtedly the blog post is what i come here for, but GB please allow the mavericks to spread a bit of colour to the commentspace …
@HHBB
there goes a comment of the typical “wah wah” that u hate … but its for U this time around, so please don’t pour your hate on me 🙂 … i have stopped taking myself seriously a long time back so if you do it humorously, i might find myself absolving you of you crime … or maybe not
@Anirvan
please go over the control a party has over the auto rickshaw drivers and tell me you can avoid being cynical
@dribbler
i agree with you wholeheartedly. are you planning a thesis on your obsession called RTDM ?
Ki holo dada .. lekha bando kore dilen naki ?
@Paglu
Yeah right !!! Its obvious you lack the grey cells to come up with a point-by-point rebuttal.
Where has he vanished..2 weeks n no new blog!
abey o kalia , kahaan marr gaya be tu ?
@Abba.hazoor Haha
He’s busy working on his next book …. so now I’m like checking out the comments section every 5 mins LOL !!!
@ Amit
You are sadly mistaken. GB’s “Secular” Crystal Ball refuses to see the inevitable. GB appears to be blind about Islamic terrorism in his native Bengal when its clear as daylight. You can tar “secular” GB with “right-leaning Islamophobia” the day any of his posts run as follows:
1) Trinamool’s victory in this election has strengthened the hands of its leaders: Idris Ali and Sultan Ahmed (the masterminds behind the 2007 riots that forced Taslima Nasreen’s expulsion from Bengal) and Haji Nurul Islam (the MP whose lynchpin role in the 2010 Deganga pogrom has been well-documented)
2) Just a few days before the expected Trinamool victory, Maulana Nurur Rehman Barkati (Shahi Imam of Tipu Sultan mosque in Kolkata) conducted special prayers for the dead Osama Bin Laden, in which thousands of believers mourned.
3) Thanks to the overall myopia of urban Bengalis and the adverse demography shift, this article below is the “Crystal Ball” that predicts the future that can be expected by Bengalis (be it in East or West Bengal):
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/hindus-in-pakistan-victims-of-abduction-forced-conversions-and-oppresion/1/138751.html
@Bengal Voice
what you say is the sad truth. But when the residents of bengal are not bothered to save what’s left of bengal, why hold GB to a loftier standards? Bengali (Hindus) are like the proverbial frogs in water whose temperature is rising slowly. One day they will get annihilated just like countless other cultures that came in the way of ever expanding dar-ul-islam.
Hi!
I really liked your blog! Nice Posts!
Keep up the good work!
Do visit my blog too at http://aliascreativelife.blogspot.com/
Alia
Many many congratulations
hope the second book is not a fraud like first one where 80% of the stuff we had already read on on your blog
Well, I can already see the kinds of change she will bring. She has been taking the media with her to conduct “surprise” raids on government hospitals. Imagine hundreds of people including TMC cadre (no better word for the rabble yet; besides they are all ex-CPM cadre) and media rushing inside a hospital, crowding the wards, pushing patients away while Mamatadi publicly interrogates/admonishes HODs and Admin Heads.
Populism dies hard.
Shan,
Long time. I recently had a big dream about you. We (me, H2B2, bengal Voice, Ravi Ivaturi, some politicians, some filmstars and a cricketer) etc formed a SEAL team and went into Pakstan to kill Azhar Masood. Little did we know that you and your team (WTF Ittabari etc along with some Congress members like Dickvijay Singh etc) had formed a defence team which was more deadly than any SEAL team. But what happened, how it happened, and what drama was involved will be related at a later time, when I have time. Good to see ya after a long time Shan! :))
@anon
GB has been entertaining us for free for years. You could just say thanks. I am amazed to see your entitlement mentality.
@yourfan2: Somewhat creeped out to know you dream about me, but hey, it’s your prerogative. But spare the good people on the blog the sordid details, will you? Write another obsessive post on your own blog instead.
Cheers.
Couldn’t help thinking that Mamata’s goals where not that far fetched after all, Kolkata has indeed become London.