Just another day

Sir — The West Bengal government’s decision to declare the birth anniversary of the state’s first chief minister, Bidhan Chandra Roy, as “Peace Day” awakens an old-timer’s memories (“Bidhan, Buddha and the gulf”, June 25). The claim that his industrialization efforts proved to be a cakewalk for Roy is wrong. The communists, then in the opposition, behaved the way the opposition is doing today. Opposition for its own sake, unfortunately, defines Indian democracy. It is a myth that Roy set up industry on arid land and thereby avoided the ire of farmers. Land, whether fertile or arid, is still land and, therefore, home to some people, who will never give it up without a fight or compensation. Change, even for the better, is seldom without pain. Politicians tend to exploit the pain factor for their own gain. However, society as a whole must judge whether that pain is a small price to pay for a greater good.

When change is inevitable and for the better, society must adapt itself to it. The capacity of land to sustain a population depends on how it is used. This capacity was low when the economy was a gathering one; it rose many times under agriculture. But whenever the population breached certain limits, famines would occur. Hence, land must be used for industry — including the mechanization of agriculture itself — if an ever-growing population is to be sustained. This is the truth that Bengal’s first chief minister had realized in his day. The government and the opposition today must bear this in mind and act accordingly.

Yours faithfully,
H.P. Gangopadhyay, Calcutta

Sir — Irrespective of its intent, it is important to note that the Left Front government has recognized the contribution of B.C. Roy. But the Communist Party of India (Marxist) cannot be naïve enough to believe that the move would make the opposition, as well as the disgruntled people of Singur and Nandigram, fall in line. Nevertheless, the Left’s decision is bound to highlight the importance of industrialization. Yet the opposition may well ask what peace has got to do with Roy’s birthday when the undivided CPI fought pitched battles with Roy’s Congress when he was the chief minister. Besides, does the naming of the day imply that the Left is finally willing to accept the many failures of its 30-year rule? After all, it was Jyoti Basu and his comrades who had opposed the Damodar Valley Corporation project, arguing that the water, if used for power-generation, would be unfit for cultivation.

Yours faithfully,
Govind Das Dujari, Calcutta

Sir — The timing of the CPI(M)’s decision to name B.C. Roy’s birth anniversary “Peace Day” is suspicious. It is a clever ploy of the CPI(M) patriarch, Jyoti Basu, meant to win the opposition over after the Singur-Nandigram blunder committed by his comrades — a mistake that embarrassed the CPI(M) within the Left Front itself as well as before the masses. The Left is today jittery about its traditional support bases. Recalling the violence and law-and-order problems that the young Basu had caused when Roy was the chief minister, it is difficult to believe that the CPI(M) is sincere in paying tribute to Roy.

Yours faithfully,
A.S. Mehta, Calcutta

Sir — The Left Front must believe that the people of Bengal are daft. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s emphasis on industrialization is commendable. But surely the chief minister has not forgotten how his senior comrades and he himself had agitated for long against industrialization policies. B.C. Roy was a visionary political who knew what the state needed and also how it could be achieved. Although his policies were not flawless, and he was not equally successful in all his efforts, he was responsible for Bengal’s post-independence industrial boom and he continues to be responsible for the fact that the state did not perish under Naxalite violence. Jyoti Basu and his comrades do not have the credentials to praise or condemn Roy. Basu himself will be remembered as the man who single-handedly ruined Bengal. Those who have just declared Roy’s birth anniversary “Peace Day” are synonymous with the chaos of burning buses and trams, locked-out factories and the Stalinist mediocrity of the education system. How can the party that destroyed Bengal’s merit look for inspiration in the man who embodied and championed it?

Yours faithfully,
T.C. Acharya, Calcutta

Sir — The best way to pay tribute to B.C. Roy would be to restore proper facilities and treatment at the hospital named after the former chief minister. But then, a government which believes only in rhetoric cannot be expected to do more than resort to the meaningless gesture of celebrating Roy’s birthday as “Peace Day”.

Yours faithfully,
S.K. Ganguly, Calcutta

Declare all

Sir — The disclosure of Mayavati’s assets is a matter of satisfaction since the wealth of our politicians is now compulsorily exposed (“Diamonds shine in Maya list”, June 26). The Election Commission should be thanked for this little democratic progress that India seems to have made. However, ordinary citizens of the state have the right to know how and when a politician from a humble background acquires such wealth. The faster such a politician becomes wealthy, the greater the possibility of his having indulged in corruption. Most of the top brass of the newer parties seems to have gained a great deal of property, bank balance and cash after entering politics. A mechanism is needed to publicly scrutinize the rightful and illegal income of politicians and ministers, both in the states and at the Centre. Incidentally, the Right to Information Act has revealed that the rules do not allow the disclosure of information by nominated members of the Rajya Sabha to the house secretariat. Therefore, the rules should be modified to bring the nominated members on a par with the elected ones.

Yours faithfully,
S.C. Agrawal, Dariba, Delhi