WB is not that bad
by Anil Gonsalves on Oct 13, 2007 07:06 PM
I would like to tell my Gujarati and Maharashtrians one thing. Your states have done very well in attracting investment. I agree WB has done very poorly in this respect and continues to do so. However, what you should see are the good points of WB which are not in your states. do not ignore them. Firstly, I have been to both Maha and Gujarat and lived in both the states. In Ahemedebad, there are major Dalit colonies-some of the people who live there are even IAS officers and engineers. Indeed, the reason they live there is that the Patels or Brahmins do not give their flats on rent to Gujarat Dalits. The level of casteism in Gujarat is tremendous-look at how the BJP has marginalized both the Dalit and the tribal communities.
Even Maharashtra has had tremendous casteism. Look at how the Marathas protested when Marathwada University was to be renamed Dr BR Ambedkar University. A simple name-and how much of a controversy it became! Look at Khairlange, look at the complete collapse of the Dalit movement, the degree to which Brahmins have been marginalized. Maharashtra is certainly very casteist.
Now look at WB.Have you even heard of caste conflict-I repeat-caste conflict in WB? Can't you give WB credit for making caste almost irrelevant in elections? Even elections are not fought on caste lines and the feeling of casteism is certainly least in India. Even communal violence has been very limited since the partion. There have been no communal riots in WB in 30 years.
