The Spine Of The ‘City Of Joy’

There are few jam-packed trains which travel to and fro from Howrah and Sealdah railway stations in Kolkata, to Canning near the Sunderbans, home of the Royal Bengal Tiger, close to the Bay of Bengal.

The trains cost only Rs 5 per journey. They are the nervous-system and life-stream of the ‘City of Joy’. This is because these trains carry the rural and suburban working class, especially a huge population of hard-working women, with special skills, resilience, and amazing tenacity.

If these trains stop due to some ill-fated reason, the entire ‘bhadralok’ and middle class of Kolkata will not only twiddle their thumbs all day long, their entire comfort zone of ghettoised superiority would collapse in just one day.

This is because the people, travelling in over-crowded, suffocating trains to Kolkata and back, day after day, eating cucumbers soaked with lemon, and peanuts with a green chilli available for Rs 5 inside the train, sustain the middle and upper class comfort zones.

They clean, mop-up, dust the house, and wash clothes, they look after the little kids, they pack tiffin for the school, and they cook delicious meals. They are the key to middle class happiness each day of their banal existence.

If they don’t arrive, as it happened during the pandemic, this zone of contentment and cleanliness collapses like a pack of cards, in a city which still continues the inherited feudal and colonial tradition of ‘chotolok’ (small people) and ‘bhadralok’ (refined folk), which, sometimes, borders on an invisible and unstated untouchability.

Not only happy homes, the entire unorganised sector in Kolkata and some towns of West Bengal, is sustained by these diligent and honest people. They include the vast number of workers who have been travelling to Kolkata since British times, mostly from Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

They are the coolies hurrying with luggage on their head at the Howrah station with thousands of people rushing to and fro. They run the bustling bazaars with their solid labour.

They run the trade networks, factories, local transport, rickshaws and taxis. They make and sell street food, extra-boiled, sweet, milk tea. They work at tobacco shops, pakora shops selling ‘pyaaji, beguni’ (onion and brinjal fry), vegetable chops and cutlets.

They are vendors of ‘jhal moori’ (puffed rice mixed with mustard oil, green chillies, salt-masala and onions), ice-cream and ‘phuchka’ (gol-gappa). They run the small markets of miscellaneous goods, sprawling fish and chicken markets, the big mandis at Raja Bazaar etc, indeed, the entire infrastructure which sustains the daily life of the urban gentry of Kolkata.

Among them are thousands of street-hawkers, who live their daily life, selling their daily stuff, at spots and places where they have been doing the same thing, for decades.

Many of them sleep on the streets or live in miserable tenements cooking in the open, as seen, for instance, on the way to the Sealdah railway station. They are mostly rootless, marginalised migrant workers from Bihar and Eastern UP. Others come from Canning, or the neighbourhood in the Belur-Bardhaman train line, mostly citizens of Bengal.

The country knows about the bullying bulldozers of UP. They have been used arbitrarily and routinely, violating all tenets of the justice system, especially against the Muslims. So why has Mamata Bannerjee suddenly decided to use the bulldozers against her own people, especially because the poor, the working class, the rural folks, especially women, have overwhelming voted for her in the recent Lok Sabha elections, as much as during the Assembly polls in 2021, in which she won so overwhelmingly?

There are political reasons of course. More than that, there are reasons internal to a victorious party. In a manner only Bannerjee can do; she is doing a ‘cultural revolution’ of sorts in her own party and government, now that she has given a solid drubbing to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in both Assembly and Parliamentary polls.

However, this is not the bloody, unjust, mass-scale ‘purge’ as seen during the times of Mao Tse Tung in China.

It all started with Banerjee hitting out at her party colleagues and ministers in a long, scathing speech, which stunned everyone, soon after the decisive victories in the Lok Sabha polls. She also went after government and local officials, the police, and elected representatives.

Her anger was directed against the epidemic of encroachments in public spaces across the ‘mahanagar’. She, especially, targeted them on the encroachments around Salt Lake, a huge, newly constructed, reasonably posh, residential and business zone.

Soon after, the cops went on a ‘clean-up’ campaign. Not only that, they and the civic bodies were also targeting towns such as the bustling Siliguri on the Nepal border, and Bolpur-Santiniketan, a tourist hub.

That is how the explosive controversy reached a boiling-point in Kolkata and Bengal. The civic administration and cops started targeting street-side hawkers, including those with a legitimate license.

In Kolkata, there is hardly any pavement (except in residential areas) next to main streets which are not occupied by hawkers selling miscellaneous goods. These are also places for the famous tea and cigarette shops, where locals and others do their daily ‘adda’ (gathering). Street food is cheap and fish curry and rice is easily available.

On top of it, for instance, near the crowded neighbourhood of College Street with its famous Coffee House, there are women who are now selling wholesome cooked food on carts in street-corners. They sell rice and vegetable curry in large quantities, on a banana leaf or paper plate, for only Rs 5.

This is a popular scheme introduced by Mamata Banerjee (along with other popular schemes for the working class, especially women and school/college-going girls). These businesses are run by women. The food is subsidised by the state government.

It gives employment and livelihood to a large number of women who cook and sell the food, and provides a basic, substantial meal to workers on the go, including loaders, rickshaw-pullers, vendors, among others.

The political reason behind the bulldozers coming into play is not difficult to find. According to reports, of the 144 wards in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, there are 141 which are integral to the parliamentary seats of Calcutta South and Calcutta North.

There are three in the prestigious constituency of Jadavpur. Among the wards, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was trailing in as many as 47 wards in the recently held Parliamentary polls.

The BJP was ahead in the municipal bodies in Krishnanagar, Balurghat, Gobardanga, Bolpur, Barasat, Raigunj, Katwa, Ashokenagar, Burdwan, Englishbazar, Jhargram, Madhyamgram, Bongaon, Kalna, Alipurduar, among others. That is, in several wards, especially in urban pockets, the TMC was losing support. This was a matter of worry for Mamata Banerjee.

Hence, the outburst, and the huge posturing of ‘Operation Clean-up’, while openly suggesting the possibility of a major purge against corrupt leaders and ministers in the party. While it created a wave of surprise and unrest among the unorganised working class in Kolkata and Bengal, a section of upper/middle class seemed mighty pleased.

Earlier, the Chief Minister targeted her Cabinet ministers, accusing them of 'extortion', while ‘encouraging’ land grabs in posh areas like Salt Lake and the new industrial and IT hub, Rajarhat. At the state secretariat, Nabanna, she accused a minister of bringing in ‘outsiders’, indulging in illegality, and patronizing organized encroachments in Rajarhat and Salt Lake.

She said to her stunned colleagues: "In Salt Lake, Sujit Bose ‘ichche moto lok bosachche (Sujit Bose is openly patronising encroachment), competing with others.. .I am ashamed of Salt Lake (‘lajja lagey).”

She was relentless: "They are hanging a tarpaulin sheet and encroaching on the space. How much money did they have to pay? Who took this money? Why don't the councillors of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation do anything?

“I was passing by Webel the day-before-yesterday. I saw many shops. All set up by outsiders. They have turned the place dirty. Why not create a food zone in the area? This will not disturb people. People can walk a bit and eat."

She did not mince words, and Food Processing Minister Arup Roy and Howrah (North) MLA Goutam Chowdhury were not spared. "Have you seen Hatibagan's state? I made the city so beautiful. But, now, a new OC (of a police station) comes and immediately brings in new illegal settlers. The situation is similar in Gariahat. Police and civic officials see everything but do nothing. Some are working only to make money."

Then came the final punch: "How much money do you need to lead a good life? You are going around in big cars, dining at fancy restaurants. Everything is fine, but, first, think of the people… "

Those who are doing organized encroachment for money, or shoddy work as ministers or civic officials, will be thrown out of the party, she has warned categorically. Party tickets will only be given to those who perform, and those who are clean. "I don't want 'master' extortionists. I want people's servants," she said.

The popular perception is that she is not against the hawkers, daily-wagers and migrant workers. In fact, they are confident that she will always stand for them, as she has done so in the past.

They have voted for her, especially the women. They are certain that she is speaking out because she wants to discipline and punish the errant and corrupt leaders and ministers in her own party.

Besides, it is simply impossible to evict the hawkers and the tiny business hubs sprawled across the streets and footpaths of Kolkata. Tens of thousands of them work for their livelihood across the city, and in Central Kolkata, with its private and public sector offices.

Office-goers, students, women workers, they all depend on food and snacks, for instance, on the hawkers.

The famous Park Street has its footpath full of hawkers selling everything on earth: pirated shampoos, deodorants, soaps, cosmetics, track suits, tea-shirts, cold-drinks, etc. People are familiar with the neighbourhood 'jhaal moori’ vendor, and the ‘mashima’ (aunt) who makes those delicious ‘pyaaji’ and ‘beguni’, and sells them so cheap.

“Oh, Didi, will not do anything to us. She knows how we struggle each day to survive. She will never lift a finger against us,” a mashima (auntie), near the Dharmatala Tram Depot, said.

This reporter spoke to hawkers across Kolkata. First, no one was unduly worried. “After the pandemic, I was rendered jobless. Now, I have retained some dignity and means of livelihood. I know, she will not harm me,” said Wahid Shah, who sells ‘phoochka’ in a corner at the posh Moore Avenue residential area in south Kolkata, near Tollygunge.

“I know that she is after the corrupt in the party. She wants to teach them a solid lesson. I have been temporarily evicted from my place under a tree near the crossing, across the Spencer’s big shop. I have come here for the moment. I will go back soon,” a woman vegetable seller in Ranikuthi in South Kolkata, said.

Shambhunath Saha at the Netaji Nagar market in South Kolkata has no fear. He sells curtains, fancy cloth, etc, on the footpath. “I have been coming here since I was 18. She cannot play her tricks with me. I am an old CPM hand. I will stay here, come what may!”

Others across the city shared their views, including in the evening fish markets on the streets, which suddenly emerge every day. “She is with us. She is only trying to stop the corruption, the bribery racket, and the goondaism. She is sending a message to her leaders. It’s also a message to local administration and the cops,” they were unanimous.

Hence, soon after, predictably, all evictions were stopped. It was announced that the streets will be streamlined, hawkers will be given proper spaces to sell their goods, and go-downs and warehouses will be organised for them so that they need not block the streets and footpaths, and, thereby, can keep their stuff, safe and secure, in them.

Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said that they would discipline the hawkers and streamline the process. Surveys are being conducted, including at the famous New Market and in the bustling Gariahat market dominated by street-vendors and women buying saris, blouses and other cotton stuff. “We are not evicting hawkers. We will discipline them,” Hakim said.

Meanwhile, in the recent assembly bypolls held in Bengal, Krishna Kalyani has won over BJP's Manas Kumar Ghosh by 50,077 votes in Raiganj, Mukut Nami Adhikari defeated BJP's Manoj Kumar Bsiwas by 74,485 votes in Ranaghat Dakshin, and Madhuparna Thakur was victorious against BJP's Binay Kumar Biswas by 74,251 votes in Bagda.

Hence, as of now, the hawkers are under no threat. In this pulsating ‘Mahanagar’, they are back on the streets, in this humidity and heat, on railway stations and inside crowded local trains, selling all the everyday snacks which the Bengalis love most, a hot cup of milky tea with badam-biscuits, and knick-knacks like safety pins, hair-pins, red, striped towels, nail-cutters, scotch-bites, rubber-bands and kitchen knives.

Mamata Bannerjee has made her point. She still stands with the thousands of street hawkers as she did before. The hawkers knew it too well. In the first instance, they were under no threat.

Only those politicians in the TMC are now under threat who have helped in illegal encroachment of the pavements, and are running a parallel economy of sorts, while blackmailing the hawkers.

So the ‘mashima’ is back with her ‘vegetable cutlets’ and ‘aloo chops’. Dadu is back with his tobacco shop and tea stored in a flask. The ‘fish-woman/ is now squatting on the same spot with rohu, katla, morola and tengra fish.

The vegetable-lady is selling four different kinds of ‘saag’, ‘kakrul’ and raw jackfruit. The mango-seller has the last few mangoes of the most delicious variety called ‘Fazli’ from Malda.

And the ‘jhaal moori’ man is right there in the corner, next to the ‘phuchka’ man from Bihar, their carts thronged by women, who, simply, love this version of the gol-gappa. So, it’s back to normal on the bustling streets in the city of joy.