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Correspondent

21 August 2024 at 10:20:16 am

Grim Reckoning

The heckling of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee during the latter’s visit to Sonarpur is a stark reminder that fear has an expiry date. For years, West Bengal’s politics has been defined by intimidation. First the Communist, and later during Mamata Banerjee’s TMC regimes, the state’s political discourse has been overwhelmingly accompanied by violence, cadre dominance, partisan policing and a culture in which dissenters were expected to keep their heads down and their opinions to...

Grim Reckoning

The heckling of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee during the latter’s visit to Sonarpur is a stark reminder that fear has an expiry date. For years, West Bengal’s politics has been defined by intimidation. First the Communist, and later during Mamata Banerjee’s TMC regimes, the state’s political discourse has been overwhelmingly accompanied by violence, cadre dominance, partisan policing and a culture in which dissenters were expected to keep their heads down and their opinions to themselves. Whether in villages, municipalities or university campuses, countless Bengalis, especially the Hindu community, have complained that political power was exercised not only through the ballot box but through fear during the TMC rule. Against this backdrop, the scenes that unfolded during Abhishek Banerjee’s Sonarpur visit was a symbolic moment. The TMC political class that once inspired fear suddenly found itself confronting fearlessness and the ire of ordinary citizens. Trinamool leaders accustomed to hectoring and threatening the public were forced to face its ire as Abhishek was heckled and pelted with eggs. The Trinamool Congress would be mistaken if it dismisses the episode as an isolated incident. Across West Bengal after the polls, there is a palpable anger against TMC leaders and their henchmen. That simmering rage appears increasingly difficult to contain. For years, Abhishek Banerjee had projected himself as the heir apparent to Bengal’s ruling establishment, speaking haughtily with the confidence of a man convinced that power was permanently on his side. Now that the TMC is out of power, Sonarpur offered a starkly different picture. It showed what happens when politicians who are accustomed to commanding the public are suddenly confronted by it. From the horrors of Sandeshkhali to the public fury unleashed after the R.G. Kar outrage, West Bengal witnessed episode after episode that laid bare the TMC’s intimidation and moral corruption. The crowd that confronted Abhishek Banerjee at Sonarpur was venting years of accumulated resentment against a political culture many Bengalis had come to associate with arrogance, patronage and strong-arm tactics. They reflected what a significant section of the public has increasingly come to see as the moral bankruptcy of a political order that believed it could rule indefinitely through fear and organisational muscle. Abhishek Banerjee, more than any other TMC leader, had became the face of that system. The hostility he encountered in Sonarpur was political payback delivered by a public no longer willing to whisper its anger. While no civilised society should endorse mob violence, no politician can expect public sympathy after years of bullying and intimidating citizens. He or she must realize that political arrogance has consequences and that public anger, when it finally erupts, grinds even the most powerful dynasties to dust. Abhishek Banerjee’s reception in Sonarpur may therefore prove to be more than an embarrassing political episode. It may become the defining image of Trinamool’s final decline and fall.

Goa’s taxi owners remember late Ratan Tata

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Goa’s taxi owners remember late Ratan Tata

Since his passing on 9 October 2024, tributes, memories and anecdotes have filled our newspapers as well as social media recalling chairman emeritus of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata’s contribution to Indian business, his vision as well as his support and encouragement to many a start-up, and many more. Yet, for this writer, the tribute paid by the taxi owners’ association in the village of Benaulim stands out. The Tata Group runs one of India’s finest luxury properties, The Taj Exotica, in this village. The property, built in the 1990s became a major source of employment for the locals of the village and the spill over benefitted the taxi drivers who transport tourists back and forth to this hotel.


It is to their credit that the taxi drivers, nameless faces in the tourist business, perhaps pooled funds to put out an advertisement of remembrance and gratitude in the local O Heraldo newspaper thanking the late Mr Tata for giving the locals job opportunities, and a chance to improve their lives.


Clearly, Tata touched the lives of many ordinary ways. It is a well-known fact around the world that hiring locals for jobs encourages the economy, and in the process creates hundreds of indirect jobs. These may not always be the high-paying jobs but they do sustain local communities, and create job opportunities that sustain families. In addition, these jobs create a sense of loyalty to an employer, and opportunities for locals who cannot otherwise travel for jobs outside their homes or state, and also a sense of fulfilment in locals, many of whom may not be highly educated.


Goa is hugely dependent on tourism for its revenues. About 17 percent of the GSDP comes directly from tourism, and 35 percent of jobs are tourism-related. Most of the better paying tourism jobs are in the hotels but it’s a small pool that may not always fulfil the requirements of the village communities. Media reports suggest that 7 million tourists visited the state in 2022 which is known for its beaches, temples that incorporate elements of Indo-Portuguese influence, and churches, and even restaurants that offer a variety of global cuisines.


Tourism has also brought a host of challenges, and one only has to only open the local newspapers to see the many hotspots where environmental issues and tourism intersect. Of late, villages in North Goa have protested against loud music that is played well into the night, and which is affecting the residents, especially the sick and elderly. Another controversy surrounds the music festival Sundance, the organisers of which are scouting for a new locale in the south Goa where locals here too have protested. In the north, public hearings by government bodies hear villagers who are against the resumption of mining as it will affect water bodies as well as religious heritage.


Goa has one of the highest unemployment rates estimated at in the region of 13 percent, thrice that of the national average. It would definitely benefit many locals if corporates employed locally. As the tourist season starts, many will be making a beeline for what is called the sunshine state. However, the rains are playing spoilsport of sorts with thunder showers that cause traffic jams and some flooding too. It’s grey skies through the day and occasional respite from the hot and muggy mornings.


(The author is a senior journalist based in Goa. Views personal.)

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