BJP, Forward Bloc one on Netaji

 Shubhadeep Choudhury

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The BJP and Forward Bloc may belong to two ends of the political spectrum, but the parties speak in one voice when it comes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

‘Rangoon’, the Bollywood film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, has played the catalyst to bring out the similarities between the two parties. Impressed by the film, which deals with the Indian National Army (INA) led by Netaji, some of his descendants and followers have started urging Bhardwaj to make a strictly fact-based film on INA.

Netaji’s grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose forwarded the proposal to Bhardwaj, who was recently in Kolkata. Bose is vice-president of BJP in West Bengal. He unsuccessfully fought against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the last Assembly elections. Bose told Bhardwaj that the movie can open with the 1946 trial of INA soldiers in Delhi and tell the story of the force in flashback.

Former MP Debabrata Biswas also wants something similar. Biswas, general secretary of the Forward Bloc party founded by Netaji, thinks it will be a commendable task if Bhardwaj can depict how soldiers of the colonial army were inspired by Netaji to fight against the British. Biswas says there is a lot of material on INA in Maharashtra which Bhardwaj can use for his research. Bhardwaj has assured Chandra Bose, Debabrata Biswas and others of considering their proposal.

Toilet, with police help

She urged her parents-in-law, fought with her husband and even warned of walking out on him. But Madhumita Mahato’s husband and his family always refused to have a toilet built. After enduring the ordeal for four years, Madhumita, a city girl who started living in Mahatomara village after her marriage, decided to go to the police.

Triguna Roy, inspector of Jhalda police station in West Bengal’s Purulia district, was quite taken aback by her complaint. But Roy did talk to Madhumita’s husband Ashok and his father. It worked. The Mahatos have now started the construction of a bathroom with a toilet attached to it in their compound.

Purnadeb Malakar, BDO of Jhalda-1, said only 15 of the 45 houses in Mahatomara villages had toilets. “We have repeatedly urged the villagers to have proper toilets but they are reluctant. Maybe they will respond if the police talk to them instead of us,” Malakar said.

Airavat’s jumbo effect

The West Bengal forest department’s strategy to depute “Airavat” to drive away herds of wild elephants from residential areas is bearing fruit. The mythical “Airavat” is a huge elephant that Lord Indra rode. The Airavat here is a Matador van modified to scare elephants. It is fitted with multiple lights and a loudspeaker to create a racket to scare herds straying into human inhabited areas.

Trained personnel armed with tranquiliser guns, firecrackers and chains travel in the vans to take on the tuskers, which may not get intimidated by the sound and light show alone.

Between April 2015 and March 2016, 112 people lost their lives in West Bengal due to attacks by elephants.