Even Buddha can’t Change West Bengal
Posted : June 28, 2005 at 9:23 pm [IST]
Any news on Kolkata interests me. It reminds me of my school days in distant Birlapur, days of Pesidency College, and IIT. One thing- the strike was very common everywhere I went. My school was in factory premises, so it used to be a holiday whenever the union called strike. It was a fun in those days. In Presidency, I experienced how if you had some friends in 3-4 different colleges of Calcutta, you could call a strike. IIT was out of the menace of strike in our days. I don’t remember of any strike that became a part of the Institute’s curricula later on for few years. I spent my whole working life with leftist union. Most of that was in direct management. No one can claim more experienced than myself about the varieties of labor protests and agitations including ‘gherao’ or assaults. After the left parties came in power, the management yielded. It used to be off for even executives.
And as it appears from the news reports, Kolkata has not changed much whatever Buddadev Bhattacharya may be claiming. All classes of people get inconvenienced during the strike. If you are not knowledgeable enough, you may get stranded somewhere in a forest of West Bengal for anything up to 24 hours in your train. Nothing moves after sunrise. And as I read, some one from Brussels got stranded at airport.
And remember, the leftists are supporting the UPA government but opposing all the good things that the government wants to do. I don’t know why they opposed oil price rise and disinvestments in BHEL. Why can’t they agree to abide by the decisions made in the interest of the country? Why can’t these decisions be routed through an expert council or regulator? Why can’t the economic steps be isolated from political actions?
Perhaps, this is the reason that is keeping our country where it is when Chinese are going ahead purchasing all the American industrial enterprises and ending the poverty. As per one report, in 2004 Chinese companies acquired some 649 US companies. And the whole US is reverberating with the news of the Chinese bid for one of their biggest oil company. Why can’t the leftist go for cease fire (?) for five years for the sake of the country? If they don’t in the name of their democratic rights and communism as the ultimate escape for their country men or the poverty, a Prime Minister will go on finding an excuse for not attaining 8% GDP growth.
Read this write up too.
- Indra
Category: Indian politics |
Leave a Comment