Capital abandoned and abandoned by capital - the similarities in words notwithstanding, the differences between the two phrases are huge and immeasurable. The differences are not indexed only by the preposition "by''. The lack of similarities is real as well as historical. It is the difference between Fatehpur Sikri and Calcutta. Amartya Sen's haunting statement that on landing in Calcutta airport he was reminded of Fatehpur Sikri was intended to draw attention to the reality of the airport: empty, long corridors without people and the air of a deserted and abandoned space. This is the eerie image that rises before the visitor to Fatehpur Sikri. A grandeur that is nothing more than a showcase of the past; an emperor's vision of a city that proved to be unsustainable because of the scarcity of water. Today it is a ruin, beautiful but nothing more than a lost dream. After Akbar, the Mughals left Fatehpur Sikri - Jahangir for Lahore, and Shah Jahan for Shahjahanabad and the Lal Qila that he built for himself and his court. Fatehpur Sikri became forever the abandoned capital.

Not so Calcutta - taking the airport as being emblematic of the city. No one has abandoned Calcutta yet. But capital has. It has fled from the city and the state of West Bengal. Hence, the airport appears like a waste land - "unreal city'', to use T.S. Eliot's memorable words. Investment began to trickle away from West Bengal in the 1950s. By the end of the 1960s, because of growing political violence often directed at companies and their management, the trickle became a flow. From the late seventies, not only had capital fled but also no one considered West Bengal to be an investment destination. If Akbar's capital died because of lack of water, Jyoti Basu's West Bengal died because of lack of capital. There was briefly some hope of the stirring of life when Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee tried to raise Lazarus with the magic touch of the Tata small car project. That moment was smothered by a campaign led by Mamata Banerjee that was aimed against industrial investment. A leading industrial house had to abandon West Bengal, humiliated and worsted. After this experience what investment? The electorate of West Bengal - all politically conscious voters, the wise say - rewarded Ms Banerjee for stopping investment in the state.

The process started by the Left Front government continues under the government of Ms Banerjee. West Bengal lacks business and investments. Hence the empty airport. It is to this reality that Mr Sen has drawn attention, and he spoke out of pain. No manner of statistical jugglery can take away from the fact that between 2011 and September 2015 a paltry sum of Rs 6,871 crore has been invested in West Bengal. People still live here, eke out a living, join rallies and indulge in extortion and violence - these have been features of life in the state for four decades at least. No wonder it is abandoned by capital.