• From: "souptik"
• Date: 22 Feb 2006 06:15:37 −0800
On chance I came across a few articles that pained me and hence my decision to join this group
First of all I thank you all for keeping the concept of United Bengal still alive. But going by your mail I understand that there are serious misunderstandings. I am a student at the University of Texas at Arlington. Born and brought up in Kolkata , I have always learnt from
childhood that partition was wrong . Always believed that had Bose got
15 more days to free India by force then partition would not have happened at all. Even though I believe that faith is personal, it is perhaps worth pointing that Bose's top commanders were Muslims. West Bengal is the most liberal amongst all Indian states today as far as religion is concerned, not strange why BJP gets no foothold in the state. Last 30 yrs of communist rule have changed things even further.
Coming to US I came across people from East Bengal (Bangladesh) . Not only do we speak the same language but also have similar politeness, intellect and liberalism that signifies Bengal.Althogh I do admit the
fact that there are fundamentalists on both sides.
Inspite of all these similarities differences exist. If speaking Hindi
is what you differentiate a Bengali from East and West Bengal, a few facts need to be realised.
Hindus from Bengal were never in favour of the partition. My grandfather as an example came from Khulna ,was a freedom fighter and was externed from Presidency College Physics Department in 1911 for beating up a British professor along with Bose and was later jailed 11 times.After partition his children studied in Vastuhara Vidyalayas , branded as a refugee for his links to East Bengal, which he always sweared by.
Politically , in 1947 the Congress party at the time of partition was in the hands of Nehru, not any Bengali. Nehru detasted Bose and all
Bengalis for that reason. When partition took place Bengal even though
Bengalis have produced the best brains in every field of human activity
(two Noble prize winnners not to mentioned) were fooled by Jinnah.Together with Nehru , Lady Mountbatten and the entire West the story of Partition was scripted, else how come such a short time such
an extraordinary disicion could have been taken.
Next the question of Hindi.For the last 30 years because of Communist
United Bengal −Why Not 1
United Bengal −Why Not
Rule , industry in Bengal has died down .(Even though great credit can be given to them for land reforms and abolition of feudal systems)In that situation Bengalis known for their brains , but zero entapreneurship have been forced to leave Bengal for lack of jobs. We all know that there is a natural tendency of people to merge with the locals . The reason we try to adopt American accent in US and Biharis speak Bengali in Bangladesh. If you live in India you will realise how
a Bengali suffers today. The communist experimentation with Bengali (no
English upto 7th std − Matribhasae sikhadan) and heavily accented
Hindi. With all that you need to accept that people like Rani Mukherjee
, who swear by their Bengali origin today rule Bollywood.That just shows the talent Bengalis have .
My roommates in US are Bengalis from Bangladesh. We share the same nostalgia of Hilsa and listen to the same Bengali rock. We all belive
that what Bengal needs today is more business, entrapreneurs and investments. Economics can solve almost every political problem in the world. Bengal needs to get hold of the lastest technology wave opportunities like nanotechnology just like India did with IT (I am
just drawing an analogy to what Taiwan did with Harware , while we say India missed the hardware bus). Bengal having a rich culture we need to take our culture on a global stage just like the Punjabis from India
and Pakistan are doing. We need to make our region prosperous and unity will be driven by business needs and the pride we will share .Let us
keep our religion to personal faith.
Things are looking up today. A new world order have emerged. East and West Germany have united some time back. China and Tiwan getting united also looks possible. My South Korean friends tell me that they also
want to unite with North Korea. Investments in West Bengal are pouring. Non Resident Bengalis are coming back.
The world is looking at when and how Bengal Unites making a statement , that the "Bengali Spirit" , like the spirit of the Royal Bengal Tiger −
cannot be broken.
Souptik Mukherjee
University of Texas at Arlington souptikm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
.
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