A tie-up with Congress would have yielded zilch, given the total absence of CPI(M) cadres in the Bengal countryside
A standard ritual marks Madhu Mallick’s start of day. At the crack of dawn, the 37-year-old lights the clay stove, boils milk with water and puts tea-leaves into it. That would ready the piping-hot brew for his morning customers who begin arriving at the shop. It’s an open brick-and-cement structure at the far end of his mud hut in the police district of Jangipara in south-central West Bengal. To be precise, on the side of the highway at the crossing of three villages: Mohanbati, Majhipara and Gayapara, in Hooghly district. There, Madhu’s Teashop, according its owner, “is a silent witness” to the political change that swept through the state when, seven years ago, the mighty Communists faced defeat after ruling the state uninterruptedly for three-and-a-half decades.
Jangipara was one of those famed political constituencies during these long 34 years. Not once did it elect someone outside of the Left. Be the election for the civic body, state assembly or the country’s Parliament, the winner was always from the CPI(M) or one of its political partners. “Yes, earlier these parts were dominated by the Communists,” nods Mallick in agreement.
The local leaders and party workers, who sat on the wooden benches outside his stall, drank tea and chatted—all of them belonged to the Red brigade. Then, as if overnight, on a muggy May day in 2011, as new chief minister Mamata Banerjee took oath in Calcutta, the entire area turned green: the colour of the now-ruling party, Trinamool Congress.
According to locals, since then, in these past seven years, anyone would be hard put to locate a single CPI(M) supporter, forget leader, cadre or worker.
Esta historia es de la edición February 19, 2018 de Outlook.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición February 19, 2018 de Outlook.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
No Singular Self
Sudarshan Shetty's work questions the singularity of identity
Mass Killing
Genocide or not, stop the massacre of Palestinians
Passing on the Gavel
The higher judiciary must locate its own charter in the Constitution. There should not be any ambiguity
India Reads Korea
Books, comics and webtoons by Korean writers and creators-Indian enthusiasts welcome them all
The K-kraze
A chronology of how the Korean cultural wave(s) managed to sweep global audiences
Tapping Everyday Intimacies
Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo departs from his outsized national cinema with low-budget, chatty dramedies
Tooth and Nail
The influence of Korean cinema on Bollywood aesthetics isn't matched by engagement with its deeper themes as scene after scene of seemingly vacuous violence testify, shorn of their original context
Beyond Enemy Lines
The recent crop of films on North-South Korea relations reflects a deep-seated yearning for the reunification of Korea
Ramyeon Mogole?
How the Korean aesthetic took over the Indian market and mindspace
Old Ties, Modern Dreams
K-culture in Tamil Nadu is a very serious pursuit for many