The name West Bengal was probably decided upon at a time when there might have been an unspoken hope amongst Bengalis - and many Indians - that, one day, there would again be a united India. 'West Bengal' appears to be a provisional name for a state waiting to be reunited with its eastern counterpart. In 2011, it is safe to say that the name 'West Bengal' carries with it an undercurrent of an impossible nostalgia.
Having said that, I should add that, on the whole, I dislike name changes as they don't signify as much as they ought to. I don't subscribe to the renaming ofCalcutta as Kolkata or of streets that had colonial names into Indian ones. Name changes don't achieve anything except a momentary fanfare.
West Bengal is such an odd name - a misnomer of sorts - that people might argue in favour of changing it to Bengal or something else. I deeply distrust this sort of instinct, the belief that it is history (rather than the conditions of the present) that needs to be improved and perfected. But if there must be a renaming, those responsible must at least ensure that the new name sounds practical, usable, and devoid of sentimental or nostalgic historical baggage. I say this because politicians, when they go for name change, often dig out strange, venerable, or classical names to create a misleading sense of heritage or a golden past. The hunt for a new name is almost never free of a quest for ethnic, racial, or historical purity. But such an idea of purity or heritage should be anathema to Bengal today, and the least of its concerns.
A name change is cosmetic surgery. A nip or tuck in the nose might give you momentary satisfaction or raise your self-esteem temporarily. But we all know the problems Bengal and Calcutta face today are deeply ingrained and will require a lot of hard work and courage to tackle. The temptation to go down the partisan route will be overwhelming. The challenge is to curb partisanship - dala dali, which is how Bengalis understand politics - and allow politics to behave institutionally, through the institutions of governance, rather than for institutions to behave politically, which is what Bengal's experience has been.
One notices that, in India, people with skill and excellence, from various walks of life, often gravitate towards the new party in power. And something similar has been happening in Bengal with the advent of the Trinamool government. But it's worth remembering that it's not for talented leaders in different fields to be making changes in their thinking and itinerary to accommodate the arrival of a new government. It's for the government to go out of its way to consider how the most accomplished people in the state might contribute to its reshaping. It's an undertaking that needs to be executed seriously, with the long term rather than publicity and visibility in mind.
The changes I'd like to see happening may seem utopian, but most of them are fundamental requirements. First, we need a radical democratisation of institutions and public life. This is connected to the sort of intellectual ethos we foster and encourage in this state - where courage and independent-mindedness must be seen to of greater value than, and not necessarily counter to, institutional success and power.
Second, Bengal desperately needs to attract investment and skilled people from outside. It is not just skilled and educated Bengalis who need to be drawn back; Bengal, today, needs to attract talented and successful people from all over the country and indeed the world. This will happen only if the government takes up robust economic, institutional, and commercial initiatives. And, whether we like it or not, the state cannot do without a substantial injection of investment.
But it's not just an investment in industry I'm talking about - and this is my third point - but an investment in culture. Kolkata has repeatedly fallen back on its superannuated reputation as the 'cultural capital'. But it cannot sustain itself endlessly on an accident of history that made Bengal one of the most creative regions in the world in the 19th and 20th centuries.Given its unique place in Indian modernity and its contribution to all the arts, Calcutta should have long ago become an unofficial capital of culture, as Berlin is in Germany, through the support of both the Bengal and the Central governments. The latter's responsibility can't be underestimated - after all, Kolkata is an Indian city.
A great deal of funding, first of all, would be required to transform Kolkata into an unofficial capital of culture. Funding would be needed for museums, for Centres of art, and for what the Germans call 'literatur hausen'. Funding is desperately needed for the Bengali language and its literature - its magazines and scholarship - to flourish.
No capital of culture anywhere in the world, be it London, Paris or Berlin, can thrive without both private and public spending.And this should be top of the agenda for any government in Bengal if it has any realistic regard for this state's contribution to modern culture. It should also be high on the Central government's agenda:which, sadly, is not the case. It's up to Bengal to put that case forward.
Fourth, the government must become much, much more sensitive to the senseless 'development' that's destroying the city's architecture and its fabric. That is what happened in Pune, where houses rich in character had to make way for high-rises. Once a charming city, Pune today looks like aMumbai suburb that has developed over the past 20 years, and which has no history to speak of. If we're not very vigilant, this is what will happen to Kolkata in two decades. The city will be stripped of its historical legacy.
I do firmly believe Bengal has immense potential. One just has to look at the regularity with which we keep producing people who excel in different walks of life, largely due to our flawed but robust education system, which encompasses school, higher education, and the home itself. It's a huge inheritance which hasn't gone away, and we must consolidate it before it vanishes.
Having said that, I should add that, on the whole, I dislike name changes as they don't signify as much as they ought to. I don't subscribe to the renaming ofCalcutta as Kolkata or of streets that had colonial names into Indian ones. Name changes don't achieve anything except a momentary fanfare.
West Bengal is such an odd name - a misnomer of sorts - that people might argue in favour of changing it to Bengal or something else. I deeply distrust this sort of instinct, the belief that it is history (rather than the conditions of the present) that needs to be improved and perfected. But if there must be a renaming, those responsible must at least ensure that the new name sounds practical, usable, and devoid of sentimental or nostalgic historical baggage. I say this because politicians, when they go for name change, often dig out strange, venerable, or classical names to create a misleading sense of heritage or a golden past. The hunt for a new name is almost never free of a quest for ethnic, racial, or historical purity. But such an idea of purity or heritage should be anathema to Bengal today, and the least of its concerns.
A name change is cosmetic surgery. A nip or tuck in the nose might give you momentary satisfaction or raise your self-esteem temporarily. But we all know the problems Bengal and Calcutta face today are deeply ingrained and will require a lot of hard work and courage to tackle. The temptation to go down the partisan route will be overwhelming. The challenge is to curb partisanship - dala dali, which is how Bengalis understand politics - and allow politics to behave institutionally, through the institutions of governance, rather than for institutions to behave politically, which is what Bengal's experience has been.
One notices that, in India, people with skill and excellence, from various walks of life, often gravitate towards the new party in power. And something similar has been happening in Bengal with the advent of the Trinamool government. But it's worth remembering that it's not for talented leaders in different fields to be making changes in their thinking and itinerary to accommodate the arrival of a new government. It's for the government to go out of its way to consider how the most accomplished people in the state might contribute to its reshaping. It's an undertaking that needs to be executed seriously, with the long term rather than publicity and visibility in mind.
The changes I'd like to see happening may seem utopian, but most of them are fundamental requirements. First, we need a radical democratisation of institutions and public life. This is connected to the sort of intellectual ethos we foster and encourage in this state - where courage and independent-mindedness must be seen to of greater value than, and not necessarily counter to, institutional success and power.
Second, Bengal desperately needs to attract investment and skilled people from outside. It is not just skilled and educated Bengalis who need to be drawn back; Bengal, today, needs to attract talented and successful people from all over the country and indeed the world. This will happen only if the government takes up robust economic, institutional, and commercial initiatives. And, whether we like it or not, the state cannot do without a substantial injection of investment.
But it's not just an investment in industry I'm talking about - and this is my third point - but an investment in culture. Kolkata has repeatedly fallen back on its superannuated reputation as the 'cultural capital'. But it cannot sustain itself endlessly on an accident of history that made Bengal one of the most creative regions in the world in the 19th and 20th centuries.Given its unique place in Indian modernity and its contribution to all the arts, Calcutta should have long ago become an unofficial capital of culture, as Berlin is in Germany, through the support of both the Bengal and the Central governments. The latter's responsibility can't be underestimated - after all, Kolkata is an Indian city.
A great deal of funding, first of all, would be required to transform Kolkata into an unofficial capital of culture. Funding would be needed for museums, for Centres of art, and for what the Germans call 'literatur hausen'. Funding is desperately needed for the Bengali language and its literature - its magazines and scholarship - to flourish.
No capital of culture anywhere in the world, be it London, Paris or Berlin, can thrive without both private and public spending.And this should be top of the agenda for any government in Bengal if it has any realistic regard for this state's contribution to modern culture. It should also be high on the Central government's agenda:which, sadly, is not the case. It's up to Bengal to put that case forward.
Fourth, the government must become much, much more sensitive to the senseless 'development' that's destroying the city's architecture and its fabric. That is what happened in Pune, where houses rich in character had to make way for high-rises. Once a charming city, Pune today looks like aMumbai suburb that has developed over the past 20 years, and which has no history to speak of. If we're not very vigilant, this is what will happen to Kolkata in two decades. The city will be stripped of its historical legacy.
I do firmly believe Bengal has immense potential. One just has to look at the regularity with which we keep producing people who excel in different walks of life, largely due to our flawed but robust education system, which encompasses school, higher education, and the home itself. It's a huge inheritance which hasn't gone away, and we must consolidate it before it vanishes.
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