Colonizing, Decolonizing, and Globalizing Kolkata
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
ASIAN CITIES Sen Colonizing, Decolonizing, and Globalizing Kolkata and Globalizing Decolonizing, Colonizing, Siddhartha Sen Colonizing, Decolonizing, and Globalizing Kolkata From a Colonial to a Post-Marxist City Colonizing, Decolonizing, and Globalizing Kolkata Publications The International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) is a research and exchange platform based in Leiden, the Netherlands. Its objective is to encourage the interdisciplinary and comparative study of Asia and to promote (inter)national cooperation. IIAS focuses on the humanities and social sciences and on their interaction with other sciences. It stimulates scholarship on Asia and is instrumental in forging research networks among Asia Scholars. Its main research interests are reflected in the three book series published with Amsterdam University Press: Global Asia, Asian Heritages and Asian Cities. IIAS acts as an international mediator, bringing together various parties in Asia and other parts of the world. The Institute works as a clearinghouse of knowledge and information. This entails activities such as providing information services, the construction and support of international networks and cooperative projects, and the organization of seminars and conferences. In this way, IIAS functions as a window on Europe for non-European scholars and contributes to the cultural rapprochement between Europe and Asia. IIAS Publications Officer: Paul van der Velde IIAS Assistant Publications Officer: Mary Lynn van Dijk Asian Cities The Asian Cities Series explores urban cultures, societies and developments from the ancient to the contemporary city, from West Asia and the Near East to East Asia and the Pacific. The series focuses on three avenues of inquiry: evolving and competing ideas of the city across time and space; urban residents and their interactions in the production, shaping and contestation of the city; and urban challenges of the future as they relate to human well-being, the environment, heritage and public life. Series Editor Paul Rabé, International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden Editorial Board Henco Bekkering, Delft University of Technology Charles Goldblum, University of Paris 8 Stephen Lau, University of Hong Kong Rita Padawangi, National University of Singapore Parthasarathy Rengarajan, CEPT University, Ahmedabad Neha Sami, Indian Institute of Human Settlements, Bangalore Hui Xiaoxi, Beijing University of Technology Colonizing, Decolonizing, and Globalizing Kolkata From a Colonial to a Post-Marxist City Siddhartha Sen Amsterdam University Press Publications Asian Cities 5 Cover illustration: Metro movie theatre. The architect for the building, which opened in 1934, was Thomas W. Lamb. Photograph courtesy of Anjan Gupta, 2015 Cover design: Coördesign, Leiden Lay-out: Crius Group, Hulshout Amsterdam University Press English-language titles are distributed in the US and Canada by the University of Chicago Press. isbn 978 94 6298 111 9 e-isbn 978 90 4853 068 7 (pdf) doi 10.5117/9789462981119 nur 630 © Siddhartha Sen / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam 2017 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher. To my late father, Subhendu Bikas Sen, and my late mother, Anjana Sen, who made my journey from the ‘coolie town’ of Haora to the United States possible. Table of Contents Acknowledgements 15 A Note to Readers 17 1 Overture 19 Introduction Scope of the Book 21 Analytical Framework 24 The Concept of the State in India 31 Socialism, Communism, and Marxism 32 Data Sources 35 Organization of the Book 36 2 Colonizing Kolkata 37 From a City of Huts to a City of Palaces Founding of Kolkata 37 Kolkata’s Early Urbanism 40 Spatial Restructuring of Kolkata and the Emergence of Social and Political Control as the Dominant Planning Paradigm 50 Kolkata’s Transformation to a City of Palaces 54 Emergence of Architecture as a Symbol of Power 59 Creating a Healthier and Beautiful City for the British: Emergence of a New Paradigm for Planning 67 Early Municipal Administration in Kolkata 71 The Rise of the British and the Demise of Other European Settle- ments around Kolkata 72 Haora’s Urbanism 76 3 Building a Neo-Classical, Beautiful, and Clean City 77 The Rise and Decline of British Imperial Urbanism Consolidation of British Power: Making Kolkata a Neo-Classical City 77 The Neo-Classical Architectural Influence on the Bengali Elite 84 Orientalist Discourse on Architecture and Kolkata 90 The Absence of the Indo-Saracenic Style in Kolkata 91 Victoria Memorial Hall: Neo-Classical Revival in Kolkata 98 The Modern Indian Architecture Movement 102 Limited Modernism in Kolkata 104 Transforming Kolkata into a Cleaner and Healthier City for the British 105 Shifting the Discourse to Bustees as a Source of Disease 114 The Calcutta Improvement Trust and E.P. Richards’s Plan for Kolkata 116 Sir Patrick Geddes’s Plan for the Burra Bazaar 120 Racial Segregation 121 Municipal Administration in Kolkata and the Expansion of Its Boundaries 123 Haora’s Transformation to a Coolie Town 127 4 Decolonizing Kolkata 133 From an American Planning Paradigm to a Marxist City Chandigarh: A Defining Moment in India’s Search for Post- Colonial Urbanism 133 Revivalist Architecture and the Search for Post-Colonial Archi- tectural Identity 136 Lack of a Search for Post-Colonial Architecture in Kolkata 139 In Search of Post-Colonial Planning: An Overview 154 The Initial Acts of Decolonization in Kolkata 156 Material Legacies of Colonial Planning and Kolkata’s Post- Colonial Urban Problems 158 Political Economy of Post-Colonial Kolkata and Its Urban Prob- lems 159 Administrative Structure and the Continuation of the Colonial Legacy in the Immediate Post-Colonial Period 164 Western Discourse on Kolkata and the Advent of Western Plan- ning 166 The Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation and the Export of the American Planning Paradigm to Kolkata 166 The Fear of Communism and the Formation of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority 169 Political Climate and Municipal Reform 174 The Infiltration of the Grassroots Space by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Its Allies 177 New Towns around Kolkata 181 Haora’s Post-Colonial Urbanism 182 5 Globalizing Kolkata 191 A Late Bloomer Emergence of New Market-Driven Architectural Forms in India 191 Why Kolkata Was a Late Bloomer 193 Making Kolkata Attractive to Capital: Operation Sunshine and the Proposal to Remove Rickshaw Pullers 195 Singur and Nandigram: The Changing Priorities of the Left Front 197 Kolkata’s Population Growth, Territorial Changes, and Adminis- trative Structure 198 Liberalization and the Changing Role of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation 201 Kolkata’s Private Townships and Gated Communities: Emergence of Real Estate-Driven Development 204 Kolkata’s Office Buildings for the Service and Financial Sectors, SEZs, and IT Parks and Complexes 209 Shopping Malls 215 Emergence of New Planning Paradigms: State-Regulated Town- ships and Private Townships 220 Rajarhat 222 Haora’s Global Urbanism 226 Kolkata West International City 228 6 Concluding Remarks 233 Glossary 245 List of Abbreviations 247 Bibliography 249 Index 263 List of Figures Figure 1 View of Fort William, Done after the Painting in the Court Room of the Company’s House in Leaden Hall Street after George Lambert, by Elisha Kirkall, 1735 42 Figure 2 A conceptual map of Kolkata in the early eighteenth century 45 Figure 3 Calcutta in 1756, by John Call and J. Cheevers 47 Figure 4 Navaratna Kai Temple. Detail from Govinda Ram Mittee’s Pagoda, Calcutta, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured aquatint, 1798 48 Figure 5 A pictorial map of Old Goa. From Goa Indiae Orientalis Metropolis, by Pieter Boudewyn van der Aa. Engraving, 1719 49 Figure 6 Plan of the Dutch Factory at Hooghly-Chinsura in 1721, by an anonymous artist. Engraving, 1721 50 Figure 7 Esplanade Row (north of the Maidan). From Esplanade Row and the Council House, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured aquatint with etching, 1788 55 Figure 8 A garden house in Garden Reach. From View on the Banks of the Hooghly near Calcutta. The Country Residence of William Farquharson Esq., by James Moffat after Frans Balthazar Solvyns. Aquatint, 1800 57 Figure 9 Writers Building, Calcutta, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured aquatint, 1798. The building was designed by Thomas Lyon and was constructed in 1780 61 Figure 10 Old Government House, by Thomas Daniell. Coloured aquatint with etching, 1788. The building was built in 1767 62 Figure 11 South East View of the New Government House in Calcutta, by J. Clarke and H. Merke. Coloured aquatint, published by Edward Orme in 1805. The building was designed by Lieutenant Charles Wyatt and was built between 1798 and 1803 64 Figure 12 Government House & Banqueting Hall, Madras, by the Nicholas Brothers. Photographic print, 1860. The build- ing was renovated by John Goldingham, circa 1800-1802 67 Figure 13 Major settlements around Kolkata in the eighteenth century 73 Figure 14 Old Danish Gate, Serampore, by Frederick Fiebig. Photo- graphic