My article titled 'Bengal: The Transitional Phase' published in the renowned MyIndMakers. Here is the Link:
https://myind.net/Home/viewArticle/west-bengal-the-transitional-phase
On
4th May 2026 Bengal has entered a new phase in civilizational legacy
with the triumphant victory of the nationalist BJP in West Bengal Assembly
Election.
Ponchishe
Baishak – 25th day of the first month
of the Bengali calendar marks the birthday of Rabindranath Nath Tagore- Rabi
Thakur- the epitome of Bengali culture and pride. This year the day of
Ponchishe Baishak- 9th May, 2026 has been a golden day of Bengali
Hindu Homeland- the state of West Bengal, created by the leadership of Dr.
Syama Prasad Mookherjee, with the formation of BJP government under the chief
ministership of Sri Suvendu Adhikary. And, on 21 June 2026, Bengal has reconnected
herself with the international community to celebrate the International Yoga
Day under the stewardship of our PM Narendra Modi.
Five
years ago in 2021 Bengal Election battle ended with the triumph of Mamata
Banerjee’s formidable success and BJP’s wanton failure to cross the double
digit mark with only 77 seats. In the last five years so much water have gone
down the venerated river Ganga which has been flowing from Uttarakhand to West
Bengal through Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. With 180 degree turn Bengal now blessed
BJP with more than two-third majority seats (208 out of 294 seats) in the
Bengal Assembly of 2026.
This
author had analysed the 2021 Bengal Election five years ago here. It is really
fascinating to note that the reasons of failure of TMC of Mamata Banerjee and
success of BJP have been similar as were the cases for two parties in 2021 in
opposite direction. Five years ago the issues like ‘Bengali Pride’ – Bangali
Asmita, local leadership issue, insider-outsider questions, candidate
selection, communication problems, women factor, soft vs hard Hindutva issue, Bhadrolok-Prantik
Bengali narrative, Muslim consolidation, social engineering issue and last
but not the least Bengali psyche of ‘perception of deprivation ‘- all had been
successfully exploited by Mamata Banerjee. But in 2026 all the above issues
have been squarely tackled and managed by the BJP leadership.
Not
only that this time the BJP leadership has successfully exploited the other
issues like anti-incumbency, pro-Hindutva sentiment and Hindu-vote consolidation,
rampant corruption, women safety, law of diminishing returns of dole politics, failure
of corporate style of management of TMC, Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of
the Electoral Roll done by ECI and last but not the least, the free and fair
voting ensured by the Election Commission of India.
The
Immediate Past
From
the day of election results we the people of West Bengal have been witnessing
so many surrealistic incidents in public life that we are really struggling to
comprehend the full impact of the verdict of Bengali people.
In
the last few years, particularly from the year of last Assembly Election of
2021, the Bengalis had experienced an unprecedented environment of silent
terror, rampant corruption and social degradation of ethical values not only in
public life but also in private spheres of family structures in Bengali society.
The political figures from top to bottom of the ruling party seemed to be less careful
for decency, discipline and dedication to the public life.
The
Bengali society witnessed an all round negativity in every sphere of public
life. The Bengalis had to experience an unprecedented level of corruption when they
had seen crores of cash bundled in a flat of the education minister’s girl
friend. The public morality got a huge toss. Even the vice-chancellors of the
universities got themselves arrested for corruption and irregularities. The
thousands of teaching posts had been sold out in a syndicated manner. From the
Public Service Commission to Municipal Service Commission to School Service
Commissions, every type of recruitment agencies have been accused of rampant corruption
and selling of the vacant posts.
The
syndicate raj, tolabaji- extortion, cut-money – all types of hooliganism,
deceitful acts, and illegal accumulation of wealth have been normalised in Bengali
society. We have witnessed the rug-to-riches stories of the people
representatives, not by toil and struggle but by seer corruption. Corruption and
extravaganza in public life got a new normal in Bengal.
The
Ahvaya case - RG Kar hospital rape and murder of lady doctor shook not
only Bengali society but the whole humanity. The inhuman and motivated incidents
following the murder by the then ruling party has completely exposed the real
intent of the TMC party under Mamata Banerjee. The atrocities on women were
being trivialised by the then ruling regime.
Finally,
the open and loud appeasement politics of Mamata Banerjee got its cruellest
stamp in the Hargovinda Das murder case in Murshidabad district, which also
witnessed the CAA protest and vandalism of the railway properties, after so
many similar cases in West Bengal. The Hindus were being pushed to the wall in
their backyard – the Bengali Hindu Homeland. And, the final results have been
the total loss and credibility of Mamata Banerjee.
In
the last three months, we the Bengalis have been going through an reactive
phase: egg-throwing to the TMC leaders, breakdown of the authority of Mamata
Banerjee in her own party and split of the legislature as well as parliamentary
party of TMC, so many arrests of TMC party leaders etc.
But
we also are now witnessing a silver lining in West Bengal with the formation of
a pro-active nationalist party.
The
Long Past: Vicious Cycle
Historically,
the undivided Bengal was a melting pot of different races, different cultures and
different ideologies. We can summarise the last two hundred years’ history of
Bengal up to the day of Independence of India on 15th August 1947
with ups and down of hope and despair. The history of modern India started almost
with the history of modern Bengal and Bengal Renaissance. In every
sphere of social life from religious, arts, culture and literature to industry
and business, Bengal had gone through a generative and reformative phase. The
Indian society got its first symbol of pan-Indian cultural nationalism in
Bengal through the song Vande Mataram in the later part of the 19th
century.
But
the first census in 1872 had first revealed the deep fault line of division of
Hindu-Muslim population with the majority of Muslims in Eastern Bengal and the
majority of Hindus in Western Bengal. And, then came the first blow of the
colonial British Empire to divide India on the basis of the divide-and-rule theory:
Bengal Partition of 1905. The partition of Bengal was annulled in 1911 by the
British Raj due to the massive protest and Swadeshi movement, particularly by
the Hindus of Bengali society. But the power shifted from Bengal to Delhi with
the change of the British Indian capital from Calcutta to Delhi Darbar.
The
unfinished tasks of the British Raj was fulfilled with the division of India in
1947 on the basis of the Two-Nation Theory and we the Bengali Hindus had somewhat
managed to get our Bengali Hindu Homeland- West Bengal. And, the downfall started
slowly but steadily in Bengali Hindu society.
The
sudden mysterious death of the leading Hindu Homeland proponent, Dr. Syama
Prasad Mookherjee, had given a near death blow to the crystallisation of nationalistic
Bengali Hindu sentiments in the post-independence period in the West Bengal,
which was devastated and drained of vitality largely due to the crores of Hindu
refugees from the East Pakistan. The void had been easily filled by the Left movement.
And, the divided West Bengal had been going through a vicious cycle of negativity
in the forms of trade unionism, flight of capital, ultra-left militant
communists insurgency of Naxal movement, large-scale infiltration from the
neighbouring Bangladesh etc. The continuous influx of Hindu refugees from the erstwhile
East Pakistan and now Bangladesh has proved that the so-called division of
Bengal was an unfinished curse on Bengali Hindus.
The
last fifty years have seen an all round downfall of divided Bengali Hindus in
almost all spheres of social life from religious to education to culture to
industrial areas in West Bengal. The 34 years of the Left rule had started a stabilization
process in Bengali society after the bloody Naxalite and unruly Congress period
of the seventies. But soon after the initial semblance the Left regime had institutionalised
violence in the disguise of loyalty and mediocrity by politicking every sphere
of social life. Through the so-called decentralisation of power up to the panchayat
level and right to unionism in every areas of administration including industrial
units the Left regime had stifled the spirit of economic growth and development
of West Bengal. Nepotism and party bureaucracy had assumed a serious proportion
in the forms of syndicate raj, tolabaji- extortion and cut-money which
were later transformed as institutionalised corruption in the last 15 years.
The
Left Front rule had been successful to a major extent to obliterate the
cultural roots of Bengali Hindus in the disguise of liberalism and secularism. But
it couldn’t be successful to uproot totally the civilizational legacy of
Sanatani Dharmic tradition of Bengali Hindus.
The
Present
After
assuming the office Sri Suvendu Adhikary has started to implement the promises
made in the election manifesto of BJP. It’s really a herculean task to turn
around the mess with almost Rs. 8 lakhs crores of debt incurred by the
erstwhile TMC government. The management of the pressure of dole politics, the
establishment of rule of law and the industrial growth have been the bedrock of
development politics initiated by the BJP leadership in West Bengal.
But,
the continuous public anger on corrupted politicians by throwing eggs by the
common people, unearthing of unaccounted wealth and treasure of corrupted men,
and the political management of opposition parties have been the testing ground
for the competency of the new dispensation in Bengal. Each and every day new
types of corruption are being unearthed in the state. The people of West Bengal
have already witnessed the corruptions in recruitment processes and other areas
like soil, sand, coal smuggling etc. But the latest area has been the blood smuggling.
No area of public life has been untouched by the unscrupulous persons in the
present day Bengal.
Despite
so much of financial, administrative and legal challenges, the new government
has started it’s corrective, reformative and development initiatives in
different spheres of public life. From the issues of national security to public
security to social security the new government has been taking different
measures without wasting time. To check cross-border infiltration and border
related illegal activities the West Bengal government has been handing over
necessary land to the BSF to build border fencing at the earliest. In the
meantime the Bengal government has brought the Public Safety Act or Goonda
Daman law to take stringent measures against public hooliganism,
extortion and corruption.
In
social security areas the government has been trying to implement the Annapurna
Yojana for women and other socio-economic schemes by fixing the loopholes and provide
necessary financial supports to the real beneficiaries. Every section of the
government sectors have been benefitted financially by the government including
the payment of DA and the formation of the Pay Commission for the government
employees. Now is the time for transparent recruitment process to be resumed to
restore public faith in Bengal.
The
Bengali Hindus have unlimited hope and expectations from the present BJP
government as well as from the Centre in that the Double Engine Sarkar will
address properly to rebuild the West Bengal in all fields including industrial
areas. The reopening of so many jute mills and the proposed investments in many
industries have rekindled the hope of industrial regeneration in Bengal which
would facilitate not only industrial growth and development but also address
the mounting pressure of unemployment and migrant labourers. The regime change
has also ensured the implementation of all Central schemes in the West Bengal.
The
Virtuous Cycle: Way Forward
The
first Bengali nationalist government has been nearing to the hundred days in
power. So, what is the way forward? Can the Bengalis turn around the moribund
situations of Bengal and start the virtuous cycle of democracy, discipline and development?
Immediately after the announcement of the election results the state BJP president had made it clear that there won’t be any type of political vendetta and vengeance against the erstwhile TMC party members. We did not witness the scale of violence of 2021 election results after this year’s election results. The public anger instead took the shape of non-violence in the form of egg throwing and sloganeering. The culture of political violence is so deep in Bengal that it will take much time to change and take a reformative development culture. But hopefully the present dispensation has been on the right path to change the paradigm from the rule of the ruler to the rule of the law. If the political culture of Bengal changes positively, the virtuous cycle will roll down the generation in future and align with the nationalist culture of India that is Bharat.
Prof. Dr. Sujit Roy
10th August, 2026
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