Calcutta Diary

A M The hullabaloo over the Lok Sabha election outcome from the Jadavpur constituency in Calcutta confirms the reality of the secular retreat from literacy in the state. The candidate who won from Jadavpur on the Left Front ticket represents the quintessence qf the culture Bengal was once known for. But Calcutta's newspapers could not care less. She has committed an unforgivable crime; she has defeated their candidate, their heroine, their godsister; the press, reduced to lumpendom, cannot take it, it is frothing in the mouth.