This statement might seem to be a little controversial to people. Might feel to be insulting to some as well. But looking at the present scenario and progress of things this statement came up in my mind. Case 1:
West Bengal, a state with highly rich history and outstanding food. A state which was considered to be heavily blessed due to its strong financial importance and prospect in 1960's. But somehow things did not happen as expected and the state totally lost track from 1970's which still is very evident there. Political turmoil and "no Industry" activities played part in these cases. In my view the fate of a democratic land is mostly decided by the people in it, and eventually the leaders they choose. In that regard let me put across a straightforward scenario here:
Leadership: I shall only discuss the leadership who have been instrumental to shape the states future from 60's in this segment. Which predominantly is the leftist political influence. The state is considered to be a LEFT BASTION. From a very high level I have to say the effort was really not there and visibility of Government was "Myopic". We can have a further discussion on what went wrong on the later stage of this discussion. Installing political roots across the society has harmed the state like never before and this was done with an intention to intensify political grip so strong that it takes a steady professional effort to upstage the party rule. The approach was a killer, both symbolically and literally. It strengthened the ruling party like no one else in the world, but it killed the socio economic structure of a once rich state. The similar approach was copied repeatedly by different outfits which severely worsened the condition. West Bengal became a politically divided state from a rich in heritage and bright-futured one.
Opposition: The maximum effort any opposition party should put is to target the ruling party for its negative points. Which could have been Less Industrialization, Social erosion, lack of development, rising unemployment, brain drain, no innovation, losing in he competition and so on and so forth. Above all what we all could see in the ground level was a ANTI LEFT agenda. Other issues took backstage and never came in the spotlight. The opposition seemed to have lost its script and repeated the same lines year after year. Sad, in fact frustrating. Now looking ahead to take over as Power Leaders, which was once seen as the winning sprint for the state from its national competitors, the casual approach of the Opposition is as alarming as Tsunami hitting the coasts of Andaman. The state is on verge of losing its only hope and getting into a dual which no one will win. Its a devastating scenario where the future seems really gloomy. Its a bloodbath happening there, and political catfight which seems to be the interest of every individual instead of thinking about the time this state is losing, the advancement happening across the nation that they are losing out of and most importantly the broader interest of the nation.
People: Nobody can blame others if you try to destroy yourself. If there is anybody to blame for the fate West Bengal is in, its the people itself. They chose their fate, they chose their leaders. Small gain, smaller interests and lack of vision did the majority of the damage to the state. Sometimes it gave an idea that the state is not capable of handling an electoral democracy.
BIHAR The winning run: GO BIHAR GO!! That's what comes in my mind when I see its golden run starting up. The present government shows its interest in the states future growth and the people seems to have agreed to join hands into this developmental spirit. Its not only the massive GDP growth that we should see, we should consider the paradigm shift where a state scattered by castism and corruption is pulling itself together and acting like Gujarat. Thats simply outstanding. Looking at this I can never say Bihar is a "back bencher" state anymore. It has shown the maturity and its showing the right spirits, with this they can win the game.
Going with it, it seems to me West Bengal have poised itself to be a state of only political interest and it will continue to be, it will take a long time to get into the "growth story" that the rest of the nation is joining in. It has become a case what Bihar once was and got itself out of. Its a riches to rags story and an very sad one.
