The best way to know the self is feeling oneself at the moments of reckoning. The feeling of being alone, just with your senses, may lead you to think more consciously. More and more of such moments may sensitize ‘you towards you’, towards others. We become regular with introspection and retrospection. We get ‘the’ gradual connect to the higher self we may name Spirituality or God or just a Humane Conscious. We tend to get a rhythm again in life. We need to learn the art of being lonely in crowd while being part of the crowd. A multitude of loneliness in mosaic of relations! One needs to feel it severally, with conscience, before making it a way of life. One needs to live several such lonely moments. One needs to live severallyalone.

Monday 16 April 2012

MAMATA BANARJEE – CAN ANYONE SING ‘HAKUNA MATATA’ TO HER PLEASE?

That is the million dollar question after the pace at which the ‘poribortan hopes’ are getting bullied by her own acts. (So, in a way, singing it becomes her primary responsibility!) 

What is this with the Indian politicos? Why the majority of the breed are dictators-in-making, always on the go to show the authoritarian wings fully spread once they get into the power seat.

The list is long and the latest addition is our very own ‘the-woman-next’ door Mamata Banarjee, the so familiar ‘Didi’ and the West Bengal Chief Minister – who heralded the state of West Bengal in a new era away from the almost defunct Left-front ideology politics in India. 

High hopes bring high expectation and so ample room for criticism, for the public scrutiny is intense, and Mamata rode the West Bengal political tide on high hopes of change. Though she needs time in office to get going on the development front, the initial signals are not encouraging. For the moment, she looks not-on-the-track and the politics of West Bengal looks to follow the similar patterns as it used to be during the previous regimes. There are voices telling her of these misses. 


One of the most disturbing developments has been the emergence of an intolerant attitude in Mamata and her party-workers. 


So, after giving nightmares to the central government where she is part of the United Progressive Alliance coalition, she is doing the same with every voice being raised against her in the home state, notable among them are the intellectuals who supported her wholeheartedly during the campaign phase of the election.

Apart from the growing reports of the ‘Gundaism’ of the Trinamool party workers (as we used to hear about the CPM cadres), there are silly elements of mediocrity now clearly visible in the psyche of the ‘poribortan party’. What is ridiculous about the ‘Hitleresque’ reincarnation of ‘Didi’ is the targets that her party is banging on and the list of targets is getting more odd additions with every passing day.

In the latest development, according to a report on India Today website, the West Bengal CID has decided to write to Facebook’s US management to remove objectionable posts related to Mamata and TMC. It is part of another bizarre exercise – investigations into the cartoon row that caricaturized Mamata and the Railway Minister, Mukul Roy. Ambikesh Mahapatra, a Jadavpur University professor was arrested for circulating the cartoon. Now there is nothing objectionable in that cartoon, anyone can see it. The move was criticized all over. Out on bail, the professor is now facing investigation. Moreover, 'devoted’ TMC cadres are reported to be monitoring the anti-Didi web content to identify more targets. Absurd!

The Mamata cartoon in question (Source from the Internet)
Please follow the Rediff link given below to know the explanation and translation of text of this cartoon.
(http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-video-professor-arrested-for-posting-anti-mamata-cartoons/20120413.htm
If that be the case, there would be thousands behind the bars – as almost of the politicians are targets of cartoonists and satirists including our very own quiet and reticent Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. (Is Shekhar Suman of the ‘Mover & Shakers’ listening?)

List of Mamata’s and TMC’s theatrics is long. Some of the gemstones are: 

  • A molecular biologist, Partha Sarathy Ray, was arrested this month for taking part in protests against Kolkata slum dwellers eviction. Many eminent scientists and personalities including Noam Chomsky have written to Manmohan Singh for his release. (Would Manmohan Singh dare to venture into Didi’s territory?)
  • She had a U-turn on the issue of deleting the likes of Marx, Engels and Lenin from the history syllabus after it created ruckus in the intellectual world. She said she respected these historical luminaries though defended the decision of change.
  • Last month, she had many popular magazines and English language dailies banned from the state government funded public libraries as she found them promoting one particular ideology.
  • To wipe out the ‘Marxist’ red, Mamata has proposed to paint Kolkata in blue. Government establishments, roadside railings and taxis are set to be painted in blue.
Ridiculous! Bizarre! And stupid, too!

Dear Mamata Didi, you are a promising character in the badlands of the Indian politics. Please don’t dissipate your energy and waste your hard-earned political gains on trivial matters. Please don’t be another Mayawati. Do some serious stuff. Bring some real ‘poribortan’.

Take these minor issues and criticisms as reference points (because these are genuine) to realize where, so soon, you have started getting derailed.

What you have been doing only you can undo. Have an easy-going attitude. It’s never too late to have your ‘Hakuna Matata’ moments.

Welcome the healthy criticism with a ‘no-problem’ attitude. Don’t be Mayawati of the Indian politics, be Nitish Kumar.

And practice to sing ‘Hakuna Matata’. :) 

©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/