This morning , while visiting the flea market , I managed to get my hands on the diary of a comrade . Though it is unethical to read a personal diary , I thought that I would share the contents of the diary in this writeup . I must inform all you useless people that the diary is reproduced ad-verbatim , and since Comrades are found mostly in West Bengal , I have only translated the parts written in Bengali . Therefore , I bear no responsibility towards the contents . Any grievance or appreciation be directed towards our dear comrade .
The relevant excerpts are reproduced hereunder :
JUNE 5 , 2008:
The bandh called to protest against the price hike in the petroleum products has been successful . This time our senior comrades have gone further and called bandh for a week , alongwith a call for its forcible implementation . Arre baba , we are such loving and caring people that people support our movements spontaneously , Na Korle Jabe Kothay , Pa Gulo Bhengey Debo ( we will break their legs if they don't) . We have developed the imposition of bandh into an art . Anybody trying to venture out on a bandh day , is taught the ART OF DYING . How dare they defy our call for protecting the interests of the poor . I still cannot stop myself from laughing when I remember the bandh called by our sister organisation CITU , a few years back . We caught hold of a few people while they were about to enter the international airport , to board a flight . There were a few women and children also , Ar Oder Chool Dhore Ja Tanlam ( dragged them by their hair ) . The way they were begging before us for forgiveness . Serves them right , doesn't it , for abandoning the poor and running away . The next day my photograph appeared in the newspapers , dragging a lady by her hair . I have gotten the photograph framed and it is hung inside my house . I was made the Gen. Secy. Of my local area committee after this brave incident . Somebody tell the senior comrades that why forcible implementation , when we can do so by love and affection only .
The media people keep on harping that the poor suffer the maximum during the bandhs as they cannot venture outside and earn a living . The media is full of middle class people , I tell you ! History is witness to the fact that revolutions are built on the dead bodies of the poor only . Look at the Russian Revolution . Did not hundreds and thousands of poor die during the revolution . But the result was there for all to see . Did our appartchiks not become the noveau rich , after all the blood had flown from the poor . This is the problem with the Indian poor , only thinking about the next meal .
That Bantoo Ghosh was saying that why doesn't the communist party withdraw support from the govt. for its anti-people policies and why does it fight with the Congress in West Bengal and Kerala and support them at the centre . He went on to say that there must be some magic in the P.M's tea since our comrades get pacified after meeting the P.M over a cup of tea . These anti revolutionaries are such a pain in the back . The Bantoo fellow will always drive a rickshaw in his life, I tell you . What does he know of politics anyway , he is not affected by rise in petroleum prices since he pulls a rickshaw , does not require petrol/ diesel , hardly earns anything , so does not need L.P.G. to cook food. He is saying that other goods like edibles will also get costly . FOOD……FOOD…. is that all they think about !! Here I am sitting in the latest Mc Donald's joint in Kolkata , thinking about revolution and the poor , without any care for inflation and stuff . Saala , Kaar Sahos Je Aamake Bill Debe ( who will dare to bill me ) . Unless and until the poor stop thinking of Food , their fate will not improve . There is so much in life to think about , people's revolution , egalitarian society , fighting the communal forces , and all they care about is FOOD!!!
Somebody told me that the actual cost of petrol is Rs. 22 only and the rest are taxes , and why doesn't the Govt. rationalise the taxes . Eder Ki Bolbo ( What do I tell them ) , this middle class does not want to pay taxes . Arre , if you do not pay taxes , how will our leaders go abroad ( to Cuba , ofcourse ) , how will we arrange a public reception for Hugo Chavez ( President of Venezuela ) . You people do not know that Venezuela is the IInd highest supplier of petroleum products to U.S.A . So you see, they can kill the great satan anyday they wish to .
Just hang on for a second , dear diary , let me attend to the call my son has made from U.S.A ., he is Green Card holder , you see . No , No , he did not study in Cuba or Venezuela , but studied in Iowa University .
Bantoo ( the Rickshawallah ) was telling me that why doesn't Chavez supply us petrol at a cheap rate , if he is such a good friend .
I told you na , these poor people , they do not understand market economics . Arre , why should he sell it to us at a cheap rate , if he can sell it at twice the rate to the great satan . Is a comrade not entitled to think of profit?
Talking of market economics , who better than our beloved Buddha babu to help us understand the concept . Have you seen the remarkable transition he has made to our policies , remember the one about a stateless and classless society and abolition of private property. After all we were the first to implement land reforms in the country , post Independence . The land was distributed amongst the poor , but the poor, the way they are, started resisting when we wanted the land back in Nandigram . After all , they say , they need the land for agricultural purposes and have refused to hand the land back to us for the purpose of SEZ . We again come back to the same logic of FOOD . Arre baba , how much food will you grow and consume . If you let us build SEZ , we will employ one person from each family in the factories . The employment will help you in buying food from the open market and you will also be empowered to buy Motorcycles , TV, Pepsi and stuff . Here we are on the verge of giving you so much and you insist on land . We have even ensured that the wonder car NANO is being built in West Bengal , at Singur . Taught the farmers in Singur a lesson they will not forget in a hurry . Now they are selling their land and will buy NANO with the money they get in compensation . But you Nandigram people are so selfish , Tomader Sudhu Zami Chayi ( you only want land).
These Nandigram people are so lucky that State Govt. is not permitted to have tanks , otherwise we would have shown them , the way our Chinese dadas did at Tianammen . Ungrateful wretches .
Dear diary , I must cofide in you . I have been given the charge of mobilising 500 cadres to go to Maharashtra to oppose the SEZ they are building there . Ki Bhabe , Ora Gorib Manoosher Zamin Nite Paare ( Do they think that they can take over the land of the poor people ).
I have just heard the news that the Trinamool Congress has called for a bandh tomorrow , to protest against the fuel price hike . These bourgeois think that they can get away with anything . Gorib Manoosh Kaaj Na Korle Khaabe Ki ( What will the poor man eat , if he is not allowed to work on a bandh day!). They have no consideration for the losses suffered throughout the state due to a bandh day . We will oppose the bandh with all our might . Dekhi Ke Dokan Ar Office Bandh Korate Paare ( we will see who can get the shops and offices closed ) .
KORBE LORBE JEETBO RE ( WILL DO , WILL FIGHT , WILL WIN)
POOR OF THE WORLD UNITE .
MAY 10, 2008
This governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi , who does he think he is ?
Mahatma Gandhier naati hole ki ? ( What that he is Mahatma Gandhi's grandson). He has decided that he will switch off the electricity at the Raj Bhawan for and hour every evening , to show solidarity with the common people in the city who are facing unscheduled power cuts . This business of empathising is ours, , how dare he usurp our role ? Our General Secy . Shyamal Chakravorti has put him in place , by saying that the Governor should eat once in a day , to empathise with the hungry , walk to programmes to save petrol etc. Daroon Boleche (brilliantly said) , HA HA .......
Arre this man is lucky . He should have consulted Dharamvir , the Governor in the late 1960' s , who was spat upon by our MLA's in the assembly . If Gandhi was posted as Governor in U.P. , he would never have tried to show his feelings by switching of electricity . Mayawati would have ensured that the lights never came back to his residence .
From the day he has come in , he is trying to teach us Gandhigiri . Imagine empathising with Taslima Nasrin, expressing sympathy with the people in Nandigram , calling for a debate on SEZ . Arre baba , what is there to debate !!! SEZ will be supported in West Bengal and Kerala , and opposed elsewhere . SIMPLE.... We have to protect the poor and oppressed elsewhere , whereas we already protect them in these two states . We have protected them like a specie on the verge of extinction . They have not been allowed to improve their standard of life , one wee bit .
This Gandhi fellow is quite like his Dadu (grandfather) . Prolific writer , has even reduced his security detail to a couple of cars . I cannot imagine anybody with only a couple of cars for security . Jyoti babu had 10 cars in his fleet and even Buddha babu , who started with two cars , is now protected by a large security detail . Threat from our ideological cousins , the Maoists , you see.
These Maoist fellows also claim to be fighting for the poor . I am completely confused ! How many people will fight for the poor and then fight amongst themselves , claiming to be the true representative of the poor . The poor remain poor but their representatives keep getting richer . This is the fun of poverty in our country .
MARCH 5, 2008.
Today , that badmash (rogue) Taslima Nasrin , has finally left the country . Baba , what a pain she had become . Our senior comrades gave shelter to her in Kolkata because we are so liberal and respect women .
But we have to look after our vote bank also . For years we have let in our brethrens from Bangladesh , unfettered into the country , provided them Ration cards , Voter I cards , everything a genuine citizen requires . So much so , the demography has completely changed in places bordering Bangladesh . But at least these people vote for us .
And this lady keeps on harping on women's rights in Islam and similar stuff .
Our Bangladeshi friends despise her and resorted to violence last year .
Dekho Kotha Bola Aalada ( Look it is a different thing to speak ) , but we cannot lose our assiduously built vote bank . We ensured that our firebrands Brinda Karat , Arundhati Roy , Shabana Azmi , did not utter a word in her favour and we subsequently forced her out of the city by simply refusing to protect the lady . What could she do , apart from runing away . Since she was not willing to stay anywhere else in India , apart from Kolkata , and we refused to let her in , what option did she have ?
It is our duty to absorb and protect millions of immigrants , but why should we bother about a lady . It is a democracy after all ::One against a million .
Tommorow Shabana Azmi is coming to the city , to participate in the seminar on Justice for women in Nigeria . I will be going there , after all women are our mothers and sisters .
I am going to sleep , dear diary.
LAL SALAAM.
THE END
UNDER CAPITALISM , MAN EXPLOITS MAN . UNDER COMMUNISM IT IS JUST THE OPPOSITE -----JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH
17 comments:
Communism--A concept which is good in theory but extremely poor in practice . Therefore it appears that either the theory has fundamental flaws which cannot be solved or its practitioners are flawed themselves.
A superbly executed satire . Hats off to the writer.
Couldn't agre more with John Galbraith . As the quote goes " Power corrupts , absolute power corrupts absolutely". Although it applies to all our rulers , it is applicable more for the comrades , who are their to protect interests of the poor before becoming the ruler and once they become leaders Nandigram happens . The hypocricy is amazing!
I wonder what good has happened in bengal, except that more and more educated people are leaving it. With barely any growth opportunities remaining for the young people, everyones leaving and moving to other parts of the country. Noone seems to speak of the mass exodus of youth from Bengal, especially Calcutta. Barely any of my classmates from college and school are still there - and mind you more than 50% of this group is bengalis with roots firmly in bengal! Kids are now leaving after XIIth because well we need a life, and despite the love we have for the city we grew up in, there is no choice but to leave.
Sometimes i think the Government should be worried there isn't it? Talent moving out of the state would not bid welll for its future.
Funny isn't it how they are not doing anything to make people stay or get them back.
Keeping people in the dark is a specialization of communists, irrepspective of the millions of "bandhs" they undertake - killing (remember the 7-'s students movement)/ pushing young and bright minds out of the state is an old strategy.
And they continue...
Great , the communists have a very youth oriented policy , remember Tiannamen square. The hypocrites they are , it seems that have a monoply over the concerns of the poor. If TATA had acquired land in Gujarat to build NANO , these comrades would have raised hell , but in Bengal TATA is most welcome . I remember the mayhem these guys had created at the Hero Honda factory in Gurgaon . They will oppose anything not on its merit but their individual likes and dislikes . Nuclear deal is being opposed not because of the conuntry's interest , but simply because U.S.A is involved . Would have loved to see the reaction if Venezuela was involved.
This is brilliantly written article.By far the best in my opinion.I may not agree with the comments.Though.
It appears (to you) that the Communists are the root cause of all the evils plagueing the society.Well,this may be true to a certain extent.But hypocrasy has not been patented by the Communists only.What do you have to say about the BJP? Jaswant Singh(the great warrior) was a member of Atalji's cabinet when he took the (in)famous trip with the terrorists to see them off at Kandahar.Other political parties have also shown such valour from time to time.
So please stop this Communist bashing on your blog and admit that INDIA IS A COUNTRY DOMINATED BY HYPOCRATES.
I think it isn't only hypocrisy which defines politics, though externally it appears to.
In my view, it is about "good" politics (if there was ever any such thing - i think there is) and "bad" politics. In my view good politics is constructive for a nation and it's psyche at large. And bad politics is the opposite (obviously!) for the nation and it's psyche.
I am not a politcal commentator but in my little understanding, largely a political party that has a constructive bent towards the nation and it's heritage and is also committed to its development is "good" for the nation and a party which negates the very existence of the heritage of a country cannot and will not do much for its future. Whereas I would not support dogmatism, I would also not support complete negation of one's past and heritage.
It takes a great deal to preserve a heritage and nations retaining their identity have not exactly fallen out of the race of "development". Look at Japan - their language, food habits, even their management thought is largely from what they think and what their own heritage is.
Communists at large have not been bothered to retain anything that is old - they would much rather wipe out everything that ever existed and brain wash people into believing that the dream of "all being equal" is achievable.
When we don't in our minds think that all are equal - so divided we are through language, caste, region etc - and are getting progressively more divided everyday, what with reservations, with MNSs of the world, with every region in the country wanting a different state etc...where is the scope for equality??? And pray tell me have Communists created any form of equal distribution of anything? Sending their own kids abroad to study and adopting attitudes that have enhanced poverty!! and continue to do so...bengal is a case in point.
Well since the comment has been directed at my writing ,I would respond to it myself , though as a matter of principle , I do not intervene once I have posted my article. Therefore let me clear the air :
1. The article had initially said that appreciation or the grievance be directed towards the comrade since I was just presenting his diary . It seems that it has not been read properly.
2. Jokes aside, I agree that nobody has a patent on hypocricy , but atleast the ones who propogate honesty and integrity as their patents and birthright will also have fingers pointed out at them , if they cannot stand upto their morals .
3. There are districts in West Bengal (Murshidabad ) where demography has been changed to an extent that there is a silent migration of the so called majority community , for years . For confirmation , kindly refer to the latest census figures . And the fact remains that the communists have strongly encouraged the infiltration of Bangladeshis , who form their solid votebank now .
4. Even the Chief Minister Buddha babu agreed that the Madrassas in the border districts were the breeding grounds of terrorism and needed to be curtailed ( for refer archives of any newspaper , around 4 years back may be consulted). He retracted his remarks under immense pressure from his party , with the usual " quoted out of context".
5. Taslima Nasrin was hounded out of the country . As long as she retained her worth for flaunting the liberal attitude of the comrades , she was feted , but the moment the fundamentalists started baying for her blood , she became a hot potato .The entire brigade of feminist comrades have retained their silence till today .The entire nation stands ashamed in the fact that we could not give shelter to a lady , whether or not we agree with her writings is another matter .
6. The blog does not hold brief for any affiliation and any individual , but an answer needs to be given as to what all of us would have done if any of our relatives or dear ones were aboard that plane in Kandahar . No sir , we are more of cowards than hypocrites . Any govt . or warrior taking the decision to attempt rescue would have been lynched by all of us , if it went awry , which it could very well have . We , Sir ,are no Israel or even Russia , whose attempt to rescue hostages in an opera resulted in over 200 deaths . A similar incidence , and we would have called for exection of the entire team lauching the rescue .
7. The attempt of the write ups is to mobilise and motivate and not to denigrate any individual or any ideology . However , inferences can and may be drawn freely , we after all are still a democracy ( Thank God for that ).
8. Thanks for atleast reading the write up and contributing your views. It sure helps.
The last three lines in my response at S.N 6, may be read as
" A similar incidence , and we would have called for execution of the entire team launching the rescue."
Politicians are hypocrites. But the forbes ranking of hypocrites will definitely be led by our dear comrades. Comrades in India are very much influenced by the policy of erstwhile USSR and China. How the policies made in their context will be good for India only our own comrades can tell.
Manmohan Singh could have got his nuclear deal by now if he would have the sense to ink such a deal with Red China. If I am not wrong Chinese had made public their reservation about the 123 agreement.
The diary is silent on the possesion of Arunachal Pradesh. May be the comrades had not come up with a suitable reason to support China's claim.
When there are group of youths who supports protests/bandh there must be an opposition group too. But they don't dare to oppose the mass of Satan as this require more courage / strength to fight against them. Shayad achchayee kamzor hoti chali jaa rahi ho kalyug me. Good people only talk sitting comfortably within their room and Satan shows the action. Apan ko kia, apan mast hai re baap.
apan ko blog se koi lena dena tha hi nai par tune to ek leader ki maafiq baat ki hai baap, jo mujhe iska nasha laga dela ai. Maar le jitna marna hai. apan ko to badiya lagta hai padhna. Vaise mai bi kuch kar nai sakta society k liye.
Exactly , at least you get to read something which forces you to think , unlike the newspapers and news channels who serve you crap .By the way , the comrades are in a soup in Darjeeling . Their monster Ghising has been superseded by a bigger monster Gurung , and the comrades do not know how to react . Let the nation burn , our chairs are more important .
If Taslima Nasrin was not hounded out of the country who would have read her forthcoming book.Writers of her ilk, bask in controversies and mint their millions.
Shikha's concern for Bengal appears to be genuine but the exodus has not only been from Bengal only.UP,Bihar,Orissa,MP,Uttaranchal,Chattisgarh ,Himanchal...are seeing flight of talent/labour from their respective ststes.Even th Gujju bhais of Modi's Gujrat are found in abundance in Mumbai.
No use blaming the Comrades,all this is due to lopsided development policy pursued by the policy makers from 1947 to 2008.
Another point raised by Shikha that the Comrades specailize in keeping the people dark needs debate.Whether BJP or for that matter Congress have behaved better than the communists in this regard?
It is astonishining to note that some people applaud the hounding out off Taslima Nasrin or anybody else .Whether she earns by creating controversy or something else should be nobody's concern . By the way has my previous commentator read the book about the book which has created the problem . The first one depicted the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh and the second one speaks of persecution of women in Islam by the mullahs . And besides don't the communists raise the banner of freedom of the artist , writers . At least the Congress, B.J.P do not pretend , unlike the comrades who seem to practice the art of double talk. The migration from Bihar , U.P is also unfortunate , but the fact remains that in Bengal the comrades have been ruling for more than 30 years now and the plea of lopsided development runs hollow. If the migration has increased in30 years , the blame lies solely on the doors of the comrades.If you want to cite 30 years of rule as an achievement , you also haave to take the blame.
Migration and exodus are two separate concepts. Comparing the fact that people are moving out of states in search of better opportunities, to people moving out because they are forcibly being denied opportunities — is like saying that people dying in a natural calamiity is the same as people dying in the German holocaust. What are you justifying?
That was in response to a comment and not the content of the blogger
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