Mamata was jumping the gun when she claimed that the CPIM and Ratan Tata were hand in glove to keep her out of contention in the next assembly polls. Now it seems Narendra Modi, the craftiest Guju post Mohandas Karamchand, was hand in glove with Ratan Tata to fell both Mamata Banerjee AND Budhhadev Bhattachraya,in one fell stroke, for playing truant for too long with the mighty Nano! Otherwise how do you explain the alacrity with which Mr.Tata grabbed Mr.Modi's offer? All it took was 4 days between the bye to Singur and the hi to Sanand. Is this how big timers work? Mr.Tata certainly seems to be a man in a tearing hurry. But he also seems to be a man out to make a point. Have we missed something Mr.Tata? I think you are trying to tell us, the people of Bengal, that you cannot play around with a man of your stature. Point taken, Mr.Tata. You are vindictive. You show it when you are angry. Like you are showing the Greenpeace people because you are angry with them for not letting you build a port at Dhamra, Orissa. A port is development whereas the Olive Ridleys have been around for ages - they belong to history, pre-history infact. The choice is clear, they are expendable.
Quite the epitome of naivete, Mr.Tata even wrote an open letter to the people of our beleagured state asking us to choose between Buddhadev and Mamata. Wallowing in his new found role as the champion of the CPIM govt. Mr.Tata seems to have forgotten that we have chosen, repeatedly, for 30 long years, 'Buddhadev' over 'Mamta', to no avail. Industry still wont touch Bengal. And when giants like the Tatas run away,tail firmly tucked between rear wheels, scared by a few country made bombs, and a 'mad woman', to quote the Left leaders, there is no hope in hell for the 'unemployed youth' of Bengal, who were all hoping to get a job, and a life, in the wake of the Nano. High hopes, but that's another story! Jamshedpur has not changed Jharkhand and Singur would not have changed Bengal. But clever marketing can effectively derail logic. Even revered academics were filling coloumns, rooting for the Nano, as if it was the best thing to have happened to Bengal after Tagore!
If newspaper reports are to be believed the Tatas are being forced to pay through the nose for the land at Sanand. Serves them right. Why shouldn't they pay a fair price for the land? The Bengali bhadralok was bending backwards - as far back as his dhuti kurta would allow - to accomodate the Tatas. They have found their match in the willy Narendra Modi. He has shown that a patient beggar can be a chooser, at the oppurtune moment. He has also shown that business is done on equal terms, not when one party is genuflecting before the other
Enough about the Nano! Just two points before I sign off -
1)Whose hare-brained idea was it to build a cheap car? With depleting oil reserves and irreparably polluted cities who needs a cheap car anyway? Car prices should be hiked up and the money thus generated should be invested to build efficient and eco-friendly public transport systems. Mr.RaviKant said in any interview that the Tatas should not be expected to build roads. True Mr.Ravikant - you are only expected to expolit the roads built with public money. I know you pay taxes but no civilized person's responsibilities end with paying taxes.
2)My relative, who works and lives in Gujrat, narrated this little parable to explain what makes a Gujrati different from a Bengali. If he is to be believed if a Gujrati girl comes home one evening and says that she has been raped, her family,father mother et al,are most likely to say,"Wash up and sit down for dinner". No one will bat an eyelid and the matter will be completely forgotten by next morning! In a similar situation a Bengali girl will certainly contemplate suicide, her family will not know where to hide, how to react. Father will probably have a mild heart attack and mother will be on alpazolam, for days. Brother will blame the girl and promise to break every bone in her body if she steps out of the house ever again.
Quite the epitome of naivete, Mr.Tata even wrote an open letter to the people of our beleagured state asking us to choose between Buddhadev and Mamata. Wallowing in his new found role as the champion of the CPIM govt. Mr.Tata seems to have forgotten that we have chosen, repeatedly, for 30 long years, 'Buddhadev' over 'Mamta', to no avail. Industry still wont touch Bengal. And when giants like the Tatas run away,tail firmly tucked between rear wheels, scared by a few country made bombs, and a 'mad woman', to quote the Left leaders, there is no hope in hell for the 'unemployed youth' of Bengal, who were all hoping to get a job, and a life, in the wake of the Nano. High hopes, but that's another story! Jamshedpur has not changed Jharkhand and Singur would not have changed Bengal. But clever marketing can effectively derail logic. Even revered academics were filling coloumns, rooting for the Nano, as if it was the best thing to have happened to Bengal after Tagore!
If newspaper reports are to be believed the Tatas are being forced to pay through the nose for the land at Sanand. Serves them right. Why shouldn't they pay a fair price for the land? The Bengali bhadralok was bending backwards - as far back as his dhuti kurta would allow - to accomodate the Tatas. They have found their match in the willy Narendra Modi. He has shown that a patient beggar can be a chooser, at the oppurtune moment. He has also shown that business is done on equal terms, not when one party is genuflecting before the other
Enough about the Nano! Just two points before I sign off -
1)Whose hare-brained idea was it to build a cheap car? With depleting oil reserves and irreparably polluted cities who needs a cheap car anyway? Car prices should be hiked up and the money thus generated should be invested to build efficient and eco-friendly public transport systems. Mr.RaviKant said in any interview that the Tatas should not be expected to build roads. True Mr.Ravikant - you are only expected to expolit the roads built with public money. I know you pay taxes but no civilized person's responsibilities end with paying taxes.
2)My relative, who works and lives in Gujrat, narrated this little parable to explain what makes a Gujrati different from a Bengali. If he is to be believed if a Gujrati girl comes home one evening and says that she has been raped, her family,father mother et al,are most likely to say,"Wash up and sit down for dinner". No one will bat an eyelid and the matter will be completely forgotten by next morning! In a similar situation a Bengali girl will certainly contemplate suicide, her family will not know where to hide, how to react. Father will probably have a mild heart attack and mother will be on alpazolam, for days. Brother will blame the girl and promise to break every bone in her body if she steps out of the house ever again.
