One state still ruled by communists.
The week's news at a glance.
India
Vir Sanghvi
Hindustan Times
Bengal is the backwater of India, said Vir Sanghvi in the Mumbai Hindustan Times. Home to Calcutta, the state of Bengal is “always at least a decade behind the rest of the country”—thanks, in no small measure, to its old-style communist government. The communists have installed cadres at every level, from village councils to police forces. Those cadres promote “the totalitarian view that individuals are less important than the Cause.” Last month, they descended on Nandigram village to teach the locals the wisdom of “giving up their land for the greater good,” in a style that “would have done Joseph Stalin or Mao Tse-tung proud.” They beat and terrorized the village leaders and let the police shoot a few for good measure. The opposition, meanwhile, responded by ranting into the television cameras, all but ensuring that people would assume it was exaggerating. Other Indian states don’t have such wretched leaders. Why is it that Bengalis choose to be ruled by an “obsolete, 19th-century totalitarian ideology?”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What should you be stockpiling for 'World War Three'?
In the Spotlight Britons advised to prepare after the EU tells its citizens to have an emergency kit just in case
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Carnivore diet: why people are eating only meat
The Explainer 'Meatfluencers' are taking social media by storm but experts warn meat-only diets have health consequences
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Scientists want to fight malaria by poisoning mosquitoes with human blood
Under the radar Drugging the bugs
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published