Kolkata, Feb 21 – Political discourse in Bengal is increasingly characterized by personal attacks, crude exchanges, and combative rhetoric, with observers warning that it has reached a low point ahead of the 2026 assembly elections, overshadowing policy debates.
While Bengal's politics was once known for its nuanced wit and ideological debates, today's exchanges resemble rapid-fire exchanges designed for widespread circulation. Leaders across the TMC, BJP, CPI(M), and Congress blame each other for coarsening public discourse, despite critics arguing that all sides are complicit.
The irony is that International Mother Language Day, a celebration of linguistic pride and Bengal's literary legacy, is also marked by the use of language as a political weapon.
Previously, language was an art form, characterized by sharp wit but rarely crude personal attacks.
State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay acknowledged the decline, framing it as a broader social shift.
"Earlier, we criticized ideologies and political paths, but not in a disrespectful manner. There has been a serious decline in tolerance and patience among people. Politicians must remember that words spoken today can return as a boomerang tomorrow," Chattopadhyay said.
Chattopadhyay argued that debates were once centered on principles, whereas "now politics has largely become a scramble for power," a transformation he believes has inevitably affected language.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya condemned what he described as "institutionalized aggression" in political speeches, warning that personal insinuations were replacing substantive critique.
Veteran Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya lamented that ideological contestation has given way to personalized attacks.
"One of the most significant reasons for this deterioration is the decline in intellectual depth among political leaders. Earlier, politicians read literature, philosophy, and history. They had intellectual discipline and a broader worldview. Today, politics is confined to the immediate and the superficial," he said.
The 81-year-old politician argued that audiences have changed.
"If a leader uses abusive language, sections of the crowd applaud. Political discourse has become coarser. Politics, in many ways, has turned into a closed pond. When it becomes insular and intellectually stagnant, degeneration is inevitable," he said.
The CPI (M) has been particularly vocal about what it terms a "collapse of political culture".
Left leaders frequently contrast today’s verbal exchanges with an earlier era of structured ideological battles between Marxists, Congress stalwarts, and emerging regional forces.
TMC's Kunal Ghosh argued that the deterioration did not begin yesterday. He blamed the CPI(M)’s long tenure for institutionalising confrontational political behaviour, claiming that the opposition now complains about a culture it once nurtured.
Educationist Pabitra Sarkar attributed the coarsening of political language to wider societal erosion, saying, "This is not limited to West Bengal; it is happening across the country. Politics reflects society. When social values decline, political discourse inevitably follows."
Sugata Bose, the history professor at Harvard University, traced the shift to the absence of towering leaders who once shaped Bengal’s political imagination.
“One of the major reasons for the decline is that we no longer have leaders of the stature we once had in pre- and post-Independence eras. Earlier, politics and debates were based on ideology and policy. Now politics is about capturing power and money,” the grandnephew of Netaji Subha Chandra Bose and former TMC MP told
