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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.

Pope Francis: A Shepherd of Compassion

In life, he bridged tradition and change with humanity and grace; in death, he leaves a Church forever touched by his heart.

Pope Francis has passed away. After several weeks, struggling with respiratory issues and serious pneumonia, the pope has died. Even as we witnessed his illness and acknowledged its seriousness, we continued to hope that he would pull through, but God has called him to himself.


Francis was elected by the college of Cardinals to succeed Benedict the 16th who had resigned from the papacy. Benedict’s resignation was almost unprecedented. The decision was somewhat shocking for the Catholic community and totally unexpected.


Prior to his election as pope, Francis had served as the archbishop of Buenos Aires in Argentina. For many Catholics Francis was an unknown as the primate of Argentina. He was well known throughout South America, but unfamiliar to North Americans and many Europeans. As he began his ministry, he quickly revealed his understanding of the church and its mission. In some ways, he appeared indecisive as he tried to preserve the traditions, the beliefs and the guidelines of the church historically. At the same time, he recognized that the world had changed and that the church itself would need to change. We soon learned that this new pope was different from his predecessor and many before him.


I am a Catholic priest and have been for 50 years. In my lifetime, there have been seven popes, five since my ordination, each with a distinct perspective on his role as Pontiff, each devoted to the Church. Of these seven popes Francis was undoubtedly the most unique.


Evolution is a fact of life in the world, in society and even in the church. Evolution, however, is not always linear. The constant is neither progress nor regression but change itself. As Pope Francis illustrated progress, worked for justice and saw the betterment of human life and human conditions as his primary mission.


Throughout his ministry, he faced opposition. His words and his actions were frequently described as controversial. To the more conservative members of the hierarchy and many Catholics, he was seen as too radical. More liberal elements within the church saw him as a breath of fresh air. In his own view, he was simply projecting the mind and heart of Jesus himself.


As a member of the clergy on the more liberal side of the conversation, I saw in Francis a model of compassion and humanity. In every age, those in power and authority must choose between legality and rules and the good of the people over whom they hold authority. Francis chose the people.


Among the ‘controversial’ words and actions criticized by the conservatives in the church and welcomed by the more liberal leaning, were statements regarding divorced and remarried Catholics, a kinder approach to those in less conventional situations. Francis was not, as some have claimed, a radical out to undermine Church order or tradition. Rather, he prioritized the principles of love, caring, and understanding. He saw the mission of the church as service to the children of God, all men, all women.


In addressing the reality of LGBT people, he rejected the judgmental approach of so many in religious leadership and recognized the shared humanity of all human beings.


As a priest, I have worked with many individuals who agonized over the gap between their own lives and circumstances and their faith, as that faith was expressed by the church, hierarchy and many of their parish priests.


For many people, regardless of cultural backgrounds, customs and traditions, religious beliefs and practices, have a profound influence, not just on their lives, but on the societies in which they live. Pope Francis rejected much of the judgment that religion imposed on people as individuals or families and on society in general.


For a very long time, divorce was seen as an unmitigated evil. In our lifetime, we have seen the change in which we recognize that divorce is often the only option or the best option. What set Francis apart from previous popes and religious leaders in the Catholic Church is an openness to the real world in which people live, a step back from judgment to compassion.


As a priest and a gay man, the approach which Francis took towards the LGBT community was a hopeful sign. When people are seen as sharing a common humanity and not condemned for who they are. Francis clearly stated that it was unjust to condemn or criminalize anyone for who they are.


(The author has been a priest in Washington, DC for 50 years. Views personal.)

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