Symptoms and causes are two very different things. Bandhs are symptoms of a very deep-seated malaise that afflicts the state of West Bengal. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s condemnation of bandhs has rightly brought him plaudits, but that does not mean that he has addressed the total problem. On the contrary, he has bypassed the issue completely in his eagerness to win applause. Bandhs represent a particularly virulent form of street politics. Bandhs are made to parade as a democratic movement, which they are not since they entail holding to ransom of the majority by a minority of people — a political party with clout, or strangely as in the case of West Bengal, the support of the party running the government. Bandhs are undemocratic also because they take protests outside the ambit of democratic institutions on to the streets. In a reverse flow, as it were, the forms of protest seen on the street are brought on the floors of established democratic institutions. Mr Bhattacharjee knows this since his party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has used this form of disruption of day-to-day life and democratic institutions.

One principal reason why this is possible is the fact that democracy in India has very shallow roots. The established democratic institutions have not been allowed to mature. Even a cursory look at the proceedings of the Lok Sabha should convince anyone that parliamentary conventions are honoured only in the breach. In West Bengal, matters are even worse. The legislature of the state rarely meets. This means that the main forum of debate, discussion and even of dissent that is available in a democracy remains suspended more often than it is actually in operation. With the main avenue of discussion and protest shut off, the inevitable consequence is for street politics to take over. Mr Bhattacharjee, during his tenure as chief minister, has taken no steps to revive the Vidhan Sabha. There are enough reasons to suspect that he is not even aware of the problem and its implications.

One reason why he is oblivious maybe the complicity of his party in the making of the disease. In the thirty years and more that the CPI(M) has ruled in West Bengal, it has tried to control, by means fair and foul, every single institution — from universities to panchayat boards. The party has disregarded discussion and has attempted always to strangle dissent. The net result has been the erosion of the basis of democratic institutions and those of civil society. Till Mr Bhattacharjee addresses these issues, all his pronouncements on bandhs, however sincerely meant, will lack credibility. It would appear that today, under most compelling circumstances, Mr Bhattacharjee has taken up cudgels against bandhs. A different context might fetch a different pronouncement.