Open Letter to Mr Pranab Mukherjee

Dear Mr Pranab Mukherjee,

Let me admit at the very first that I respect you very much. You are one of the very few senior politicians in India completely untouched by corruption with high level of integrity and uprightness. But the way your Congress party is taking decisions off late is not praiseworthy. You are slowly getting surrounded by too many dirty characters. And you know it. But you don’t have options I guess. To be in power you have to be in the power circuit. But there is a saying, “A man is known by the company he keeps”.

I am writing this letter because I want to highlight one issue, which has caused immense problem and suffering to our family. This issue was created by the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) by declaring a 12-hour Bangla Bandh on July 17, 2009 to protest against the attack on some Congress MLAs at Mangalkot. I understand what happened to the MLAs was unfortunate and the guilty people should be punished. But I am not sure what benefit Congress got by calling this 12 hour Bandh. Common people like me got harassed by this Hartaal. Do visit a railway station after calling a bandh. You will understand the level of suffering Mr Mukherjee.

Bandh is an inherent culture in West Bengal. Part and parcel of Bengal life. CPM had done it for the last thirty years. Trinamul does it at every opportunity. And off late your party has also joined the bandwagon. Good going as far as the image of Bengal is concerned! It’s no surprise that industries and opportunities are running away from West Bengal.

Mr Mukherjee, you know it very well that Strikes and Hartaal serves no purpose. But still your party called the Bandh which was a grand success. Entire West Bengal was shut down for 12 hours. As far as my understanding goes, this bandh was successful not because people felt pity for the Congress MLAs getting beaten but because they were afraid of Congress goons roaming in the streets. Everybody is afraid of their life these days. People are getting killed for silly reasons. And defying a bandh is a serious crime. Isn’t it Mr Mukherjee? Strangely Mamta Banerjee was not happy with the Bandh. I quote her “we don’t encourage wildcat bandhs and strikes”. So according to her the 17th July Bandh was a ‘wildcat bandh’. Your party workers are wild cats according to Miss Banerjee. What an audacity from her part! Good one. I agree with her opinion.

You must have read umpteen times how bandhs affects the lives of common people. This letter will reveal how this bandh caused serious suffering to our entire family and to especially to my 64 year old father. Please do not stop reading this letter. I request you go ahead. I am sure this information will touch you. So please don’t stop reading this. Maybe it will open your eyes and you might suddenly decide that bandh serves no purpose other than harassment. And you might start respecting the Supreme Court ruling, which declared bandhs as illegal. And its only possible in India to ignore Supreme court verdicts. Balls to the court!

My father, a retired BSNL employee was not keeping well for the last few weeks. My parents stay alone in Panskura. I am the only child of my parents. I was forced out of West Bengal some five years back due to economic reasons. Jobs are very few in Bengal. Presently I am working with an IT company in Delhi. And I am doing well.

A week back my father had a stroke. He was immediately rushed to a local nursing home. Luckily, it was not a fatal one. After few days he was discharged but then his speech started getting incoherent. He started having periodic convulsions. He was again admitted to the nursing home. All this happened in my absence. Although my mother desperately wanted me to go on with my life in Delhi and not come home wasting valuable “Earned leaves”, I decided to go. I love my parents just like your children loves you Mr Mukherjee. I decided to take my dad to a good hospital in Kolkata. Panskura is a small place and does not have good healthcare facilities. I arranged my Howrah-Delhi Rajdhani Express ticket for 16th July, 2009. The train left New Delhi station sharp at 4.30 pm. The train was supposed to reach Howrah Station at 10.30 am next day, ie, 17th July. From there it will take me a maximum of 2 hours to reach home. So accordingly I made my plan. I called a friend and asked him to keep a car ready at 1pm and wait for me at my home. The moment I reach I will take my dad for treatment to Kolkata. I informed my uncle to be prepared to accompany me to Kolkata. All was planned. Everything was ready. I spoke to my dad over phone while I was on train. He was extremely happy to know that I was coming home. I told him not to worry. I informed him the moment I reach home I will take him to a big hospital in Kolkata. He will get the best treatment. He was a happy man.

When I woke up next day, I found the train stationery. The gates of the compartment were wide open. There were lots of police in the platform. It didn’t look like a regular stop. I asked an attendant what’s going on. He told that there is a 12 hour Bandh in Bengal called by Congress. So the train will be waiting here at Dhanbad. I asked him how long we have to wait? He was not sure.

The train waited for 9 hours in Dhanbad. Our train left Dhanbad station at 4.30 pm and reached Howrah station at 8.30 pm. And the moment I got down, I got a call from my uncle. He told that my dad’s condition is critical and they are bringing him down to Kolkata. He told me to book an ICU bed in some big hospital there. I started calling up mu acquaintances in Kolkata for hospital references. Everybody advised me not to go to government hospitals. Please take note of this. Nobody has faith in government hospitals. They are not for the common men because common men die over there while the VIPs are given excellent treatment. That too free of cost! You are a VIP Mr Mukherjee. You have so much power that you can close down a state whenever you like. But this I guess is CPM’s fault. They are in power for more than thirty years. But the day your party comes to power holding the hand of Miss Banerjee, you must look in to this.

Anyway let me get back to our ordeal. After consulting my friends I decided to take him to Calcutta medical Research Institute. A neuro ICU was booked. My Dad arrived at 11pm and was rushed to the emergency. It was difficult to hold back tears seeing his condition. He was having continuous convulsions and his eyes were bulging out unable to bear the pain. Few people can withstand that scene. Few nurses moved away unable to bear it. But then why I am saying this to you. Politicians are people made of steel. They hardly feel the pain common people undergo due to their whims and fancies.

The doctor told he is having a neuro stroke and shifted him immediately to the ICU. I was asked to pay Rs 15000 immediately at the billing section. I paid the money. And then it was pure waiting. My dad regained consciousness after 48 hours and was kept in ICU for a week. Mr Mukherjee did you ever have any of your close ones in ICU anytime? To understand our mental condition you need to experience this pain and agony. Every second was a tensed second. Every minute a painful one.

By God’s grace my dad recovered after 2 weeks. We had to spend quite a lot for his treatment. But that doesn’t matter. But then what would have happened if we didn’t have the money? What would have happened if my dad was a poor man and me an unemployed graduate. I can imagine the pain of those people who do not have the money for treatment. Mr Mukherjee I have spent virtually 15 days in the hospital. I have seen lot of crying faces. I have seen quite a few dead bodies been taken out. Seeing death face to face makes one evaluate one’s life. And I am no exception.

Mr Mukherjee, now I want to ask you finally what have you guys gained from this Bandh? If there was no Bandh I could have admitted my dad in Kolkata by 3pm. He would have got the best possible medical attention, which he was not getting at Panskura. He got the stroke attack at around 8.30 pm in the night. Don’t you think your party is responsible for the pain he suffered?

Mr Mukherjee you are too big a person to be moved by this kind of news. These things happen in India every day. Hundreds of people die every day due to lack of medical treatment and if my father would have died it would have made no difference. After all he is a common man, an unknown citizen. When will this suffering stop Mr Mukherjee? The day we all are dead? George Orwell once said: “Nothing stands still. We must add to our heritage or lose it, we must grow greater or grow less, we must go forward or go backward”. Where are we all going Sir?

Regards
You humble servant, the bloody common man.