A CALCUTTA DIARY Atulya Ghosh Rides Again

N Saturday last Atulya Ghosh, There is little doubt that Atulya write Atulya Babu off; but his present O M P and a many-splendoured Babu has in recent years developed limp is definitely as political as it is man in West today, completed all- ambitions. Until someone physical, He probably curses his luck; his sixty-first year and stepped into said that there was no such thing as and luck is important in a political his sixty-second. There is some special a "Syndicate", he was believed to be career. It may also be that Atulya meaning attaching to "stepped into", among its top three members. Many Babu is not the chief, nor was meant for he recently had a fall and was called him a "king-maker", not al­ to be. Old men sometimes accept jobs rendered immobile for quite a while. ways as a joke. While President of they had earlier spurned. A Cabinet He could not, for instance, attend the Congress, once met Ministership at the Centre, with a the Bangalore session of the All-India the "ginger group" of the West Ben­ powerful or profitable portfolio, is not Congress Committee, although this gal Congress; and many thought she something to scoff at; and there is did not prevent his men from going was not particularly fond of Atulya no reason to think that Atulya Babu to Midnapore for activities which Babu which attitude seemed to reflect will make a poor Minister. Or will Ajoy Mukherjee, President of the West her father's. This year birthday greet­ Atulya Babu wait for a top job—until Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee, ings came from Indira Gandhi too. But it. is too late ? He may have to decide considered rather unfriendly; in fact something may have happened. soon, for like all of us he is getting he privately said that he had barely on. escaped grievous assault. Atulya The Deluge Now For the limited character of Atulya Ghosh's relatively minor fall has been On Sunday Atulya Babu addressed Ghosh's achievement to date, he will interpreted variously, some going to be unwise to blame only extraneous the extent of saying that Humpty- the Congress Municipal Association, of which he is Chairman. This was his factors. For a soberer assessment of Dumpty has had a big fall and may his prospects, he must look within never be put together again. This pro­ first semi-public appearance since his illness. On the same day it rained in and also at the State and the people bably is a wildly exaggerated and ho represents. His personal inadequa­ optimistic view. Calcutta intermittently but very heavily for more than three hours. cies are apparent from any comparison There arc, however, reasons to think Atulya Babu spoke of the need for dis­ between him and almost any of that, politically, Atulya Ghosh .may cipline among Congress councillors. Bengal's past leaders—right down to have suffered a setback or two. The Totally undisciplined was the water Sarat Bose and Bidhan Roy. Then there State Congress, for instance, may not on the streets, which were waterlogged is the stature of Bengal; it has be the "pocket borough'' it used to in almost every part of the city. In diminished in every relevant respect. be; it seems certain that Prafulla Sen some places the water was four or With all his organising and other can now look after himself and take five feet deep; and adamantly it stood abilities, therefore, there may be de­ care of his chief ministership, without on the streets for hours, bringing even finite, built-in, insurmountable limits Atulya Ghosh's support if necessary. a Sunday's life to a standstill. That beyond which Atulya Babu's ambitions It is no doubt true that leaders at the standing water was the measure of the may never reach. These are not all-India level are the stronger for uselessness of the Congress Municipal agreeable birthday thoughts; but these their strong local bases; it seems equa­ Association, of which Atulya Ghosh is are the only ones that occurred to this lly true that a known lack of all-India not ashamed and Prafulla Sen is not writer over the week-end; and he was influence impairs the local "image'' tired. Everyone else is, both. perhaps thinking more of Bengal and more than somewhat, Atulya Ghosh's the Bengalis than of just Atulya deficiencies at either level are not Atulya Babu retains his association Ghosh. with and control of all the cells of easy to identify and measure with pre­ —Flibbertigibbet cision. power he ever laid his hands on. Yet the top positions, either in the party Twice Non-President or in the Government, appear to have eluded him so far. He has never Atulya Babu will not admit it; but been a Minister; and he will not be there may be considerable truth in anything but a Chief Minister, if even the widely held view that he would that. He has not been Congress Pre­ not have minded being President of sident to date. He is, indeed, at last the Congress next year. Some' say that a member of the Congress Working the Bangalore resolution, making Committee; but the "High Command" Kamarafs reelection a virtual certain­ of yore is not very high today and its ty, broke Atulya Babu's heart as surely command is frequently ignored. And as the earlier fall had injured his ankle. Atulya Babu is 61 and more, with his That soon after Bangalore S K Patil health far from robust. When, then, is came'all the way to Calcutta to hold Atulya Babu going to "arrive'' ? Ghosh's hand is on record. It may also be significant that Congress Pre­ sident Kamaraj himself flew to Calcut­ Waiting Gadi ta on Saturday, only for a few hours, Some never do. (Rah Butler in to offer Ghosh his birthday felicita­ Britain, for instance, never made it — tions. They embraced each other; the in spite of his undoubted qualities and photographs say so. high intelligence.) It is too early to 1403