You don't miss a dish until they take it off the menu. Bengalis who make having non-veg items in any meal a political manifesto, will angrily break into 'Where the mind is without fear' if there is no 'non-non-vegetarian' option like luchi-chholar daal in a wedding or sradh. Candidates have been going around with a fish in their hand as if they caught it to prove their machh-ismo before Kolkata votes on Wednesday. Even the jhaal-muri-munching PM threw in a piece by promising to make Bengal's Fish Great Again so as to be considered a jolly good fillet by voters.
Nothing exemplifies this basic aspect of human nature more than the value people are suddenly putting in their right to vote after the Special Intensive Revision process - that Star Wars villain-sounding SIR - has knocked off so many names off the voting list in West Bengal. All of a sudden, folks who talk like op-eds but walk like absentee zamindars are loudly proclaiming their sacral duty to vote.
Especially loud are some of those among millions who have been decapitated by the scythe of SIR and wouldn't have gone out to vote anyway. But now, having been denied the choice, they smell shorojontro, or conspiracy.
Much has been made of diabolical plans to keep voters off rolls. The fact that SIR has excluded lakhs in other states as well, is seen by believers as nothing but a red herring - like committing multiple random murders to cover the track on that one single motivated killing.
In absolute numbers, UP has had the maximum SIR deletions, with about 2.04-2.89 lakh names airbrushed away for not meeting criteria that includes being alive, existing, having permanent residence in the state, not having duplicate entries... Tamil Nadu (97.37 lakh) is No. 2 in the SIR-chopped list, ahead of Bengal (90.83-90.93 lakh).
Of the deletions in Bengal, 63% are Hindus, 34% Muslims. Which is more or less in sync with a state that has about 70.5% Hindus and about 27% Muslims. But 34% of potential voters among 27% of the population 'missing' seems more missing than 63% of 70.5% - even though the former is 4x smaller than the latter.
Sheer numbers, of course, don't tell the story. With 'illegal migrants' (read: 'Bangladeshis') drummed up by BJP as a poll issue in this border state, for a large number of Muslims, not being SIRtified is, indeed, sinister. It can, understandably, be seen as Step 1 to deletion as an Indian citizen. Didi's ruling dispensation hardly comforts when it says, 'Go vote (for TMC) or you'll lose your citizenship.'
Now, I'm not one of those conspiracy theorists who dismiss every conspiracy theory. Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you. But I would attribute much of SIR exclusion not to some diabolical Himmler's List, but to the usual, humdrum, everyday level of paperwork incompetence.
One person I know didn't have his name in the first SIR list because his father's name, Idris Ali Halder, had 'Ali' missing in one of the mandatory documents. And obviously, this bureaucretinous system is not confined to SIR-fried offerings. Have you tried to open a demat account when the online form keeps throwing up your Adhaar address--that says Mayur Vihar Phase 1 and Mayur Vihar Phase 3 in the same line without causing any trouble for the last ten years?
Recently, at a VFS visa application centre, a friend was questioned about her surname not being the same as her husband's. Luckily, the lady at the counter was progressive enough to recall that Ranveer Singh's wife isn't Deepika Singh.
I had to go from proverbial pillar to provincial post to renew my driving licence, because my permanent residence is in Delhi, my temporary residence is in Kolkata, and my PAN card photo has me look like an opium addict, while my Aadhaar card picture shows what could be a dignified cocaine-user.
So, even as the heartburn, fear, and anger for many in West Bengal is real, I'd bet you Bonku Babu's next encounter with an alien in Kankurgachi village, SIR is a massive bungle, not a diabolical fraud. In other words, the usual ghost in the paperwork.
Nothing exemplifies this basic aspect of human nature more than the value people are suddenly putting in their right to vote after the Special Intensive Revision process - that Star Wars villain-sounding SIR - has knocked off so many names off the voting list in West Bengal. All of a sudden, folks who talk like op-eds but walk like absentee zamindars are loudly proclaiming their sacral duty to vote.
Especially loud are some of those among millions who have been decapitated by the scythe of SIR and wouldn't have gone out to vote anyway. But now, having been denied the choice, they smell shorojontro, or conspiracy.
Much has been made of diabolical plans to keep voters off rolls. The fact that SIR has excluded lakhs in other states as well, is seen by believers as nothing but a red herring - like committing multiple random murders to cover the track on that one single motivated killing.
In absolute numbers, UP has had the maximum SIR deletions, with about 2.04-2.89 lakh names airbrushed away for not meeting criteria that includes being alive, existing, having permanent residence in the state, not having duplicate entries... Tamil Nadu (97.37 lakh) is No. 2 in the SIR-chopped list, ahead of Bengal (90.83-90.93 lakh).
Of the deletions in Bengal, 63% are Hindus, 34% Muslims. Which is more or less in sync with a state that has about 70.5% Hindus and about 27% Muslims. But 34% of potential voters among 27% of the population 'missing' seems more missing than 63% of 70.5% - even though the former is 4x smaller than the latter.
Sheer numbers, of course, don't tell the story. With 'illegal migrants' (read: 'Bangladeshis') drummed up by BJP as a poll issue in this border state, for a large number of Muslims, not being SIRtified is, indeed, sinister. It can, understandably, be seen as Step 1 to deletion as an Indian citizen. Didi's ruling dispensation hardly comforts when it says, 'Go vote (for TMC) or you'll lose your citizenship.'
Now, I'm not one of those conspiracy theorists who dismiss every conspiracy theory. Just because you're not paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you. But I would attribute much of SIR exclusion not to some diabolical Himmler's List, but to the usual, humdrum, everyday level of paperwork incompetence.
One person I know didn't have his name in the first SIR list because his father's name, Idris Ali Halder, had 'Ali' missing in one of the mandatory documents. And obviously, this bureaucretinous system is not confined to SIR-fried offerings. Have you tried to open a demat account when the online form keeps throwing up your Adhaar address--that says Mayur Vihar Phase 1 and Mayur Vihar Phase 3 in the same line without causing any trouble for the last ten years?
Recently, at a VFS visa application centre, a friend was questioned about her surname not being the same as her husband's. Luckily, the lady at the counter was progressive enough to recall that Ranveer Singh's wife isn't Deepika Singh.
I had to go from proverbial pillar to provincial post to renew my driving licence, because my permanent residence is in Delhi, my temporary residence is in Kolkata, and my PAN card photo has me look like an opium addict, while my Aadhaar card picture shows what could be a dignified cocaine-user.
So, even as the heartburn, fear, and anger for many in West Bengal is real, I'd bet you Bonku Babu's next encounter with an alien in Kankurgachi village, SIR is a massive bungle, not a diabolical fraud. In other words, the usual ghost in the paperwork.
Indrajit Hazra
Editor, Views