Pathikrit Bhattacharya writes:: On my way to Delhi on Sunday evening, I sat next to an elderly gentleman. I was told by one of the co - passengers that the person I was sitting next to was the chief minister of Tripura. Manik Sircar?? Really? Wow!! Surely he wouldnt talk to me. Surely a chief minister of a state only talks to rich industrialists or other political honchos. What followed was two hours of most enthralling discussions on the history of communism in India, the fall of Soviet Union and the rise of alternative communism in China, Nehruvian socialism, Hindutva, why Mr. Sircar does not approve of the Aam Aadmi Party rhetoric, the present political scenario in Bengal, why he thought my mothers naming of me betrayed the nuances of her intellect and his refined taste in Indian Classical Music. At the end of the journey he told me that I had managed to keep him off revising a draft of an important piece that he just had to finish but that he liked it. He asked me to keep in touch. I asked him to keep inspiring us with the mist outstanding example of a peoples chief minister in our country. A truly accessible servant of the people. One who spent two hours talking to a stranger on a plane only because he was asking him questions. That was enough. That was democracy!! Long may live this glorious tradition of the Indian left.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 15:56:19 +0000
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