RISE AND FALL OF BENGAL AND THE CITY OF JOY
RISE AND FALL OF
BENGAL AND THE CITY OF JOY
(by Ved Pal, IRSE, FIE, FIPWE, MBA, Former Chief
Administrative Officer (Ministry of Rlys, Govt of India)
1.0 BENGAL IN ANCIENT TIMES
Ancient Bengal was the site of several major Janapadas (kingdoms). Ramayana mentions Vanga being part of King
Dashrath's empire. According to the Indian epic Mahabharata, the Vanga Kingdom
was located in Bengal. Vangas sided with Duryodhana in the Kurukshetra War
along with the Kalinga and Anga (present day Bihar was called Angrajya, kingdom
of which was given to Karna by Duryodhana). In the Greco-Roman world, accounts
of the Gangaridai Kingdom are considered by historians to have referred to
Bengal. At the time of Alexander 's invasion of India, the collective might of
the Gangaridai/Nanda Empire deterred the Greek army. Ancient Bengal had strong
trade links with Persia, Arabia and the Mediterranean that focused on its
lucrative cotton muslin textiles.
2.0 MEDIEVEL BENGAL
The region was a part of several ancient pan-Indian empires, including the
Mauryans and Guptas. It was also a bastion of regional kingdoms. The citadel of
Gauda served as capital of the Gauda Kingdom, the Buddhist Pala Empire (eighth
to 11th century), the Hindu Sena Empire (11th–12th century) and the Hindu Deva
Empire (12th-13th century). This era saw the development of Bengali language,
script, literature, music, art and architecture.
The Muslim conquest of the Indian subcontinent absorbed Bengal into the
medieval Islamic and Persianate worlds. Between the 1204 and 1352, Bengal was a
province of the Delhi Sultanate. This era saw the introduction of the ‘taka’ as
monetary currency, which has endured into the modern era. An independent Bengal
Sultanate was formed in 1346 and ruled the region for two centuries. The Bengal
Sultanate was notable for its Hindu aristocracy, including the rise of Raja
Ganesha and his son Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah (converted to Islam) as usurpers.
Under the patronage of Sultans like Alauddin Hussain Shah, Bengali literature
began replacing the strong influence of Sanskrit in the region. Hindu
principalities included the Kingdom of Mallabhum, Kingdom of Bhurshut and
Kingdom of Tripura; and the realm of powerful Hindu Rajas such as Pratapaditya,
Kedar Ray and Raja Sitaram Ray.
3.0 MUGHAL RULE
Following the decline of the sultanate, Bengal came under the suzerainty of
the Mughal Empire, as its wealthiest province. Under the Mughals, Bengal Suba
rose to global prominence in industries such as textile manufacturing and
shipbuilding, its economy in the 18th century exceeded in size any of Europe's
empires. Bengal's capital Dhaka is said to have contained over a million
people.
The gradual decline of the Mughal Empire led to quasi-independent states
under the Nawabs of Bengal, subsequent to the Maratha invasions of Bengal, and
finally the conquest by the British East India Company.
4.0 UNDER EAST INDIA COMPANY
The East India Company took control of the region from the late 18th
century. The company consolidated their hold on the region following the
‘Battle of Plassey’ in 1757 and Battle of Buxar in 1764 and by 1793 took
complete control of the region.
The Bengal Presidency encompassed present day West Bengal, Bangladesh,
Bihar, Jharkhand, parts of present-day Chhattisgarh, Orissa, and Assam. With a
population of 78.5 million it was British India's largest province. The first
Partition of Bengal (1905) was a territorial reorganization of the Bengal
Presidency implemented by the authorities of the British Raj. The
reorganization separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely
Hindu western areas and was announced on 20 July 1905 by Lord Curzon, then
Viceroy of India. This was vehemently opposed by most of the Indians, including
Congress, but most of Muslims supported it including by creators of Muslim
League (Muslim League was subsequently formed on 30th December 1906 at Dhaka).
After shifting the capital of British Raj from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911, the
authorities assented to reversing the partition as they were not able to end
the protests. The reversal of partition was announced by ‘King George V’
himself at Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911. On 22 March 1912, Bihar and Orissa
divisions were separated from the Bengal Presidency as ‘Bihar & Orissa’
Province (on 1 April 1936, Bihar & Orissa Province was
split into 2 separate provinces i.e. Bihar Province and Orissa
Province).
5.0 MAJOR DISRUPTIONS WITNESSED BY BENGAL
AND CALCUTTA
5.1
The 1737 Calcutta cyclone, also known as the Hooghly River
cyclone of 1737 or the Great Bengal cyclone of 1737, was the
first super cyclone on
record in North Indian
Ocean and is regarded as one of the worst natural disasters in
India. It hit the coast near Kolkata on
the morning of 11 October 1737 and has been reported to have killed
over 300,000 people inland and at sea, and caused widespread catastrophic
damage. The cyclone hit land over the Ganges River Delta, just southwest of Calcutta. Most deaths
resulted from the storm surge and happened on the sea: many ships sank in
the Bay of Bengal and an
unknown number of livestock and wild animals were killed from the effects of
the cyclone. The damage was described as "extensive" but numerical
statistics are unknown.
5.2 The Great Bengal famine of 1770 was a
famine that struck Bengal between 1769 and 1770 and affected some 30 million
people. It occurred during a period of dual governance in Bengal. This existed
after the East India Company had been granted the diwani, or the right to
collect revenue, in Bengal by the Mughal emperor in Delhi, but before it had
wrested the nizamat, or control of civil administration, which continued to lie
with the Mughal governor, the Nawab of Bengal Nazm ud Daula (1765-72).
Crop failure in autumn 1768 and summer 1769 and an
accompanying smallpox epidemic were thought to be the manifest reasons for the
famine. The East India Company had farmed out tax collection on account of a
shortage of trained administrators, and the prevailing uncertainty may have
worsened the famine's impact. Other factors adding to the pressure were grain
merchants ceased offering grain advances to peasants, but the market mechanism
for exporting the merchants' grain to other regions remained in place; the East
India Company purchased a
large portion of rice for its army; and the Company's
private servants and their Indian Gomasthas
created local monopolies of grain. By the end of 1769 rice prices had risen
two-fold, and in 1770 they rose a further three-fold. In Bihar, the continual
passage of armies in the already drought-stricken countryside worsened the
conditions. The East India Company provided little mitigation through direct
relief efforts; nor did it reduce taxes.
By the summer of 1770, people were dying everywhere.
Although the monsoon immediately after did bring plentiful rains, it also
brought diseases to which many among the enfeebled fell victim. For several
years thereafter piracy increased on the Hooghly River delta. Deserted and
overgrown villages were a common sight. Between seven and ten million people,
or between a quarter and third of the presidency's population, were thought to
have died
5.3 On 5 October 1864, most of the areas of Calcutta was
inundated and destroyed by a tropical cyclone. Dubbed the 1864 Calcutta cyclone,
the storm caused over 60,000 fatalities in its wake. The cyclone crossed the
coast of West Bengal to the south of Hooghly River, one of the streams that are
included in the Ganges River Delta. The majority of the deaths were from
drowning and the others from sicknesses prevailing before the storm. The said
river overflowed due to a storm surge and as the water rushed inland,
everything in its course were washed away. The city, the other surrounding
areas, and some harbors had to be rebuilt after the cyclone.
5.4 On 15th January 1934, an 8.0 magnitude earthquake
struck Nepal and Bihar that also caused widespread damage in Bengal also
5.5 There was a famine in 1943in
the Bengal province during World War II. An estimated 0.8–3.8 million people
died.
6.0 KALIKSHETRA OR KALIKATA
Original
name of Calcutta was Kalikata or Kalikshetra. Ithas been inhabited from ancient times and there
is reference in Mahabharat also and was a trading hub. On 24th August 1690 Job Charnock, an agent of
East India Company came to Sutanauti and wanted to set up factory for company.
He took on lease 3 villages named Sutanauti, Kalikata and Gobindapur from local
Jamindar of Nawab of Bengal under Mughal suzerainty. In 1699 East India Company
started developing Calcutta as Residency City and named it Calcutta. The area
was developed by the Company into Fort William. Nawab Sirajud-Daulah was
defeated at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 after his general Mir Jafar mutinied
in support of the Company, and was later made the Nawab for a brief time. After
the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British Government took over the administration
to establish the British Raj in 1858. In 1772 Calcutta was declared as capital
city by British India and served as the de facto capital of India till 1911.
Governor General Richard Wellesley (1798-1805) developed Calcutta as City of
Palaces.
7.0 ALLROUND DEVELOPMENT OF CITY OF
JOY
Calcutta
was the second largest city in the British Empire, after London, and was
the centre of bureaucracy, politics, law, education, science and the arts in India. The city was
associated with many of the figures and movements of the Bengali Renaissance. It
was also the hotbed of the Indian nationalist movement. Calcutta's architecture includes
many imperial landmarks, including the Victoria Memorial, Howrah Bridge, Shaheed Minar, Tipu Sultan Mosque, Belur
Math, St. Andrew’s Church, St. Xaviers’ College, BNR Headquarters (SE Rly HQ),
Esplanade Mansion, Standard Chartered building and the Grand Hotel. The
city's heritage includes India's only Chinatown and remnants of Jewish,
Armenian, Greek and Anglo-Indian communities. The city is closely linked
with Bhadralok culture
and the Zamindars of
Bengal, including Bengali Hindu, Bengali Muslim and tribal aristocrats.
Calcutta
developed into home to venerable institutions of national importance, including
the Academy of
Fine Arts, the Asiatic Society, the Indian Museum and the National Library of India.
It is the center of the Indian Bengali film industry, which is known
as Tollywood.
Among scientific institutions, Kolkata hosts the Geological Survey of India,
the Botanical
Survey of India, the Calcutta Mathematical Society, the Indian
Science Congress Association, the Zoological Survey of India,
the Horticultural
Society, the Institution of Engineers, the Anthropological Survey of
India and the Indian Public Health Association. The University of
Calcutta and its affiliated colleges produced many leading figures of South
Asia. Four Nobel laureates and two Nobel
Memorial Prize winners are associated with the city. Though home to major
cricketing venues and franchises, Kolkata stood out in India for being the
country's centre of association football. Kolkata is known for its grand
celebrations of the Hindu festival of Durga Puja, which is recognized by UNESCO
for its importance to world heritage. It is also regarded as cultural capital
of India.
Calcutta and Jadavpur used to be the prime
universities in India. It had the Bose Institute, Indian Statistical Institute,
the Operations Research School, Bengal Engineering College, Presidency College,
St. Xavier’s College, Scottish Church and many other institutes.
Calcutta, historically, an imperial city with deep water
ports like Kidderpore Docks and navigable rivers, was the industrial and
business capital of the Asia Pacific region, several times the size of Hong
Kong and Singapore. Most
foreign companies had their India HQs in Calcutta. Asia’s largest companies and
banks were headquartered here. For instance, the Chartered Bank Building
existed even before the merger of Standard and Chartered banks. Lyons Range
hosted the stock exchange and the offices of leading insurance companies.
Calcutta had headquarters of stalwarts of Indian businesses across the spectrum
from ship building to mining. Calcutta was a truly global city with a highly
diversified demography that included Iraqi Jews, Armenians, Persians, Chinese
and others who chose to make it their home. This was the reason, Calcutta had
best of the private Clubs in the country. It had the best library, the highest
number of international flights. Bombay used to serve mainly Aden, Muscat,
and East Africa. Period. Hence, Calcutta earned the epithet 'City of
Joy'
Industries
in Bengal extended north-eastwards into the tea gardens of Darjeeling and
Jalpaiguri. These produced the finest tea in the world with auction prices that
exceeded those of other produce from across the world. Some more industries are
listed below which were either located in and around Calcutta or in West Bengal
having their corporate offices in Calcutta:
·
Breen & Co
established in 1788, renamed as Jessop & Co in 1820 for manufacturing heavy Engineering items, Railway wagons, cranes,
construction equipment
·
PG group established in 1820 by Ramdutt Goenka.
·
Andrew & Yule Co. established
in R1863 by Andrew Yule dealing in jute, cotton, coal, tea engineering,
chemicals, Railways, shipping, paper, printing, electrical power, insurance
etc.
·
Balmer Lawrie & Co. was
set up in 1867 for Greases, Lubricants, Chemicals, Refinery
& Oil Field services, Cold Chain, Logistics Infrastructure &
Travel. Taken Burn & Co. Howrah
set up in 1871 for making bridge, P. Way items,
Shipbuilding, Foundry, passenger carriages, wagons, coal tubs for Collieries,
Motor Trolleys, Pipes, Refractory and Infrastructure etc. It
also had a sister co Martin Burn (established in1890 and was in Construction
and real estate). They built most of the iconic buildings in East India.
·
Titagarh Paper Mills established in 1882 at
Titagarh, Kakinara for making alltypes of papers including paper for currency
notes.
·
Gardenreach Shipbuilders
established in 1884 initially for repairs and then building ships.
·
Britannia Industries established in 1892.
·
Calcutta
Electric supply in 1897-1899. Calcutta became third city in the world to
get electricity.
·
Bengal
Coal Co. established in 1900 by Andrew & Yule group
·
Shalimar Paint in 1902 by British entrepreneurs AN Turner and AC Wright.
Now it is with Jindal Group in collaboration with the Hong Kong-based S.S. Jhunjhnuwala Group.
·
TISCO established in 1907 at
Jamshedpur by Sir Dorabji Tata near Kalimati station in Singhbhum, the then
district of West Bengal (Bihar was was part of West Bengal till 1912)
·
Birla Corporation Ltd. founded
in 1910 by Ghanshyam Das Birla. Its main
products are metals, cements, textiles,
agricultural businesses, financial services
·
ITC established in 1910 by William M. Jacks of the British multinational company
British American Tobacco (BAT)
·
IISCo
established in 1918 at
Asansol under Martin Burn Group.
·
Indian Standard Wagon Co
established in 1918 at Burnpur.
·
Bridge & Roof Co.
established in 1920 by Balmer & Lawrie Group.
·
HJ Foster & Co established in 1924, that became Glaxo Smith Kline
Pharma.
·
Philips Electrical Co. established
in 1930
·
Bata shoe factory established in 1930 at Batanagar.
·
Metal Box Co.
incorporated in 1933 for
manufacturing metal containers and other packaging, engineering products and
hardware
·
Eveready battery initially established
as Union Carbide India in 1934.
·
Linde India established by BOC in 1935 in Calcutta that became Indian
Oxygen Co.
·
Hindustan Motors Ltd
established by BM Birla in 1942.
·
Metal Corporation of India Limited
established in 1944.
Besides
above many other large
manufacturing units came up in West Bengal along with hundreds of smaller
ancillary units employing millions of people. Also it had huge collieries,
previously privately owned and managed by erstwhile giants such as Bird &
Company, fertiliser factory and dozens of small engineering and chemical
plants. Calcutta was also the business
headquarters of the JK, Bangur, Jalan, Lipton, Thapars, Tatas and all tea
behemoths. The grand Tata Centre was built for that purpose. This was the vision
of Tata’s.
8.0 DECLINE OF CALCUTTA AND BENGAL
Natural calamities couldn’t deter importance of Calcutta, but
political decision to shift Capital to Delhi and subsequent World Wars did.
Bombay port was deeper and close to sea whereas Calcutta port was much inside
and unsuitable for very big ships. Also Bombay was close to Suez Canal as well
as from Western world with whom India had maximum trade. Thus Bombay started
developing as Industrial and financial hub, but Calcutta still continued to
remain important industrial centre. Real decline of Calcutta was started by its
own politicians.
Direct Action Day: On
23rd April 1946 Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy
(also called Butcher of Bengal) became 3rd Premier (also called Prime
Minister in some references) of Bengal. He was henchman of Jinnah and strong
supporter of Pakistan. He organised genocide of Hindu men and thousands of
Hindu women were raped and forcibly converted or killed. On hearing news of
genocide in Bengal, Kripalani, ‘the Congress President elect’ was asked by
Gandhi to go to Bengal and if necessary, die there). Following are excerpts
from the book “Gandhi His Life and Thoughts” written by JB Kripalani (Kripalani
became Congress President after Nehru became Head of Interim Government under
Lord Wavell on 2nd Sept.1946):
“The 16th of August was declared as
the "Direct Action Day". Some League leaders also declared
that in choosing their methods of action they were not inhibited by
non-violence. Feroz Khan Noon, while addressing the League legislators meeting,
said, "The havoc that the Muslims would play would put to shame what
Changez Khan and Halaku did." The League leaders started making full-scale
preparations. The British remained amused spectators. Suhrawardy was an
efficient, unscrupulous and ruthless person. He declared August 16 a public
holiday. He and his companions saw to it that Muslim hooligans were
mobilised and supplied with firearms and other lethal weapons. Arrangements
were also made for transporting hooligans from other places. Petrol coupons for
hundreds of gallons were issued to the ministers for this purpose.
(Rationing of petrol introduced during the war was still in force) The Mayor of
Calcutta, a Leaguer, the Secretary of the Muslim League and a notorious MX.A.,
Sharif Khan, a close associate of the Chief Minister, openly organised the
hooligans in Howrah. The Chief Minister, who held the portfolio of law and
order, had systematically transferred the Hindu police officers from 22 out of
24 police stations in Calcutta and replaced them by Muslim officers. The
remaining two police stations were under Anglo-Indians. Thus the stage was set
for the "Great Calcutta Killing". It started on the 16th
(August 1946) morning. A huge procession of thousands of armed men, carrying
League flags and raising deafening cries of "Ladke Lenge Pakistan"
("We will fight and take Pakistan"), started from Howrah towards
Calcutta. Then passage through the roads and streets of the city created
terror. A huge rally was held under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister
and inflammatory speeches were made against the Hindus. (The quarrel could have
been, if at all, with the Congress and not with the Hindu community. But in
that case it could not have been given the character of a religious war,
jehad.) After the dispersal
of the meeting began killing, looting, arson, rape and other unspeakable forms
of crime Life in Calcutta was paralysed within hours. For two days this orgy
swept over the city unchecked. The authorities not only initiated the trouble
but also actively participated in it. The Chief Minister installed himself in
the police control room, overriding the orders of the officers of his own
choice. He also ordered immediate release of rioters wherever they were
arrested. Complaints about the Chief Minister's scandalous conduct reached the
Governor, but he remained unconcerned, though he belonged to the Labour party
of England! On the third day, the Hindus, failing to get any protection from
the Government, including the Governor, were compelled to organise resistance
in self-defence. After that started indiscriminate retaliation. It was only
then that the Governor thought of calling in the military. For two days not a
shot had been fired when the Muslim goondas were in the ascendancy. We have
already noted the Viceroy's attitude of non-interference in provincial matters.
It was estimated that 5,000 men, women and children were killed and 15,000
injured. The streets of Calcutta were strewn with dead bodies that lay
unattended for days. The manholes were choked with corpses. A British correspondent, Kim Christen, wrote in
The Statesman (an Anglo-Indian paper then): "I have a stomach made strong
by the experience of war but war was never like this. This is not a riot. It
needs a word found in mediaeval history, a fury. Yet Fury sounds spontaneous
and there must have been some deliberation and organisation to see this fury on
the way. Hordes who ran about battering and killing with eight-foot-long
lathis, may have found them lying about or brought them out of their pocket,
but it is hard to believe.” We have already commented on the bands who found it
easy to get petrol and vehicles and roam about, when no others were permitted
on the streets. It is not mere supposition that men were imported into Calcutta
to help in making an impression. A leading article in The Statesman appeared
under the heading "Disgrace Abounding". The Muslim leaders' plan in
Calcutta miscarried. The Hindus retaliated with equal ferocity. It was not a
one-way affair as expected. The Muslim leaders then raised the cry that
Calcutta must be avenged. It could only be in a place where the Hindus were in
a minority.
On October 10, 1946 riots broke out
in Noakhali. Alarming rumours reached us in Delhi of terrible atrocities
committed on the Hindus in that area. There were reports of murders,
destruction of property, kidnapping, molestation of women, forced marriages and
conversion on a large scale. All this was being done with the active support of
the Muslim League Ministry in Bengal. It was known that an organisation,
working under the name of the Muslim National Guards, had been active for the
past many months in the area. They had been terrorising, molesting and forcibly
extracting money from the
Hindus.”
Suhrawardy
continued as Prime Minister of Bengal till 14th August 1947 under
interim government of Nehru.
Partition of India
resulted partition of Bengal also which is referred as ‘Second Partition of
Bengal’. The partition affected
the fortunes of the city. According to the 1951 census, the increase in West
Bengal‘s population growth between 1946 and 1951 was equivalent to 50 years of
normal population growth, the reason being that waves after waves of Hindu
refugees came into West Bengal from East due to partition, but very few Muslim
population migrated from West due to strange appeal to all Muslims by Congress
leaders to remain in India although more than 90% Muslims had voted for
separatist Pakistani agenda of Muslim League during 1945-46 election and
Pakistan got more than proportionate land.
9.0 BENGAL AFTER INDEPENDENCE
On 15th
August 1947 PC Ghosh became Premier of Bengal as Suhrawardy went to Pakistan. On 23rd January 1948 Bidhan
Chandra Roy became Premier of West Bengal and then CM since 26th January
1950 till his death on 1st July 1962. He got the Durgapur & Alloy Steel
Plant, Chittaranjan Locomotives, Haldia Port,
India’s 1st satellite town in Kalyani, Digha Beach etc. Some private industries
also came such as Pilkington Glass, Sen Raleigh Cycles, etc. IIT Hijli and IIM were set up
during his tenure.
In 1958 Nehru reached an agreement with Pakistani PM Feroze
Khan Noon to transfer a part of Jalpaiguri district- a 4 sq. km. land –
Berubari (Close to strategic Chicken’s neck of India) to Pakistan
triggering a serious rift between Centre and state government. Ultimately
Berubari remained in India.
Bidhan Candra Roy’s death brought West Bengal into political
instability and it has been on decline since 1963. Successive Chief Ministers
My Ajoy Mukherjee and Siddharth Shankar Roy could not demonstrate the ability
to expose the pernicious design and malevolence of Communist ideology to
masses. Frequent President Rule in West Bengal demoralized masses further
allowing Communists to enroot into the Society. Communists took advantage of
this Chaos and confusion.
10.0 KILLING OF BENGAL’S INDUSTRY AND DEMOCRACY UNDER
COMMUNISTS
Communists arrived as piggyback as coalition partner in
Government in 1967 with Jyoti Base as Deputy Chief Minister to Late Ajoy
Mukerjee Chief minister. A coalition government is generally weak,
untrustworthy and anti-people, particularly when main leader is weak. And
communist proved that in no time.
Anchored by Late Jyoti Basu, the State Government issued an
administrative circular denying Police any right to intervene against Labor
agitation or Industrial Gheraos. The one-line circular made Police
machinery helpless and dysfunctional in front of CPM goons. Within a year of this circular, not a single
day went without agitation and bandh in Bengal Industrial life. However, the
worst was yet to come. Strikes, Closures, Processions and violence were
becoming new norms. Communist leadership visions were clear to ignite masses,
divide society and stall any progressive thinking. Thereby they can get a more
impoverished society which can be instigated for their political mobilization
in no time. The diabolical idea (Industry should be closed and driven away
from Bengal) was conceived and put into operation. The entire machinery, from
top to a street level comrade, started working to achieve this ignominious end.
In February 1968, a mega cultural show ‘Ashok Kumar Nite’
was organized in Rabindra Sarobar Stadium of Calcutta. There was a 50,000
strong audience and this musical night had to be called off due to faulty
amplifier equipment leading to mayhem. A stampede took place, Mob got unruly
and amidst other rioting, women attending the gathering were molested and
sexually abused en-mass. Dozens of girls and women were dragged out and
raped. Some women had to jump into the
lake to save themselves and kill themselves. Many women had to return home
naked. A large quantity of torn brassieres and sarees and naked dead bodies of
women were found in and around the Rabindra Sarobar (salt lake area) over the
next two days. The CPM leaders (Jyoti Basu & Co) called that mass rape and
murder of girls and women as “the rise of the proletariat against the
bourgeoisie” and justified the mass crime. Old Calcuttans were shocked to learn
the decay setting in the society. It was as heinous as the Jallianwala Bagh
incident. That started total downfall of West Bengal. Calcutta started emptying
and many gentle people called ‘Bhadralok’ moved to Bombay and elsewhere.
Summing up proceedings of a symposium on topic “How
the Communists killed Bengal's industry” Ishita Ayan Datt (Journalist,
Business Standard) wrote on March 19,
2018: “In cities and towns, businessmen were seen as class
enemies and the animosity took the form of militant trade unionism. Often,
businessmen were the victims.
It was January
12, 1968, remembers the executive vice-chairman of a Kolkata-based engineering
company. "I was a greenhorn, trying to bring about some discipline in the
factory to save it from liquidation."
One day, as he was returning home from the factory,
his car was bombed. The boys had hurled the bomb from a distance, their faces
covered. The driver was seriously injured.
Blood was oozing from the executive's ears and head.
One of his eardrums had burst and the splinters from the windscreen had
penetrated his skull.
"I was not killed because they thought me to be
dead."
Were the attackers Naxals? "There was a thin
line between the Naxals and the Communist Party of India-Marxist). The dominant
union in our factory then was affiliated to the CPI-M," he says. The
factory was closed for the next several months.
Neelkanth Ratnakar Dongre, a young and upcoming
executive of Jay Engineering Works, was surrounded in the factory by workers
who were out to cause mayhem: The stocky executive loaded all the important
papers in a truck, smashed it through a wall and drove it non-stop till he
reached Delhi where its owner, Lala Charat Ram, lived.
Impressed by his loyalty, Charat Ram would one day
make Dongre his partner in business.
As the attacks intensified, recalls industrialist S K
Birla, "many responsible owners gave up on business and transferred
ownership."
"There was no security. Every flight that we
took out of Kolkata, we carried a bagful of belongings, including jewellery. It
was the worst of times," another industrialist recalls.
it was also the time when Bengal's engineering
industry, which was heavily dependent on the Railways, was badly hit as orders
were cut down.
Jessop & Company, Braithwaite, Burn &
Company, Indian Standard Wagon, GKW (then Guest Keen Williams) and Metal Box
were all affected. Workers were paid only minimum wages.
This was followed by labour disputes and lock-outs in
many of the companies that lasted more than a year, marking their decline.
Eventually, companies such as Jessop, Braithwaite, Burn & Company, Indian
Standard Wagon were nationalised.
"That the Railways slashed their budgets was the
secondary issue; the real reason was the complete breakdown of law and
order," the executive vice-chairman quoted earlier says.
Lakshmipat Singhania had moved from Kanpur to Kolkata
in 1942. He set up Aluminium Corporation of India near Asansol, which was
India's first aluminium producer. One day, the works manager of Aluminium
Corporation of India was thrashed by the workers for more than two hours. The
Singhanias met then chief minister Ajoy Mukherjee and then deputy chief
minister Jyoti Basu, who were aware of the entire episode, but pinned the blame
on the works manager -- he had attacked the workers, they insisted.
The Singhanias were aghast. The workers switched off
the power supply to the aluminium smelters and the plant was closed for a few
months.
In 1974, Aluminium Corporation was nationalised. Four
years earlier, sometime in 1970, Singhania had advised his eldest son, Hari
Shankar, to relocate to Delhi and start afresh. The Singhanias were not the
only ones to move out.”
Another Manufacturing Giant, Philips had
its factory in Beliaghata. They had a
near monopoly in the Electronics providing huge direct and indirect
opportunities to Bengal. The head of Philips Mr Frits Philips arrived in Kolkata
to visit his Beliaghata Factory. The news of Industrialists reaching Bengal
spread like fire. Comrade arrived. Call
for Bandh was made. Union mobilized professional troublemakers. Factory main
gate was closed. Frits Phillips could not visit his factory, his request to
the Police and administration brought no response. Disappointed and insulted,
he returned. The Philips board decided to move business out of Calcutta.
Birla’s Textile unit Eastern Spinning Mills was a
celebrated organization. They were leaders in manufacturing rayon and Textiles.
Communist could not have tolerated an Industry, so the communist labour union
had to demonstrate its mighty power to the Owner and industrialist. Adtiya
Birla himself was on a visit to his factory and Comrades ceased this opportunity.
They pounced on Aditya Birla, dragged him out of his car, stripped him semi
naked, beat him up and paraded in full public view to humiliate. All this
happened between the Writer Building and RBI building in full public and
administrative galore and he was made to walk like that to his office at 15
India Exchange Place with a crowd roaring in laughter and jeering. Aditya Birla
could barely manage to save his life and returned to Mumbai. The Union called
for strike and Comrades celebrated. (Around 1978 Aditya Birla relocated to
Mumbai to grow his empire there and Bengal lost services of one of the biggest
Industrial houses.)
Saheli
Mitra (former Journalist at Telegrah, Book Editor and Writer) wrote in an
article on May Day on 1st May, 2019: “Such was the fear among industrialists in the ’60s
and ’70s against the unions, that they preferred either to leave the state with
their investments or just not come to the state at all. Since I stay close to
Taratala, once known as the industrial hub of Kolkata, I used to see several
factories one after the other on a ‘lock-out’ mode with red flags fluttering on
them, and a handful of union members sitting in front of the gates month after
month raising a slogan now and again. Labour disputes and lock-outs had become
the order of the day and union leaders like Kali Banerjee was known as ‘Tala
Banerjee’ as he took all his effort to shut down factories by putting locks on
the gates! Well, though such stories came as a comic relief and we often
laughed as kids, it came as a sign of distress later, when our generation after
college in the late ’90s could hardly find any job as most industries had left
West Bengal for greener pastures and vowed never to return again…
A story goes that an
industrialist, on the verge of bankruptcy, went to meet then chief minister
Jyoti Basu at Writers' Building, the state secretariat, to seek help for his
problems: labour disputes and power cuts. Basu explained to him
matter-of-factly that capitalists were class enemies, and he should expect no
sympathy. …”
After CPM took over Bengal, regular Bandhs and strikes
paralyzed the efficient functioning.
Violence within the Industrial premises was becoming routine. More organized and more violent union has
absolute immunity and impunity. In one of routine aggression, a labour thrashed
Work manager, leading to mass unrest.
Left Front governments, particularly under the
leadership of Jyoti Basu cracked down on industry and empowered unions to such
an extent that factory after factory began to shut permanently. The red flags
of the Communist Party unions fluttered across the state, creating a condition
that made it literally impossible for business to function. Most shut shop,
some were nationalised and the wiser ones quickly relocated their offices and
plants to other locations.
consequently, strikes and unrest became the order of
the day and companies began to suffer. Many businessmen tried to hang on but,
in the end, simply gave up. Bengal had become intolerable to function in. Law
and order were replaced by anarchy and goons of the communist party routinely
harassed business managers and owners. Millions of workers were laid off as
business enterprise either shut or fled the tyranny of the communists. Bengal
had not just lost its edge; it had simply lost everything.
Bengal communists invented ‘Gherao’ and Bandh and with
this deadly weapon they could successfully drive out the last corporates from
Bengal. This also ensured that no corporate house takes birth there.
Unfortunately PSUs remained and slowly only card holders of the CPM Cadre could
get jobs. Still Kolkata was hub of Hosiery Business. It was market leader and
with product catchment to entire South Asia. It is said the diabolical plan
to upset and close this hosiery business from Kolkata was planned at the behest
of the Chinese. China, who wanted to
lead the hosiery business found Kolkata too competitive to handle. Stupidity has no end. CITU, the labour union
called for a mass strike in 1984. A record 144 days strike paralyzed the
Hosiery Industry of Kolkata. Arsonists had a field day. Factory property was
either plundered or stolen by CPM led goons and CITU trade union. There
was no end to the strike until hosiery business of Kolkata collapsed (it may be
recalled that earlier in 1982 Dutta Samant led 1 year strike in textile mills
resulted into closure of most of the textile mills in the Bombay. With collapse
of Calcutta’s Hosiery industry, Indian trade union leaders and Communists
ensured that China became world leaders in hosiery).
In 1990, the Bengal Industrial environment was
becoming thin and unresponsive. Most of
the Major and big Industrial houses had either withdrawn or operated with skeleton
staff.
Leading brands like Dunlops, Guest
Keen Williams, Braithwaite, Burn & Company (after whom the town of Burnpur
carries its name) and Metal Box were either nationalised or ceased to exist.
Indian business families like the Birlas and Singhanias shifted to Bombay and
other parts of India, closing factories and leading to economic ruin. Brooke Bond
India to ICI India, Shaw Wallace, BATA, electronics giant Philips India, Stone
India, India Foils, Avery etc left for greener pastures. In 1994-1995, Ispat
Industries (now merged into JSW Steel) moved headquarters to Mumbai.
Many others like JK, Thapar, most
MNCs, entrepreneurs, professionals, educationists, intellectuals, artists etc
followed suit. That is what the communists wanted. Those who had nowhere
to go were threatened by goons and movements like Amra Bangali to keep silent.
This created massive unemployment. While companies were leaving Kolkata in
droves, agricultural productivity was falling which resulted into further
economic decline. Tragically, Bengal, a leader in industry and technology,
reduced itself to a laggard state which no sensible businessmen would want to
be associated with. Its unions had sent investors scampering away, never to
return. The Communist Party and its leadership had ensured this fate. The great
companies of Calcutta had closed shop forever. Subsequently, a reverse
migration began to happen and educated Bengalis left their homes for better
opportunities elsewhere. Ironically, six decades ago – all roads led to
Calcutta; now they all lead away from it. In Calcutta, factories that once produced
products that were best in class have been replaced by retail showrooms. Dum
Dum airport, once India’s busiest, with direct links to most European and Asian
cities, became a shadow if its former self. From a world class metropolis that
boasted the finest Christmas decorations along Chowrangee and Park Street,
Calcutta got reduced to a status of an over-crowded and wretched city.
The communists did realise their
folly when Buddhadeb Bhattacharya became Chief Minister in 2000, but by then it
was too late. Mr Bhattacharya’s plans to revive Bengal, beginning with a
chemical manufacturing hub in Nandigram, fell into political controversy. Tata
nano, a coveted project, was the brainchild of Buddhdev Bhattacharya who took
over an Industrially impoverished and resource-less Bengal from Late Jyoti Basu
regime. But the culture of Hate for
Industry and Industrialists coupled with politics between CPM and TMC led to
throwing out of Tata Nano project again. The failed Tata Motors plant in
Singur, sealed the fate on any meaningful revival of investment in the state.
Mamata Banerjee’s anti-capitalist antics were responsible for the cultivated collapse
of these projects
.
Thus Communists destroyed Bengal before they were ousted by
people in 2011 and Mamata ensured that it didn’t revive.
11.0 HOW COMMUNISTS COULD CONTINUE THEIR MISRULE FOR SO LONG?
A
question would come to mind that despite of all their misdeeds how communists
won all the elections. Answer can be found in an article by Abheek Barman
published in Economic Time of May 17, 2011 titled ‘Left rules West
Bengal for 34 years and ruins the state’ after fall of Communist Government in West Bengal
in May 2011: “For many, Bengal’s problems came out into the
open when the Left tried to capture land from farmers by force, sparking
violence in Singur and Nandigram. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
In only one area, Jangalmahal which
stretches to the border of Jharkhand west from Medinipur town, over 1,500
villagers have been jailed, mostly on trumped up charges, from 2008. In that
time, nearly 40 people were killed by policemen and security forces and over
500 people — mostly share croppers — slaughtered in running territorial
battles. This strategy of territorial control, called elaka dokhol in Bangla,
was one of the Left’s most potent political weapons.
Most Indian parties campaign for votes
in an area, but are ultimately at the mercy of people who exercise their
franchise on polling day. Not so the CPM, which took over entire areas —
villages, panchayats, sometimes entire districts — with its cadre and workers.
In true Stalinist fashion, people were recruited to spy on their neighbours and
report every conversation, opinion or chance remark back to the dreaded local
committee.
People loyal to the party were
encouraged to vote, those whose loyalties were suspect asked to stay away.
Loyalists were given powers and privileges in local administrative bodies,
their relatives got sarkari jobs as teachers or health workers, or contracts
for public works. There’s a village called Bonkanta in the waterless, redearth
district of Bankura.
When I get there during the pre-poll
campaign it’s evening, and pitch dark. People say the nearest hospital is 15 km
away, there’s no work — and worse, no water. Of course, a few years earlier the
whole village had got together to dig a pond, which I’m taken to see. By
torchlight, I see that the pond is full, brimming over after a recent shower.
But then they point to a man-high bamboo fence that runs all the way round the
pond, a fence capped with a red CPM flag.
“After many of us voted against the
Party in the panchayat elections, they came and put up this fence. Now only
Party people can draw water from the pond, the rest of us have to walk 4 km to
fetch water,” says a villager. The rule is ironclad; violation will mean
beatings, or worse, from local committee goons.
This is the Bengal CPM’s second
poll-winning mantra: goodies for loyalists, the stick for everyone else. This
also explains why the poor, largely agricultural areas of Burdwan, Bankura,
Purulia and Medinipur were Red fortresses for so long: poor people need the
help of government much more than well-heeled folks; so the CPM’s
carrot-and-stick policy worked here like magic. Till recently, many people used
to get misty eyed while recalling the CPM’s early land and tenancy reforms
during Operation Barga. Well, that is history.
Till it lost elections last week, gangs
of heavily armed cadre used to roam western and southern Bengal, seizing land
from sharecroppers and small farmers and enforcing elaka dokhol. The harmad,
the Bangla word for ‘armada’, was the CPM’s dreaded arm of organised violence.
Over the last decade or so, the Left unleashed the harmads on Bengal’s hapless
poor in running battles for territory and political control.
The first of these attacks was probably
in Nanoor, in Birbhum in 2000 when 11 sharecroppers were killed by the harmads;
the latest was in Netai in West Medinipur, in January this year, which claimed
nine landless farmers. In the May polls, the Election Commission decided to
shield the voting machines with a low cardboard barrier from prying eyes. This
was a big thing, because it exorcised Bengal’s jute bhoot.
Earlier, a jute sack-cloth was used to
curtain the voter and voting machine from other eyes. In Bengal, a sinister
presence, called the jute bhoot used to stand behind the jute curtain. The
bhoot was a loyalist who’d simply watch who you were voting for in booths where
the Party had influence. No words would be exchanged, but the presence of the
bhoot would be enough for most locals to press the Party button. So, the CPM
ruled and ran Bengal to the ground for 34 years.
But that was not because the Bengali
voter was a fool, or suffered from a “higher political consciousness” than her
counterpart elsewhere. It ruled because it managed to enforce a ruthless
Stalinist equation where the Party was the center around which people and power
would revolve in tight orbits.”
West Bengal has witnessed political violence, murders,
corruption and goonda-raj for too long. Communists in West Bengal started their
political anarchic ‘power game’ from ‘NaxalBari (in 1967 when 11 peasants and
tribals were killed including their leaders Tribheni Kanu, Sobham, Ali, Gorkha
Majhi, and Tilka Majhi and other leaders like Jangal Santhal were arrested,
while Charu Majumdar went underground. Although this incident is projected as
starting point of Naxal movement, but actual trigger was killing of tribal King
Pravir Chandra Bhanj Deo On 26th March 1966 in Jagdal-Pur palace along with 11
more by Congress Govt of Madhya Pradesh as per directives of Indira) and went
through Ashok Kumar Nite’ in 1968 (details mentioned in second sub-para
of para 10 above), ‘Sain Bari killings’ (in March 1970 in the
house of the Sain family in Bardhaman three people were killed by CPM goons and
their blood was forced to be eaten with rice by their mother), ‘Marichjhapi
massacre’1979 (eviction of post-partition Bengali refugees who had settled
in protected forest lands on Marichjhapi island in the Sundarbans that led to
an economic blockade and later police action was taken to forcibly evict the
settlers which led to several deaths in 1979), ‘Bijon Setu massacre’ of 1982
(killing and burning of 16 sadhus and a sadhvi of Ananda Marga, at Bijon Setu
on 30 April 1982. Although the attacks were carried out in broad daylight, no
arrests were ever made) to ‘Bantala gang rape’ of 1990 (On 30 May 1990,
two lady Health officers from the Health Department of the Government of West
Bengal and one from UNICEF, were raped by a group of confirmed CPIM party
members, in Bantala Road, when they were returning from Rangabelia village in
Gosaba. One of the officers and their driver died while resisting the
attackers), ‘Nanoor massacre’ of 2000 (massacre of eleven landless
labourers allegedly by CPI(M) activists in Suchpur, near Nanoor in Birbhum district on July 27, 2000) and ‘Nandigram
massacre’ of 2007 (14 people were killed in a police shooting during an
agitation due to land acquisition for a project taken up by the CPI(M)-led
Government of West Bengal to create a chemical hub). They destroyed the work
culture and closed down thousands of factories in West Bengal in the name of
Trade Union and classless society. Communists made West Bengal a burial ground
of industry in 34 years of their rule. With loss of Industry, Bengal lost
revenue, human resource and social mobility. A state that fathered great Poets,
Critical thinkers, Amazing Scientists and profound academicians was now reduced
to the last league of Indian State. Migration of Talents depleted the Nobility
and Bengal pride. Communist rule was violent and bloody.
12.0 ADVENT OF MAMATA BANERJEE AND TMC RULE IN
BENGAL
Mamata Banerjee was a leader of student wing of the
Congress (I) Party. In 1975 she gained
attention in the press media when she danced on the car of socialist activist
and politician Jayaprakash Narayan as a protest against him. She quickly rose in the ranks of the local
Congress group and became confidante of Rajiv Gandhi. In the 1984 general
election, Mamata became one of India's youngest parliamentarians ever,
defeating veteran Communist politician Somnath Chatterjee and thereafter held
many important posts in party and Government. In 1997, due to difference in
political views with the then West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president
she left the Congress Party and became one of the founding members of the All
India Trinamool Congress, along with Mukul Roy. In no time TMC became the
primary opposition party to the long-standing Communist government in the
state. She organised demonstrations against CPM and their projects like Singur
and Nandigram, fought on streets and even got beaten by CPM goons and Police,
but kept fighting relentlessly and finally succeeded in ending CPM rule in May
2011 assembly elections.
During initial
years of TMC rule of West Bengal from 2011 some good works were done,
but soon CPM cadres and goons shifted their loyalty en-mass to TMC and Mamata. After suspension
of Mukul Roy for 6 years for anti-party activities from TMC in 2015, Mamata
became sole leader and supremo of TMC. TMC infected the state with the
culture of ‘cleansing of political opposition’. For Bengal it is like ‘Out of
the frying-pan into the fire’. ‘Cut Money’, ‘Syndicate’, Para-teachers,
Civic Volunteers, ‘Khela-Mela-Utsav’ and migration of lakhs of laborers to
other states after the driving out of ‘Tata Nano’ car factory from Singur. Illegal
Muslim immigration from Bangladesh, that was covertly encouraged in 34 years of
Communist rule has been done openly and defiantly by Mamata.
Opposing central
government’s move on NRC Mamata said in July 2018 openly threatened that there
would be civil war and blood bath. Regarding CAA move she said in March 2020 that
all Bangladeshis casting votes and residing in Bengal are Indians. During
Bangladesh turmoil in Bangladesh in July 2024 she said that Bengal would give
shelter to people from Bangladesh and after objection from MEA she defiantly
retorted “I know the MEA policy better than anyone else. They shouldn’t teach
me a lesson”
Islamic terrorism
and Islamism have flourished in the state during last 13 years of TMC rule
and wrongdoings that were being done by CPM cadres discretely during Communist
rule are now being done openly by goons of TMC. Sandeshkhali and RG Kar
hospital rape cases seem to be mere tips of iceberg and true stories would
only come out, If and when TMC rule ends.
Regarding working of TMC, author has firsthand
experience. After ensuring throwing out of Tata Nano, Mamta wanted a cold
storage to be made by Rlys at Singur. It was to be funded and constructed by
CONCOR (a PSU of Rly. Ministry). Things had to move at breakneck speed and
author had to camp many a times at this very site, though author was National
projects head of the PSU. Everything had to be purchased through cadre-head of
TMC, named Bechra Munna. The project was completed in 2012, but remained
non-functional as can be seen in reply to a parliamentary Question March 2017
where MOSR stated “could not succeed due to poor patronage and requisite
license from state Govt authorities could not be obtained”.
Presently, the state has been infected with the vicious culture of ‘Cut Money’, ‘Syndicate’, tolabazi, Ponzi schemes operated by old left volunteers, Para – teachers, Civic Volunteers, unauthorised intrusions from other countries, and migration of lakhs of labourers to other states. Those educated ones, who could not cope up with destruction of the West Bengal migrated out to other parts of India; to other countries. One finds so many teachers, scientists, researchers, doctors, economists, artists, from West Bengal in the US, UK, France, Germany, Benelux, Scandinavia, but none worth the name here in West Bengal. It was a ‘Mass Exodus’ of brains. Mamta has surpassed communists.
Communists and Trinamool Congress have
successfully destroyed the state in last 5 decades. Today no Industrial house
even thinks of starting any project in the state.
Generation to come should be told and
retold about the nefarious design and evil end that Communists brought to
Bengal and the TMC further plunged it into greater depths. They have wrecked
the Social and Industrial establishment besides destroying Bengal from the
position of Industrial leader to a poor state of India. All Indians must learn
lesson from this.
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