"Biggest crisis of North Bengal is leadership crisis .... The region could not produce any leader since the time of Kamal Guha"

North Bengal has been facing political and administrative negligence for years, says a senior communist leader from the region and also added that "no leader" committed to the people's welfare has been produced here since the time of Kamal Guha. 

Former Forward Bloc MP (between 2009 and 2014), Nripendra Nath Roy in an interaction with this blogger in his residence at remote Sitai assembly segment says -- “The biggest crisis of North Bengal is leadership crisis. The region could not produce any leader committed to the region and its people since the time of Kamal Guha." 

Former MP Nripendranath Roy

Kamal Guha (1928–2007) was born at busy township of  Dinhata. 

He was an All India Forward Bloc leader and was part of the Left Front cabinet. He served as Minister for Agriculture under Jyoti Basu. Such candid observation from ex lawmaker Nripendra Nath Roy have significance of their own as the region witnessed Statehood Demand from time to time.  

Local residents including shop-keepers, educationists and housewives cite various instances of political negligence from the hub of administration and governance - the state capital Kolkata.

"We do not why and how .... a glaring example of ‘administrative and political discrimination’ was the manner the AIIMS originally proposed at Raiganj (not far from Siliguri) in North Bengal was later taken to Kalyani," said Coochbehar-based businessman Shantu Barman.

He said: "Notably, the distance between Kolkata and Kalyani by Road is only 63 km. It was a case of snatching our rights by the elites of Kolkata".

 

Locals also lament that as a community Rajbongshis appear to be on the "verge of extinction" not numerically but from cultural point of view. They believe they were Kshatriyas in North Bengal and its adjoining areas including Assam but they got them denigrated socially by accepting lower status.

In other words – Pristine Glory was lost.  

Rural North Bengal : Native Rajbongshi farmer

Blogger with young students at Sitai

However, since 2014 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in the centre – the Rajbongshi community in general has moved closer to the BJP. 

"We believe it is the BJP and the Modi Govt which can deliver good governance and development in the governance-starved region of West Bengal," says a RSS functionary Sudhanshu Roy in Dinhata region. 

In fact, there is a common refrain that the people of south Bengal and parties such as the CPI-M and Trinamool Congress are "against" the development of North Bengal as a region and especially of Coochbehar belt and the local Rajbongshi community.

But as one interacted with housewives to shop keepers in Dinhata and Coochbehar town, it was generally given out that the BJP has made much deeper penetration in North Bengal. 

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, while the BJP bagged 18 of Bengal’s 42 seats, abd created a record, it managed seven of the eight parliamentary seats in North Bengal. 

In 2021 assembly polls, across the state the Congress and the communists were reduced to zero and out of 75 seats it bagged, the Lotus party had wrested as many as 30 assembly seats out of 54 in North Bengal.  

Crown prince - Kumar Jitendra

 

"The saffron party will again do well in 2026 in North Bengal and Coochbehar belt," exudes confidence Kumar Jitendra Narayan, a descendant of royal family. However, he also hastens to add that the BJP will have to respect "people's sentiment".

That precisely means a better governance model for the 'neglected region'.

There is a statehood demand pending. But from BJP's electoral battle point of view - jumping on this demand may boomerang as Trinamool Congress will make an issue of 'Banga Bhanga (division of Bengal)'. This issue is potentially a double edged sword and has high intensity emotion (Bengal unity) involved from the historical perspective.

So a section of BJP has already mooted an autonomous council for Rajbongshis. This may work if the Lotus party succeeds in taking it to the people.  

History:

The 1949 Cooch Behar merger agreement resulted in the princely state of Cooch Behar becoming part of the Dominion of India, specifically a Chief Commissioner's Province.

For a period, Cooch Behar was administered as a Chief Commissioner's Province.

Local Rajbongshis say it was turned into a district unilaterally and probably without any constitutional amendment. Thus the contention is making Coochbehar was “illegal” and can be challenged in a court of law.

The agreement was signed on August 28, 1949, with the transfer of administration to the Indian government taking place on September 12, 1949.

The administration of Cooch Behar was transferred to the Indian government on September 12, 1949.

ends 

Not far from Bangladesh border