Buddha's smile and the Bengal polls

About 10 years ago, there was a joke about the mass appeal of Communist Party of India-Marxist leaders in Bengal. To impress upon Mikhail Gorbachev that Communism was alive and exploding in Bengal though it had died everywhere else in the world, then West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu needed to put together a massive gathering, the joke began. As massive as it could get, with millions in attendance.

Basu asked everyone in the party, and everyone replied they could organise a few lakhs. But that was not enough. So, Basu asked the then information and culture minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya how many people he could organise. Bhattacharya could only promise 100 antels -- the Bong slang for pseudo-intellectuals.

Then, the joke went on. Now, there is no need to. Because Bhattacharya has emerged as the poster boy of what is being touted as a new West Bengal.

And watching the chief minister in action on Wednesday at a packed Meet the Press event -- ahead of the five-phase assembly elections that kick off on Monday -- was like watching the demo of a self-confidence-boosting drug.

"I am not here to do socialism. I am here to do capitalism. I cannot do socialism even if I want to," he said, when a journalist asked if there was a contradiction in Communists seeking investment.

Text: Sumit Bhattacharya | Photographs: Deshkalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images