Skip to main content

West Bengal politics amidst people's moral degradation and self-centeredness

By Harasankar Adhikari 

Politics is certainly an important and significant determinant of the socio-economic status of a nation as well as its population, particularly in a democratic nation. There has been a long-standing political history in Bengal since the colonial period. Its contributions to a nation’s development are to glorify the nation. Social, economic, educational, and political reforms in India were started in Bengal by a group of eminent thinkers and intellects. Bengal has taken the most glorified part in freeing India from colonial rule.
After the independence of India, Bengal's think tanks played a vital role in reforming and reconstructing the nation socially, educationally, and economically because every policy and program in India is formulated according to the expertise and opinion of the think tanks in Bengal. For example, the formation of the Planning Commission of India and its functions was initiated by the unforgotten leader, Nataji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Anyway, gradually, the people of Bengal were sensitized politically to true democracy through the implementation of local self-government under the Panchayat Raj Institution. Significantly, this Panchayat Raj expedites people's participation in democratic government through land reforms, the narrowing of casteism, and other socio-economic evils in society. People's democratic rights have been established. 
Local-level development planning and societal structural reformation have become people's own choices. Political awareness and people's participation have also had some bad impacts, like deindustrialization and political groupism, which badly impact personal relations and interaction. 
It breaks togetherness in family, community, and other aspects. It facilitates a political party supporter’s based division, even within a family. Unfortunately, it is not so much based on political party-based principles; it is based on political opportunity-based greed.
People's moral degradation and self-centeredness become political party-based traits. This opportunist promotes two categories of political beneficiaries: opportunists and non-opportunists. One may consider as the ruling party supporters and opposition. There is a huge gap between the two, and greed works to attract opposition supporters to the ruling party, from which one can enjoy different benefits of the government.
The TMC came into power after defeating the 34-year-old rule only using this weakness of the people of Bengal. Since 2011, TMC has been ruling the state as a populist government. Its policy and programs are only to purchase people as blind supporters of TMC. It uses all administrative techniques to keep people in favor of it for a long time. In addition to this, it abuses the administration against the opposition and critics of this government. But it is not confident about people's opinions, so it applies different techniques of vote looting.
Within a decade, this party has committed corruption in every sphere. But people are at large silent, realizing this party has harmed the glory of the state. But they are not collectively struggling against it because of fear of losing benefits or of losing a peaceful life.

Comments

TRENDING

Gujarat Information Commission issues warning against misinterpretation of RTI orders

By A Representative   The Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) has issued a press note clarifying that its orders limiting the number of Right to Information (RTI) applications for certain individuals apply only to those specific applicants. The GIC has warned that it will take disciplinary action against any public officials who misinterpret these orders to deny information to other citizens. The press note, signed by GIC Secretary Jaideep Dwivedi, states that the Right to Information Act, 2005, is a powerful tool for promoting transparency and accountability in public administration. However, the commission has observed that some applicants are misusing the act by filing an excessive number of applications, which disproportionately consumes the time and resources of Public Information Officers (PIOs), First Appellate Authorities (FAAs), and the commission itself. This misuse can cause delays for genuine applicants seeking justice. In response to this issue, and in acc...

On Teachers’ Day, remembering Mother Teresa as the teacher of compassion

By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ   It is Teachers’ Day once again! Significantly, the day also marks the Feast of St. Teresa of Calcutta (still lovingly called Mother Teresa). In 2012, the United Nations, as a fitting tribute to her, declared this day the International Day of Charity. A day pregnant with meaning—one that we must celebrate as meaningfully as possible.

Gujarat minority rights group seeks suspension of Botad police officials for brutal assault on minor

By A Representative   A human rights group, the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) Gujarat,  has written to the Director General of Police (DGP), Gandhinagar, demanding the immediate suspension and criminal action against police personnel of Botad police station for allegedly brutally assaulting a minor boy from the Muslim community.

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative   A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey  visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification. 

'Govts must walk the talk on gender equality, right to health, human rights to deliver SDGs by 2030'

By A Representative  With just 64 months left to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global health and rights advocates have called upon governments to honour their commitments on gender equality and the human right to health. Speaking ahead of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), experts warned that rising anti-rights and anti-gender pushes are threatening hard-won progress on SDG-3 (health and wellbeing) and SDG-5 (gender equality).

Gandhiji quoted as saying his anti-untouchability view has little space for inter-dining with "lower" castes

By A Representative A senior activist close to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has defended top Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s controversial utterance on Gandhiji that “his doctrine of nonviolence was based on an acceptance of the most brutal social hierarchy the world has ever known, the caste system.” Surprised at the police seeking video footage and transcript of Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, Nandini K Oza in a recent blog quotes from available sources to “prove” that Gandhiji indeed believed in “removal of untouchability within the caste system.”

Is U.S. fast losing its financial and technological edge under Trump’s second tenure?

By Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra*  The United States, along with its Western European allies, once promoted globalization as a democratic force that would deliver shared prosperity and balanced growth. That promise has unraveled. Globalization, instead of building an even world, has produced one defined by inequality, asymmetry of power, and new vulnerabilities. For decades, Washington successfully turned this system to its advantage. Today, however, under Trump’s second administration, America is attempting to exploit the weaknesses of others without acknowledging how exposed it has become itself.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

'MGNREGA crisis deepening': NSM demands fair wages and end to digital exclusions

By A Representative   The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a coalition of independent unions of MGNREGA workers, has warned that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is facing a “severe crisis” due to persistent neglect and restrictive measures imposed by the Union Government.