Slogan,stolen

And the gift of coining words?

A near-perfect demonstration of the absoluteness of human intelligence. That’s how man gave names to all the animals. If we refined it further,focusing on the streets and coffee houses and university canteens of Kolkata (sorry,Calcutta,since this goes long back and has a very complex historicity all its own),we witness a still-persisting obsession with the written and spoken word that should gather all ye linguists and littérateurs of the world in this haven of the word. They even got prominent academics and writers to engage in unending,earnest debates to pronounce their disapproval of the perversion of the word “harmad” by the Trinamool and the CPM.

In keeping with politics not altogether Bengal-style,but definitely with eccentricities of the variety,Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool has embossed its newly minted slogan “Agriculture is our inspiration,industry is our perception” (perception of what kingdom cometh?) on a railway ad carried across newspapers. This is a violation of protocol and the railway minister knows it. But then,she’s already themed so much to do with the railways green,and even used the railway police for personal security.

The CPM,unsurprisingly,is rightly accusing the Trinamool of using the railways as a campaign tool for the assembly polls. So far,so bad. Yet,wasn’t it the CPM that originally mastered the art of painting buses and trams in party colours and slogans,especially before giant Brigade Parade Grounds rallies? What’s more,Mamata’s slogan too is a rip-off — on urban hoardings,pre- and post-Singur,you could spot a Bengal government slogan that literally translated as: “Agriculture is our foundation,industry is our future.” In our sloganeering polity,do we still remember the joke about dropping the second “i” from Indira Gandhi’s “Garibi hatao”?