Thread by @sarkar_swati

This article reveals the enormous problem the BJP-RSS faces in Bengal. It has no one who knows the history of Bengal, nor has any lived experience there, nor has any affection for Bengal. So, the messaging will be off. Thread follows: telegraphindia.com/opinion/bengal…

First, let us discuss the deeply flawed knowledge of recent history of Bengal revealed through this article, ironically authored by a Bengali-born, who has a doctorate in history and from a reputed institution.

Claim: Until the advent of Swami Vivekananda, the Bengal Renaissance movement entirely discarded the Hindu heritage of Bengal, except for Bidyasagar, Bhudeb, Bankim. This claim shows an acute ignorance of the history of the Hindu reform movement of Bengal.

The Bengal Renaissance started with Rammohan Roy, leading to Brahmo Samaj. The entire movement was deeply Hindu, just not the Sanatani kind. Rammohan Roy got Sati banned through arguments based in Hindu scriptures.

To say, Rammohan discarded the Hindu heritage of Bengal is indicative of the worst of Right Wing ignorance of history, and a deeply perverted notion of Hindu heritage of Bengal as also misogyny. Is the Hindu heritage of Bengal only widow burning ?

Then the Brahmo Samaj. Brahmo Samaj was a Hindu Reform movement, again not the Sanatani kind, and stopped the conversion to Christianity. Urge reading a good summary of its contributions given in Indian Struggle, by Subhas Chandra Bose.

The writings of Shibnath Sastri, Michael Madhusudhan Dutta, Kaliprasanna Sinha (eg, authoritative translation of Mahabharat from Sanskrit which is read till today) are stellar examples of Hindu heritage of Bengal.All predate Swami Vivekananda. Nothing cosmopolitan in the writings

Sad that a man promoted as the intellectual face of currently a major party in Bengal has no knowledge of writings of such stalwarts. Of course, even worse he has a Phd in history from a reputed institute. And writes on history of Bengal. Anglophiles do not need to be ignorant!

Now, let us come to the lack of lived experience in real Bengal. That would be knowledge of Bengali literature post independence, popular Bengali movies, and discourse in Bengali homes. The commentary in the drawing rooms of Anglicized elites do not count, sorry.

Yet,what does the author believe is culture of Bengal? Lenin, Stalin,Ho Chi Min, Mayokovsky,Pablo Neruda.Tells me that the author has not read any Bangla literature post 1947, nor seen any popular nor avant-garde Bangla movies.Effectively he didn’t live in Bengal, even if he did!

Let’s look at the writings of the stalwarts of Bangla literature post 47. Jibanananda (a bit), Sharadindu, Ashapurna, Tarashankar, Samaresh, Satyajit, Sunil, Shirshendu are some names that readily came to my mind. None of them wrote of Neruda, Mayakovsky, Lenin, Stalin,Ho Chi Min

Their works, at least the celebrated ones, are set in urban and rural Bengal and sometimes elsewhere in India. The characters were mostly Bengali. So, very little cosmopolitanism. Educated Bengali homes read those, discussed those.

Growing up in an educated middle class Bengali home (i.e., a Bhadralok home), I never heard of Neruda, Mayokovsky while in Bengal. I heard of Neruda later after moving to US. It is in US that I read the translation of one Russian classic. Mayokovsky, I heard this evening

But, I did read the major works of the literary stalwarts mentioned in my thread above.Their works capture Bengali society reasonably well (Sunil misses the relig. component in middle class homes due to his communism). But you won’t read of Neruda, Mayokovsky, Stalin, Lenin there

Next, the popular and avant- garde Bengali movies. The popular genre were the actings of Uttam Kumar, Soumitra, etc. Most of those movies are set in urban and rural Bengal. Characters are Bengali. 0 cosmopolitanism. No Neruda, Mayokovsky, Lenin, Stalin, Ho Chi Min.

The avant garde ones - direction of Satyajit, Mrinal Sen, Ritwik Ghatak. Tapan Sinha straddled in both avant- garde and popular categories. Again, same story - set in urban, rural Bengal mostly, characters are Bengalis.

And the characters do not read nor discuss Lenin, Stalin, Ho Chi Min, Russian classics, Mayokovsky, Neruda. At least largely.

Guided by these, the leadership of BJP-RSS, which is entirely outside Bengal, would miss educated Bengalis entirely! Finally, read the article, you will singularly miss any affection for Bengal. But then, you can’t love something you haven’t experienced.

All that comes across is a mind entirely focused on protecting the interests of Hindi speakers&imagining threats to them that do not exist.But then the same politician entirely ignored the plights of Hindu Bengalis in Assam.Just reinforces who the real masters of BJP-RSS in WB is

I see on SM quite a few Bengalis sympathetic to BJP-RSS who certainly know much more about Bengali culture, literature, history than the politician author in question. But, then showing subjects in good light is rarely the object of colonizers. End.