Did 34 years of Communist Government ruin the Bengali Businesses and local Business mindset in West Bengal?

It is often said now days among Bengalees that we are not business material, we are born to work in offices. At maximum, we are good at doing small businesses. We see that most of the businesses in Kolkata, our capital city is dominated by non-Bengalees. If you remember there were Bengalees as film producers in Bollywood not so long ago and now even the local Bengali film and television industry is financed by companies whose owners are non-Bengalees.

It makes me wonder that did 34 years of continuous communist presence at government level and in the psyche of the Bengalee community in West Bengal and Tripura pushed the progressive and not so risk averse Bengalee community running after government jobs and salaried positions? lets dive into the time...

Let's start by listing out Bengali producers in post Independence and try to chronologically order the reduction and disappearance from the horizon and see if a pattern appears over a period of time:-

• Hiralal Sen - Creative year extended uptill 1913. He was the first politcal film maker (on Bengal's anti-partition movement). his films got destroyed in a fire in 1917. he was Zamindar by birth and owned Royal Bioscope which he purchased from an European.
  
• Agradoot (active in industry from 1947-1980s) - Its a group of film technicians coming together and producing films a very unique combination and phenomena in Indian cinema history. Last movie was on 1989.
  
• Premankur Atorthy (Active in industry in different capacities from 1927-1950) - His education was kolkata based and started working in sports goods shop in kolkata and then fled to Mumbai and made his mark.
• Nitish Chandra Laharry - Producer of 1st motion picture in Bengal. He was active during 1892 - 1964. He received awards from Govt. of India, Chile and France for his works.
• Bimal Roy - Owner of Bimal Roy productions. However, he co-invested in New Theaters. He was active as a producer in 1950's to 1964 time frame in Bollywood.
  
• Nithyananda Dutta - Assisted Satyajit Roy mostly and had 2 productions under him, which he himself directed, in 1967(Hathath Dekha) and 1970 (Baksha Badal)
• Ganguly Family - Also known popularly for their family members - Kishor Kumar, Ashok Kumar. Active from 1956 - 1989 period.
• Dhirendra Nath Ganguly - Owner of Indo British Film Co., Lotus Film Co., British Dominion Films. After 1921 and 1930, he largely contributed as a director and received national awards in his domain.
• Birendra Nath Sircar (owner of New Theaters) - Active largely from 1931 till 1955.
  
• Partho Ghosh(Activity around 1991-2018) website-www.sapnaproductions.in (website no longer exists)
• Shakti Samanta - (Directorial activity - 1955 -2002 and produced 2 films -1976,1997) - Birth in Bardhaman Dist. and early education in Calcutta University.
  
• Budhdhadeb Guha - (1938-2018) - He was an economics professor and then shifted domain.
• Inder Sen - Active during 1969 - 1994. However, detailed analysis not done on how many films he actually produced. He directed several that part is clear.
  
• Agnidev Chatterjee (2005-2006) - He was largely a director fro films and daily soaps but his mark as an investor is limited to 2 years.
• Bedabrata Pain (2005 -2012) He produced only 2 films.In 1990s, Bedabrata Pain was part of a team that invented the active pixel sensor technology that produced the world's smallest camera and has been inducted to the US Space Technology Hall of Fame. Now it is used from cell-phone cameras to movie cameras (such as those used by RED) to those in space telescopes.
• Prosenjit Chatterjee - (Only production -2012) Otherwise he is quite a renowned film actor and son of another film actor.
• Debalina Majumder - She produced an experimental film in 2005. Otherwise, she worked as an employee to other projects sometimes as director, script writer etc.
• Suman Mukherjee - He started with his first film in 2005 called Herbert, which own awards. So, he has emerged in a time frame when the communist government is falling and it was about to go.
• Kanishka Kushan Nandy/Kushan Nandy - produces film under banner - current entertainment house movies by Mob. His film productions are largely non commercial in nature.
• Pijush Saha - He was active sine 2002 in Bengali films, which are not that great (my opinion). However, it is not clear whether and how many did he invested in.
• Anup Sengupta - He largely worked a director. He produced between 2004 - 2008.

It is evident from the above data that there were more producers pre-1970 period. Post 1970's those established people continued their legacies but fresh entrants came after 2000-ish only. Therefore, there was no supply of Bengali producers in bollywood and local bengal TV and film industry. Whoever entered this domain as producers required joint venture and were not 100% self sufficient.

Industrial Infrastructure Underdeveloped - Advantage of Kolkata and Haldia Port remained ineffective/static in handling growing business capacity of the hinterland region?

Sl. no.	Name of the port	District
1	Paradeep (opened in 1966)	Jagatsinghpur
2	Gopalpur Port (Sapoorji palonji owned -still under construction)	Ganjam
3	Dhamra (Joint Venture of Tata and L&T, operational since 2010)	Bhadrak
4	Palur (Private investment- under paper work)-Post 2012 development	Ganjam
5	Bali-harichandi (2012-2013)	Puri
6	Astarang(http://www.necltd.com/sectors-development-ports.html)	Puri
7	Bahuda Muhan (Sonepur)-Riverine port	Ganjam
8	Chudamani	Ganjam
9	Inchuri	Balasore
10	Chandipur	Balasore
11	Subarnarekha Mouth(Kirtania)	Balasore
12	Bahabalpur	Balasore
13	Jatadhar Muhano	Jagatsinghpur

This shows that Odisha/Orissa has developed ports to support business both at government level and at private level. They developed ports because there was demand. Private companies invested in ports because of demand supply gap. If you open and read the link beside Astarang port, I see the government has addressed 2 needs by employing 1 solution. the location of Astarang port is prone to cyclone and littoral drift, as a result patented technologies will be used to address the same, improving damage to habitation and human settlement. On the other hand forcing economic development.

However, West Bengal being the gateway to 7 sister states of North East have still footing on kolkata and Haldia ports only. This is evident even after 9 years post communist rule in West Bengal. the society and the system has not been able to come out from a particular psyche which dominated the social and administrative landscape.

Let's analyse the Bengali businesses and how/if they died/faded away during 35 years of communist rule in west bengal. However, while going through the list, we must keep in mind the communist government was formed in 1970's but strong handed labour union, student unions started much ahead disrupting established business scenarios across Bengal.

1. Bose Corporation (Audio)- Founder Amar Bose established the company in 1964 in USA. The rest is history. the example may be irrelvant in context of Bengal but sufficient enough to prove that Bengalees are "business material". Website - https://www.bose.com/en_us/index.html

2.IISCO - (Metal industry)Sir Birendra Nath Mukherjee s/o of industrialist Sir Rajendranath Mukherjee. The company is owned by Bengali Brahmin (Gothra -Lineage) but Vaishya by Karma/work nature.The company was the first in India to use blast furnace. The company survived a failed attempt by Ramanath Goenka of Indian Express to take over its ownership. the Last leg of the company history was disrupted with labour trouble. He was advised by Basu Acharya to take up active communism which he declined and fought labour trouble in his own ways. The company was nationalized in 1972.

3. The Bengal Iron Works (Metal industry)- went into liquidation in 1920's and merged with IISCO. Ownership shifted to a Bengalee but before merger with IISCO, no history about original owners.

4. Sonodyne - A k Mukherji - The company is owned by Bengali Brahmin (Gothra -Lineage) but Vaishya by Karma/work nature.

5. IFB - Bijon Nag - (Electronics)

6. Alliance Broadband -

7. Dabur India Ltd (FMCG industry)- Dr. S.K. Burman, an Ayurvedic practitioner in Kolkata.

8. Techno India Group (Education domain)- Gautam and Satyam Roy Choudhury - 31 private colleges in eastern, north eastern India.

9. Bengal Chemicals (Pharma and Chemicals) - Scientist Prafulla Chandra Roy -

10. DTDC courier Co(Logistics industry), - subhashis Chakraborty - The company is owned by Bengali Brahmin (Gothra -Lineage) but Vaishya by Karma/work nature, showing that Varna and Gothra are not same and flexible nature of Hindu society.

11. Xenitis Group (polymers etc - Petrochemicals) - P M Chakraborty -The company is owned by Bengali Brahmin (Gothra -Lineage) but Vaishya by Karma/work nature, showing that Varna and Gothra are not same and flexible nature of Hindu society.

12. Prayag Group (Hotels, chit fund)- Basudeb Bagchi -

13. Senco Gold (Gems and Jewellery industry)- Shankar Sen

14. P C Chandra Group (Gems and jewellery industry)- founder A . K. Chandra -

15. Speciality Restaurants and Situations Advertising (Hospitality industry)- group chairman Anjan Chatterjee - Brands include
Mainland China, Oh! Calcutta, Sigree, Haka, Flame & Grill, Shack and Machaan.

16. DQ Entertainment (Entertainment industry)- Tapas Chakraborty - company listed in BSE. The company is owned by Bengali Brahmin (Gothra -Lineage) but Vaishya by Karma/work nature, showing that Varna and Gothra are not same and flexible nature of Hindu society.

17. IIPM (Education industry)- Arindam Chaudhuri -

18. Tractors India Ltd (Engineering and Automobile) - chariman sumit mazumder s/o founder a mazumder -  sole dealer in eastern india, Bhutan of US company - caterpillar.

19. NDTV (Entertainment industry)- Dr. Pronoy Roy  -

20. DCPL Group - chairman Shanta Ghosh(founded by Sadhan Dutta) - Engineering and Architecture Consultancy, Civil Construction, Real Estate, Chemicals Manufacturing and IT-BPO services.

21.Xenitis Group (IT industry)- Santanu Ghosh - flagship projects less INR 10,000 desktop ("Amar PC")

22. Pritish Nandy Communications (Entertainment industry)- founder pritish Nandy - enlisted in BSE and NSE.

23. Husky Energy (Canada) - CEO Asim Ghosh - Mr. Ghosh was the MD and CEO of Hutchison Essar Ltd., from 1998-2009

24. Txyco Ltd and Yongtong Group - Sagnik Roy - is often called as "China's son-in-law" for being the most powerful foreign businessman in China. Born in Durgapur, India, he heads TXYCO Ltd., a Rs. 1,500 crores (US$ 300 Million) conglomerate.

25. Ess Dee Aluminium - founder  Sudeep Dutta - enjoys a listing on the BSE and is valued at more than Rs. 1,800 crores (US$ 350 Million) and is one of the biggest players in the Aluminium Packaging Business. He acquired India Foils in 2008 and got the International VC Sequoia Capital to pick up a 7% stake in the company. He started in 1991 with only 12 employees.

26. Khadims Group (Footwear industry)- Satya prasad Roy Burman - currently enlisted in stock exchange.

27. RP Group - Koustav Roy - Well known for coming up with chirag brand desktops. Business diversified in IT, Media, Agro Foods, Ceramics and Sports.

28. ABP Group - Avik Sarkar - Owns two newspapers, nine magazines including Fortune India, four TV channels (ABP News, ABP Majha, ABP Ananda and Sananda TV), two publishing houses including Penguin India and a Mobile and an Internet company. With a personal net worth of more than Rs. 2,500 crores (US$ 500 Million).

29. Elite Hotels( Sweden) - founder Bicky Chakraborty - The company is owned by Bengali Brahmin (Gothra -Lineage) but Vaishya by Karma/work nature, showing that Varna and Gothra are not same and flexible nature of Hindu society.

His 22 super-luxury Hotels, across the country welcomes the best of Swedish and International society. He also owns more than 40 English Pubs in Sweden and the Westbank Hospital in Howrah, India. He is building another 275-bed Hospital in Calcutta, increasing his Healthcare portfolio. His personal networth is estimated at more than Rs. 3,000 crores (US$ 600 Million).

30. Universal Success Enterprises Limited - Prasoon Mukherjee -The company is owned by Bengali Brahmin (Gothra -Lineage) but Vaishya by Karma/work nature, showing that Varna and Gothra are not same and flexible nature of Hindu society.

31. KPC Group (California, USA) - Dr. Kali p. Chaudhuri - His businesses enjoy a combined valuation of more than Rs. 8,300 crores (US$ 1.6 Billion), and is spread across Healthcare, Pharmaceutical manufacturing, Biofuels and Alternative Energy, ITeS, Education, eal Estate and Travel. He is considered to be one of the foremost Orthopedic surgeons in the world.

32. Peerless Group - Sunil Roy - He heads the Rs. 13,000 crores (US$ 2.8 Billion) Group having diversified interests in Finance and Investments, Hospitals, Real Estate, Hotels, Travel and Senior Care. Roy received the 'Padma Shri" in 2009.

33. The Chatterjee Group (TCG) - Purnendu chatterjee - 

The company is owned by Bengali Brahmin (Gothra -Lineage) but Vaishya by Karma/work nature, showing that Varna and Gothra are not same and flexible nature of Hindu society.

Heads a private equity fund which has invested over $3.5 Billion in India alone, over the last 10 years. With global business interests ranging from Petrochemicals, Life Sciences, Information Technology, to Real Estate and Entertainment, this man has been a trail-blazer of sorts. An alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and the University of California at Berkeley; he joined McKinsey in 1976, became a partner at 34 and at one time was mentored by none other than the Billionaire Investor George Soros. He is well known in India, for being the largest private share-holder of Haldia Petrochemicals, being a part of the team that bought global Petrochemicals giant, Basell in 2005 and being one of the Founders of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.

34. Sahara India Pariwar - Subroto Roy  - 

 

35. Shroboni/ Bengal Speech and Hearing (started in 2006) - Somnath Mukherjee  - The company is owned by Bengali Brahmin (Gothra -Lineage) but Vaishya by Karma/work nature, showing that Varna and Gothra are not same and flexible nature of Hindu society.

the company has several sub brands and has fanned out across India and specializes in hearing aid and its related pre and post sales support and detection services, a sort of umbrella services. The company came up towards the last phase of communist rule in west bengal .

If you see the names and time lines of these business houses (ranging from film production to jewellery, IT, metal, pharma, etc.), I can see "higher caste" Bengalee Hindus were competent enough to do business. Not all but many of these businesses, I quoted above started from West Bengal. This contradicts our usual Bengalee notion that we are not business material. It also leaves a question, is the policy of majoritarianism responsible for the death of Bengalee Business class of West Bengal during the communist rule in West Bengal?? majoritariniasm is a communist ideology whereby communists of a particular nation attack majority religion of a specific nation - christianity in USA, Hindusim in India. If you recollect our old Hindi movies there would be a rich and greedy "lala ji", "seth ji" (obvisouly a hindu) who would try to overthrow poor people from an area to build real state and the hearo would be a coolie, mechanic, a small timer from that slum and there will be "class struggle" and the poor will win and the throne of rich and greedy hindu lala ji is toppled. This is similar to what jews were portrayed as by Nazis.

 

I end by leaving this as an open question.