“The City of Joy turned ugly”, this can be a dramatic movie title. And why not, it seemed no less than any drama. Such was the dramatization, and so well orchestered was the performance of the characters that the audience was left awestruck. They did not know what to do; they had never witnessed such a performance.
Well surely one thing is certain that all is not good in Kolkata. For first time since the riots following the ugly Babri Masjid demolition the army was deployed on its streets. It is hard to tell whether the people feel a need of an uprising against the seemingly oppressive CPM, or are they being provoked by some people guided by vested interests. Whatever may be the case it has broken the peace and harmony of the city that was once proud of its tolerance. It was a perfectly normal day. Little kids went to their schools, people jostled their way to their offices unaware that hell was about to break lose. Suddenly, their was a road block on Ripon street. Then there was simultaneous blocking of Park Circus and A.J.C. Bose road. What followed was watched in dismay by bystanders. The protesters against Taslima Nasreen had turned violent. There was a noise about a clash. Without a slight hesitancy the army was deployed on the streets by the honourable chief minister of West Bengal. The same person had waited for things to go out of control in Nandigram before even thinking about deployment of army. Did he panic? Well unfortunately, may be yes.
What is troubling is that all this happened in the city which never had such a history. Spare a thought for those students who were trapped in their schools till late in the evening and those office goers who had to deal with those hours of trauma. There was uncertainty in the air. No one was sure what the next minute had in store. For the first time there was fear in the eyes of the residents of Kolkata. It was an ugly face and certainly we wouldn’t like to see that face again. We would like the harmony to be maintained in the City of Joy. Hopefully the government would figure everything out but more importantly us as residents of this country must together fight out such people with such vested interests.
