Mainstream Weekly

On Sumanta Banerjee's Open Letter

Dipanjan Rai Chaudhuri — 2010-09-17T08:55:17Z

Sumanta Banerjee is shocked at actions by intellectuals of West Bengal which might help the TMC electorally. He thinks a TMC victory will be a disaster for the people of West Bengal, and points to the bad performance of TMC-led panchayats, Mamata Banerjee's Congress (and Youth Congress) antecedents, including support of the Emergency and closeness to Siddhartha Ray, her political mistakes, her controversial acts of commission and omission as the Railway Minister.
Sumanta Banerjee (…)

- 2010

Political Struggle within the CPI-M

Dipanjan Rai Chaudhuri — 2009-09-12T15:30:23Z

The takeover of the CPI-M party by the neo-liberals was so bloodless, with seasoned social-democrats rooted in the trade unions (like Pandhe saab) and the peasant masses (like Rezzak saab) and voluble intellectuals capitulating with only a whimper or two,* that commentators like the present columnist concluded that the party had become a party of big capital. While this remains the principal aspect, it seems that there is still life in the creature, and the debacle in the West Bengal Lok (…)

- September 2009

Durga Puja As Protest

Dipanjan Rai Chaudhuri — 2007-11-03T14:22:28Z

The four days of Durga Puja signify carnival time in West Bengal. On the main Saptami Puja day—Thursday, October 18—a few of us witnessed a tiny act of defiance by the small traders of Nonachandanpukur Bazaar, in Barrackpore, within the area loosely called Greater Calcutta.
I say Nonachandanpukur Bazaar, but the 58 year old bazaar was bulldozed to the ground on December 29, 2006, by the now familiar combination of policemen and party cadre. The site is fenced with corrugated tin, and (…)

- November 3, 2007