The duality of the Left has been exposed again by a Calcutta High Court order that has asked the West Bengal Government to enforce pay cuts for government employees who do not turn up for work on bandh days. The interim order came on a PIL seeking the Court’s intervention, following a series of bandhs scheduled over the coming fortnight, which is certain to disrupt normal life and livelihood in the state.Left to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the court order would have probably found warm acceptance. His is a government that has just begun to show that it means business and a ceaseless functioning of the state’s resurgent industry is its top most priority. To comply with the court order, the chief secretary has already issued a notice urging employees to report for duty on bandh days. But CPI(M)-backed Coordination Committee for State government Employees is in no mood to comply, revealing the duality.The leaders of the Coordination Committee, which is the biggest union of State Government employees, say that they oppose the bandh as well as the HC’s directives. Their reasoning: What will happen when the Left trade unions call a bandh? None of the coming bandhs have been called by the Left, but a CPM bandh is an annual ritual during which the entire government machinery is made to work against those who oppose the bandh.Already, the comrades have observed a ‘‘country-wide’’ bandh on February 22 to demand the right to strike work. On December 7, the comrades are scheduled to march to Parliament to iterate that a ‘‘bandh is a weapon for a democratic movement’’. And, as usual, the comrades insist that a bandh called by any Opposition party is aimed at paralysing the government while the ones called by it are prompted by people’s interests.Decibel demons are backThis year, Kali Puja and Diwali in Kolkata revived the horrors of the decibel demons which had been banished for the past few years by strict implementation of court orders. The State Government, egged on by a Green Bench of the Kolkata High Court, had battled hard in the mid and late ’90s to enforce a ban on bursting of crackers during Diwali and Kali Puja all over the state.After initial resistance the ban came to be implemented with a fair degree of success, bringing relief to thousands of ailing and the old in the city. In fact, associations of fireworks manufacturers from Sivakasi had even called a press conference a few years ago to plead for relaxation of the ban. The ban continued and the spirit of Diwali was kept alive with illuminations and low-key fireworks.Not this year. The Kali Puja and the day after — Diwali — were marked once again by night-long staccato bursts of bombs and other banned firecrackers. Obviously, the law enforcing machinery was either complacent, having enforced the sound decibel ban in earlier years, or failed to monitor traders selling banned firecrackers. The police have tried to defend themselves by pointing out that as many as 300 people were arrested for violating the firecracker ban. But the degree of violation, obviously, was far greater than that.Fast over casteBengal is not known to have any sharp caste bias among its population. But a small incident has been an eye opener to the ‘‘secular’’ Left Front government. In the Sarenga area of Bankura district, primary school students of the upper-castes were refusing midday meals served in their schools because the cooks of two self-help groups belonged to the lower-caste Duley community. The guardians of the Brahmin students demanded that the authorities change the cooks.The authorities tried to brush aside the incident as one of rivalry over labour wages. But the district magistrate has admitted that caste consideration was at the root of the problem. The administration is dealing with the situation carefully, he said. The message: the sole purpose of midday meals is not to attract students to school. The students must rise over caste considerations as well, he felt.All for cricketA 22-Year-old cricket enthusiast from Muzaffarpur, Sudhir Kumar Gautam, cycled all the way from Bihar to Kolkata a day before India and Pakistan were to play the platinum jubilee match at the Eden Gardens. How Gautam made it inside Eden Gardens is another story that he would cherish all his life. It was his photograph with the Little Master at the Tendulkar’s in Mumbai that stood him in good stead this time and earned him a passport to the stadium.Unable to break through the security ring at the hotel, Gautam caught Sachin’s attention outside Eden Gardens after a practice session the day before the match. ‘‘The Little Master instantly recognised me and promised a ticket next morning,’’ recalled Gautam. With security people cordoning off the hotel he lost hope. ‘‘Suddenly the Little Master peeped out of the team bus as it was heading for the ground and handed me the ticket,’’ he recounted. ‘‘A promise is a promise,’’ he said as he took a bite at Kolkata’s new eating-out destination — Sourav’s.
