When the battle of Plassey revisits West Bengal.

Never ever West Bengal was on the horns of historic dilemma as it will confront tomorrow when it will start voting for the formation of the new government. No wonder it is a Hobson’s choice for the inhabitants of West Bengal: whether to vote for restoring the local tyrants or for inviting the distant despots to form the next government.

Vivekanand Jha Ranchi: Before i begin writing this piece I should take this opportunity toto express my sincere thanks to my boyhood friend Mr Sonjoy Bhattacharjee for being the harbinger for the germination of this idea to write this piece. Speaking on the historic occasion of the birth anniversary of Veer Savarkar, the former Prime Minister of India, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee had spoken certain memorable sentences which, even the statesman Prime Minister Vajpayee would have hardly had an inkling that, soon after he had left for his heavenly abode, what he was saying then, would revisit West Bengal in all alacrity.

Ataljee then had famously said, ‘Desh ka bhagya ka faisla honay ja raha tha, jitnay log Plassey Maiden mein lad rahe the, ussay jyada log Maidan kay bahar khare hokar faislay ka intizar kar rahe the’.( Nation’s fate was to be decided, yet those standing outside the battle ground, far outnumber those who were engaged in fighting battle inside the ground) Now, the moot question: Why would a far greater number preferred to remain as spectators watching the battle with all excitement, least of being bothered about its consequences; in fact, gloating over the nemesis of Siraj ud-Daulah, and, even in the process, with an overwhelming sense of schadenfreude, anticipating that the local tyrant Siraj ud-Daulah should be decimated by the East India Company led by Robert Clive. Significantly, the local people of Murshidabad then, by corollary, the people of West Bengal, stood disillusioned with the state of affairs of Siraj, who had already degenerated to the level of a local tyrant. Siraj, a womanizer, thoroughly immersed in epicurean life style, hardly had any time for his subject. No wonder in the process, his officials, especially those engaged in tax collection, had already metamorphosed into the most corrupt tyrants whose degree of atrocities brought Siraj all sorts of infamy and opprobrium.

Sensing their complete disillusionment of the people of Murshidabad, Robert Clive, an astute general, had already seduced Mirjafar to betray Siraj and join the ranks of Clive. Small wonder then the inhabitants of Murshidabad, having become inordinately hopeless, sought comeuppance of the local tyrant, Siraj in the hands of their redeemer, Robert Clive. But then with the complete rout of Siraj and his replacement by Mirjafar, a puppet of Clive; subsequently, even his replacement by Mir Quasim, the son-in-law of Mirjafar, for the latter’s inability to pay the hefty tax as demanded by Robert; Mir Quasim too, with his failure to pay the amount of tax, fell out of favour with Clive, resulting in the battle of Buxar in 1761; losing the battle, Mirjafar once again returned as the puppet ruler. Now the fix: the people of Murshidabad and its adjoining areas, could now realise the tangible difference: The local tyrant, even though was exploitative, yet was considerably superior to the distant despot, East India Company whose solitary interest was to impoverish its colonies and enrich itself. No wonder in an attempt to cheer the distant despot, with the firm conviction that it would insulate them from local tyranny, the innocent people, in their utter gullibility, had invited even a far bigger nemesis upon themselves: the treacherous East India Company as a far greater menace to them. In fact, it was 1757, the battle of Plassey revisiting West Bengal yet again.

The inhabitants of West Bengal, getting rid of the left tyranny for several decades, desperately reposed their sincere faith in Mamata Banerjee, their liberator from the scorching left rule. Ironically, when the people of West Bengal, in their sheer optimism, began dreaming big, they were in for the big shock: the left syndicate rule was replaced by even more tyrranical rule of Trinamool, where the syndicate was institutionalised more vigorously. No wonder the people even rued over the fact that, the communist rule with all its ills, was undoubtedly better than that of the innumbent Mamata rule. In the meanwhile, whereas the face of government changed, the people inhabiting it remained by and large the same-the same goons who inhabited the left, now perched comfortably under the banner of Trinamool. Didi, in her utter vengeance against the left, wrought havoc on the Communist bases, leaving the space of opposition vacant. And, as is the nature’s rule, this vacuum caused due to Didi’s whimsicality, was quickly filled up by the BJP. No wonder BJP’s miraculous victory in the last election, winning 18 out of 42 seats, left Didi flummoxed.

The BJP, in its own gigantic rise, sensed blood, and therefore, began dreaming big: displacing Mamata from her bastion. The ongoing election is therefore an emboldened attempt of BJP, albeit in the garb of East India Company, where the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the garb of Robert Clive, is striving to remind the Bengali electorate about the syndicate rule under Mamata and consequently dangles the carrots to wean the people away from her.
Consequently as this battle of Titans hots up, the Bengalese stand severely confused; in fact, the humongous dilemma stares at the face of Bengalese today much like as it stared at those who stood outside the ground of Plassey, way back in 1757, anticipating that the victory of Clive will redeem them from the local tyranny. Alas, wishes were horses! The people of Bengal today, yearning for a change, are seriously looking for a viable option in BJP to rid them of local tyranny of syndicate rule of Mamata Banerjee, but the moot question is: whether inviting BJP to form the government will be tantamount to inviting East India company of 1757? No wonder while Didi desperately goes on making exhortations upon the people of Bengal to save Bangla, and with BJP promising Sonar Bangla if it comes to power, the Bengalese in midst of this mighty confusion of deluge of political propaganda will take the historic decision from tomorrow as the voting starts. Whoever they vote, they should recall the famous quotation of Tilak, ‘ What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow’. Unequivocally then, in their final verdict, lays the seeds for the next General Election of 2024.