Namaste,
These are all unverified, biased observations and conclusions. You are warned not to accept any of it and do your own research if you feel so inclined to learn about Bengal’s unbiased recent history.
The establishment and growth of the East India Company in Bengal created the need for ever increasing number of clerks and lower level administrators. More and more Bengali Indians learned English to qualify for these positions. Christian clergy, ever ready to ‘harvest and save the souls’, was very active there at the time and influenced people’s thinking through teaching English. The intellectuals of the day with a spiritual bend, the likes of Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo and Raja Ram Mohan Roy, were able to go beyond the traditional Hindu scriptures and get exposed to the Christian theology, and Western concepts such as secular humanism and critical thinking. As giants among men endowed with superior intellect, and as pioneer English learners, they translated many of the Hindu scriptures and gave discourses on what has come to be known as ‘Hinduism with a Universalism flavor’.
There were many other learned sages and spiritual giants in India at the time, but the ‘Bengali babus’ came to be known as cream of the crop because of their ability to articulate themselves in English. And they catered to the Westerners with a dash of Xitian theology thrown into the mix. This made them magnets for westerners who were attracted towards Hinduism, and also the darling of the Indian English educated class. Anyone bringing religion to our doorstep and introducing us to a coherent theology becomes very endearing to us, and with time attains god-like status in our thinking. That is perfectly human as all of us cannot get educated in Sanaskrit and then spend a lifetime reading and understanding the scriptures. The teachers adept in English provided some of us with translations, which are like Cliff Notes to spirituality. Hindu scriptural knowledge and Hindu philosophy did not start with the ‘Bengali babus’, but they contributed towards spreading it beyond the traditional boundaries through mixing it with the Xitian mindset.
Fast forward by some decades – the East India Company had been replaced by direct British rule. As more and more land mass came under British occupation, use of English language became more prevalent among educated people from all areas, many common people were getting their college degrees and getting employment in the British Govt. bureaucracy; the movie industry based in Kolkatta created many jobs. Things were good and life was easy. Then everything began to unravel. The seat of the Govt. was moved to Delhi and the movie industry based in Mumbai started to eclipse the one in Kolkatta. After a long stretch of relative affluence, jobs evaporated and economy shrank. By and large the Bengalis were easy going people who had made a living by holding jobs, and there was very little in terms of entrepreneurship. So, in the vacuum created by a sudden loss of jobs in the traditional fields and a lack of any entrepreneurial activity to compensate for the loss, the empty promises and slogans of communists sounded like an enticing alternative. The Bengalis embraced communism full on and strong trade unions came into existence. Industrialists went elsewhere for investing in new factories. With no new economic activity, things became stagnant and the infrastructure deteriorated. All that was left was the ‘Bengali pride’.
After decades of socialist policies enforced by the Bengal state govt. in independent India, the decay is noticeable. The old buildings, total lack of any economic activity, not many international airlines routing to or passing through Kolkatta has been bad for its unfortunate citizens. Whereas rest of the big cities are booming with engineering software parks and call centers, new shopping malls and people buying new appliances/cars, Kolkatta residents have to contend with low paying jobs. Hope some day things will change as the brains of Kolkatta, who are second to none, deserve better.
I warned you about my observations being biased. If you are not happy with my take on Bengal's recent history, feel free to write your own.
Pranam.
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