What West Bengal can teach Narendra Modi

Speaking to a group of businessmen in Kolkata, Narendra Modi said that he was inspired by Bengal; it had been a centre of knowledge and culture for hundreds of years — and he hoped to take lessons from Bengal and implement them in Gujarat. In most societies, it is a common thing to say nice things about your hosts and the occasional polite, white lie is taken at face value.

Even by those standards, Modi’s endorsement of Bengal boggles the mind. What lessons does Modi hope to take back from Bengal? From the Left that ruled for over 30 years, he could learn how to harass industry into oblivion. He could also learn how to politicise — and destroy — a university system that was once the finest, east of the Suez. He could learn, if he hasn’t already, the politics of grievance: blaming every self-created ill on the Centre, or imperialism, or some ghostly foreign hand.

Modi can take lessons from the current regime, too. He could import the lack of dignity that characterises Bengal’s current ministers to Gujarat.

From the chief minister, Modi can take lessons in participating in musical soirées as the administration crumbles around her ears. In the late 19th century, Gopal Krishna Gokhale famously remarked, “What Bengal does today, India does tomorrow.” In the 21st century, we hope India does not heed that advice.