The gentle silence of a last goodbye began to seep through the Calcutta dusk on January 6 as Jyoti Basu's city began to absorb the final drift of an icon from the shadow of age to the darkness of eternity. It had heard the code words critical' and ventilator'. There was nothing left to say.
Jyoti Basu bid a formal farewell many years ago, without fuss. If he felt a human tinge of regret as he stepped out of the office that had become synonymous with his name, he did not show it. Perhaps he was born amid the sophisticated pre-Partition gentry of East Bengal with a stiff upper lip. Maybe he acquired it in England.
His government adopted measures such as the abolition of English teaching till class 5 and the politicisation of institutions which set West Bengal behind by decades. Trade union militancy and crippling power cuts led to the decimation of small and medium industry. To the investing classes, Bengal became a big no-no. Its efficiency was limited to the organisation of bandhs.
Jyoti Basu was Indias longest-serving Chief Minister, being in office for 23 years. Politically, his achievement is colossal. However, measured against where West Bengal stood in 1977 against where it reached in 2000, Basu will be regarded as one of the most spectacular non-achievers in recent times. He inherited a crumbling edifice and bequeathed a similar structure to his predecessor. He merely prevented the roof from caving in.
Maybe Basus exalted status is a reflection of the Bengali distaste for both achievement and change. Basu and Bengal were made for each other.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/18/2010 17:06 Comments ||
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The death of Jyoti Basu, the veteran Indian Communist leader, has brought tributes from political friends and foes alike in coverage befitting a state president.
It is understandable: Basu was one of the last great pre-independence politicians standing, one of India's history men. He could have been prime minister, he ushered in 30 years of Communist control in West Bengal. He was a follower of Gandhi as a schoolboy in Calcutta and organized receptions for Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose as a student in London in the 1930s. He later won seats in almost every state legislative assembly election from independence until his retirement in 2000.
I read with interest the article on JB by one John ( really dont care who he is) and I couldnt help smile at the hugely ignorance displayed by Mr.John. To justify what he has written, we must interpret that the voting citizens of West Bengal were idiots, blind, ignorant and let JB rule them for three decades.
Wake up Mr. and smell the cofee. You have missed the target.
This editorial comment was submitted via the Maldives.
#1
At some point all soldiers need training that they should never, ever "put someone out of their misery", in what they think is an act of kindness, because invariably they will get it wrong.
Perhaps the silliest version of this was a soldier who was K.O.'ed by an enemy bullet that grazed his skull. Bleeding profusely from the minor head skin wound, he looked like a mess, so another soldier decided that he was mortally, and horribly wounded.
So he decided to shoot him. But right then the wounded soldier woke up, moved the gun barrel away, and punched the "helpful" soldier on the nose, breaking it.
In a fit of instinctual rage, "the bloody mess" then went chasing and cursing after the soldier with blood pouring from his nose, offering to beat the heck out of him, and leaving everyone else in the unit in a state of WTF?
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (dpa) - Past and present have collided in Haiti, which despite being shattered by an earthquake is beginning to reverberate with a familiar violence. While the world has come to this desperately poor Caribbean country - to treat the wounded, search for survivors, feed the homeless, fund recovery - it has been unable to shake off its volatile history.
Haiti swerved recklessly between fighting and moments of uneasy calm as armed gangs resorted to looting in the devastated capital city, which has very little to offer. Metres away from the collapsed presidential palace, the attacks were so fierce that police blocked roads to the affected area of La Ville.
"They are shooting at journalists, police - everybody," a policeman said. "The bad guys are taking over."
The presence of police, while reassuring in other countries, brings little comfort here. As Haitian officers took to the streets wearing ski masks, and several arterial roads were blocked by stones, locals saw it as a sign of trouble.
Such situations are not new in Haiti, with riots and gun battles the norm during political upheavals and previous natural disasters. There has been a steady escalation in robberies and kidnappings, and there are concerns that this would culminate in widespread ransacking and rioting.
"I don't see Port-au-Prince as being more violent than cities such as Rio," said a rescue worker from the United States. "It's not just the catastrophic loss of lives - these people have lost everything that helped them make sense of this world. We keep talking about the deaths, sure, but don't realize how being homeless and unemployed - with no hope of having either a roof over your head or paid work in the future - can desensitize you."
As anger and frustration build over the slow pace of aid to the survivors, officials say that distributing food could pose serious problems, and if not handled properly, lead to major riots. Instead of handing out food and water on a large scale in encampments where thousands live, they would prefer to work with smaller groups to avoid being attacked by impatient, ravenous mobs. But today, most of Port-au-Prince lives on public space. and here comes the money quote...
There are some who remain unperturbed about violence in Haiti. One French aid worker said that once the US military arrived everything would be okay.
"They'll come in, shoot a few people, and that's the end of it," he said with a shrug. tant pis. ce n'est pas mon affaire
Haiti has formally asked the United States to provide security and aid as it struggles to rebuild, a statement issued by both governments late Sunday said. An estimated 10,000 to 12,000 US troops will be in Haiti by Monday, US military officials said.
Six days after the magnitude-7 earthquake hit the country, killing between 150,000 and 200,000 people, that's no real solace for the tens of thousands of teeming, hungry masses outside the presidential palace not certain if they will find food and water, and live to see another day.
Martha Coakley made a jaw-dropping declaration earlier this week at the only live televised debate in Boston that she has deigned to do. She said, and I quote, I've traveled the state and met tremendous people.''
Because if she had really traveled the state, if she had taken the time to meet voters, Coakley wouldn't be in the position she finds herself in now, heading into the final weekend of this special election campaign in a perilously close race against a GOP state legislator nobody had heard of a mere six months ago.
Back in December, Coakley beat her closest opponent by 19 points in a primary in which she got stronger by the day. She strolled into the general election with high name recognition, strong favorability ratings, and as the Democratic candidate in a state that hasn't elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972. It looked as if it would be impossible to lose.
So what did she do? Apparently, she's tried to accomplish the impossible.
Literally, she all but vanished. She refused to debate on TV unless it was exactly on her terms. She went days without venturing out in public. When she did appear, it was typically to accept endorsements from elected officials or union heads in front of supportive crowds. She may have gone the first month of the campaign without ever meeting an honest-to-goodness rank-and-file undecided resident.
Campaigns are an opportunity for candidates to hear from the public they want to represent, but Coakley doesn't seem to believe this is necessary. At a rare meet-and-greet with voters Wednesday, she worked a room of a couple of hundred senior citizens in Dorchester in under 10 minutes. Then she turned her back on the crowd as she spoke to reporters, leaving the seniors to awkwardly applaud remarks they weren't meant to hear.
As she quickly made her way to the exits, it took an outreach worker at the senior center to insist that she address the crowd, which she did, and well.
Voters are smart. They want their next senator to take on all comers, to be aggressive and passionate in pursuit of such a critical office at a singular time. In Coakley, they see someone who hasn't earned their support. Worse, they see someone who assumed she'd get it.
Scott Brown may not share the political values of most of the state and may lack the experience for the US Senate. And, let's be honest, his nights probably aren't tied up with Mensa meetings. But he's out there hustling, meeting, asking, and convincing. People respect that, a lot.
With polls tightening, the pressure is starting to show on Coakley. A normally shrewd and polite Coakley adviser got physical with a reporter trying to approach the candidate on a Washington, D.C., sidewalk (message: She can't handle questions). Coakley later made reference to Scott Brown stalkers'' (new message: She rattles easily).
Coakley was on the telephone yesterday putting some impressive spin on a white-knuckles situation. She repeated her assertion that the short duration of a special election meant that daily meet-and-greets with voters wouldn't work. She also said the sudden closeness would help her get supporters to the polls in an election in which turnout is critical.
It's energized a lot of people in the state who thought it might have been a cakewalk,'' she said.
Prominent Democrats in Boston are privately seething at the candidate and her campaign. First and foremost, they see the immediate impact defeat could have on the health care overhaul. Beyond that, they fret about the seismic impact a Republican victory in Massachusetts would have on Obama's national standing. And they are nearly despondent about what a defeat would mean to Ted Kennedy's legacy and memory.
We're at an amazing point right now in which nobody knows what will happen Tuesday. And it's not because of anything Coakley did, but because of everything she didn't.
#2
How can this happen to Teddys seat? (cue heavenly choirs) Because it is written the only thing surer than Saddam Hussein winning in Iraq, is a Democrat in Teddys Seat (cue heavenly choirs) and if that does not happen, it will be the end of the world because Teddys seat (cue heavenly choirs) is a unique seat designated for CERTAIN PEOPLE. You have to undestand this. All the media that counts (everyone except Talk Radio and FOX News) know this is Teddys seat (cue heavenly choirs) and if someone else gets in there it would be a breaking of the 7th seal for all true members of the Democrat party. Because it is Teddys seat (cue heavenly choirs) And besides, if the interloper Brown wins, we must investigate something. Teddys seat (cue heavenly choirs) must not slip from our grasp!
#3
Poetic justice if "Teddy's Seat" drives the wooden stake into government takeover of American medical services.
Posted by: ed ||
01/18/2010 19:18 Comments ||
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#4
Jon Stewart, on tonight's episode of The Daily Show, ripped to little shreds the Democrats, Ms. Coakley, and the need to maintain a supermajority in the Senate in order to pass the Health Care bill. Key quote, "It's not that the Republicans are playing chess and the Democrats are playing checkers. The Republicans are playing chess and the Democrats are in the nurse's office because they glued their balls to their thighs again!"
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Martha Coakley made a jaw-dropping declaration earlier this week at the only live televised debate in Boston that she has deigned to do. She said, and I quote, I've traveled the state and met tremendous people.''
