By Professor Satya Narayan Misra in Bhubaneswar, May 29, 2026: As I waded through the hills of North Bengal and the salubrious city of Sikkim, in to my favourite city Kolkotta last week, I was overly curious to know from ordinary Bengalis how the whole state has been swept through by saffron, trumping the prediction that it will be a close race. I have lived in the city, when Jyoti Babu was the presiding deity.

I have also seen Mamta Banerjee as LOP lathi charged in 2003, with blood splattered all over the saree, refusing to get in to the ambulance till she was photographed and interviewed. No wonder, the colour of affiliation of the State changed from fiery red under the vice like grip of the Left party for 34 years to a sea of green, with the icon of a woman in white saree ruling Bengal with firmness for 15 years.

She was a symbol of defiance against a Central regime wedded to authoritarianism, cultural homogenisation and Hindu consolidation. While people of North Bengal were overly critical of Didi, Calcutta offered a more confused picture, with a sense of loss by a few while most seemed to want a change.

The Many Hues of Calcutta

One of the best reads on Calcutta is Rajiv De’s pictorial history book “My Endless City” (2023). Shorn of overt ideological predilection, the black & white pictures capture on the innards of the city beautifully. The Cycle is the most visible symbol of movement of the city. Dreams ride it as did Violet Stoneham in the cult movie 36, Chowrangi Lane on cycle rickshaw. Trams still run from Esplanade to Kiddpore, as it started its first foray in 1902, straddling lazy Hoogly on one side and the verdant green Calcutta maiden on the other side. Except for Vienna, Toronto, Melbourne, Amsterdam & Prague, you do not find such jalopies trundling so elegantly in our busy streets.

If you judge a city by the books it reads, Kolkotta takes the cake. From pamphlets, to newspapers to the most treasured domes, the city devours everything. I have seen rag pickers reading newspapers astride their rickety wheelbarrow and conservancy workers wiping dirt in their hands to pick up daily newspapers. I will never forget the experience when a rare book ‘Body Line’ written by Harold Larwood requisitioned by me in the National Library came through a lift from the basement in a few minutes time! Barring Kerala which houses a public library in every remote corner, books and Bengalis are best buddies.

Theatres and Cinema run through the veins of Bengal. Be it Utpal Dutt’s Yatra, Sambhu Mitra’s Theatre, Satyajit Ray’s cinema or the larger than life presence of Rabindranath Tagore and Rabindra Sangeet, it is an all consuming DNA of the city. Nandan, a cultural centre whose foundation was laid by Jyoti Babu in 1980 and inaugurated by an ailing Ray in 1985 remains the new epicentre and heartthrob of cinema aficionado. The ordinary Calcuttans watch the best of global cinema of Bergman, Fellini, Goddard, Kurusewa, Wazda and Polanski.

The city also reveres Maa Durga as much as it adores football. Football is as entrapment as much as its deliverance, despite the looming presence of Saurabh Ganguly as icon of cricket. The frenzy the city witnesses during Durga Puja, UNESCO calls it “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”. Starting from 1610 with core idea of Good triumphing over Evil, the Puja in Calcutta is sui generis, with theme Pujas, Sabeki Puja and fostering inclusivity as Mulims, Chritians join and millions walk all night free from fear.

Bengal Under Didi

Didi dismantled 34 year left rule, with a promise of “Poribartan” “Governance with a human face”, plethora of welfare and social schemes, rural connectivity, Jaganath temple in Digha and a Calcutta city which looked cleaner and brighter during the TMC rule. But Nandigram was her nemesis.

She stopped the Tata Nano Project and upended the Left government. It became her waterloo as Suvendu Adhikari , an old ally dumped by Mamata. He defeated her in 2021 and again in the recent election. Quite clearly industrialisation has taken a huge beating under her watch.

The record of Bengal in terms of housing deprivation (47%), cooking fuel deprivation (61%) and population % with multi dimension poverty (12%) are not edifying. Besides, Bengal which was connected to global routes of capital flow,  primarily through the British companies got delinked from the late 60s, as the British sold off their companies mostly to the Marwaris. Very little FDI has come in to Bengal.

Hindu Consolidation

There is an apprehension that Bengal has succumbed to an all encompassing wave of Hindu consolidation. Prof Ghosh of Xavier’s College believes that such a perspective is analytically lazy. Religion in the city, post 1946 communal killings has transcended barriers. Be it Christians in the Church, or the Muslims praying in the open, the State shows remarkable secular sinews.

However, when you talk to the common men, they felt that Mamata was manifestly pro Muslim, did not deliver on her employment/development promises and promoted her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is allegedly involved in a slew of scams. Her defiance against many central schemes smacked of foolhardiness. Disillusionment against the Didi has certainly deepened.

Prof Indraneel Dasgupta, from ISI Calcutta, a hard core leftist, believes that Bengal will see a major shift towards physical infra structure and capital accumulation. Mamata shifted her administrative podium from British’s Lal Bari (Writer’s Building) to Neel Bari (Blue & White Secretariat).

It remains to be seen whether the colour of administration under Subhendu will change and bring a new wisp of hope. It is Tagore who binds politicians of different hues. Tagore’s hope that ‘the clear stream of reason must not lose its way in the dreary desert of dead habit’, should hopefully become the beacon light for Suvendu.