West Bengal: Change and Continuity

West Bengal has always been a land of profound cultural and social significance. It is a State where history casts a long shadow, where art and literature are woven into the fabric of daily life, and where every election is a fiercely contested battle of ideologies. This unique blend of a glorious past and a volatile present makes West Bengal one of India’s most captivating and complex regions to understand.

In West Bengal: Change and Continuity, The Hindu Group explores the dynamic tensions between its storied past and turbulent present, offering a nuanced look at a State grappling with deep-seated continuities and sudden, dramatic disruptions that will define its future.

This collection of essays offers a comprehensive deep dive into West Bengal’s most pressing issues, examining the political, economic, and social factors at play. It investigates the widening “political and social fault-lines”, including what experts term the rise of “competitive communalism,” and explores the unique “patron principle” that drives voters to repeatedly elect the same parties. It further chronicles the decline of once-thriving industries, the resulting migrant crisis through a reporter’s poignant notebook, and the cultural shifts marked by the fading of the iconic bhadralok and the transformation of debate from the coffee house to digital threads.

Ahead of a contentious Assembly election, this e-book is an indispensable guide for anyone seeking to understand the forces shaping West Bengal’s political landscape. It moves beyond the headlines to analyse the bipolar political push between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP, the collapse of the Left, and the simmering discontent among various communities despite the ruling dispensation’s welfare largesse. It provides the crucial context needed to understand why the State’s politics are in a constant state of flux, making it a must-read for engaged citizens and observers.

What’s inside:

1. Introduction: A Land of Paradox, by Sudipta Datta

POLITICS, SOCIETY

2. State of Flux: Widening Political and Social Fault-Lines, by Shiv Sahay Singh

3. Party Loyalty Drives Bipolarity Push,by Suhit K. Sen