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Regular-article-logo Saturday, 28 June 2025

BAD FORM

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The Telegraph Online Published 21.10.09, 12:00 AM

Good manners maketh a man but may not make a politician, at least in West Bengal. At the national level, the custom of maintaining common courtesies across ideological and political divides continues. The leader of the United Progressive Alliance and the president of the Congress did not hesitate to send her Diwali greetings to her political rival, L.K. Advani, the veteran leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Mr Advani, in his turn, did not fail to greet the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, during the festive season. This last gesture is remarkable since, during the election campaign, Mr Advani had let loose a war of words on Mr Singh. The attack and the subsequent greetings must be seen in the context of the best tradition of democracy. In a mature and civilized democracy, politicians respect the division between the personal and the political. Thus, political differences, or a vicious exchange in the course of a parliamentary debate, do not stand in the way of personal pleasantries and even friendship.

In West Bengal, however, the distinction between the personal and the political, between good manners and political animosity, has not only been blurred, but it has also disappeared. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Trinamul Congress, the two principal political formations in the state, are at loggerheads, and this has poisoned even the exchange of common social niceties. The chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, reaches for the red flag every time he hears the name of the TMC numero uno, Mamata Banerjee. The latter, not to be undone, will not be seen — and will not allow any of her party members to be seen — within even sniffing distance of an important member of the CPI(M). This has, of course, made any dialogue between the two groups impossible even when the welfare of the community or society demands such dialogue. Under the circumstances, it would be stupid to expect that Mr Bhattacharjee and Ms Banerjee would have the good grace to exchange festive greetings. The roots of this condition lie deep in the 30 years of Left dominance. During this period, the CPI(M) successfully alienated all and sundry by its arrogance and show of strength. It respected no social niceties and, in the name of the class struggle, rode roughshod over all social graces. The result is a steep decline in the level of culture and in the level of politics.

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