As a Probashi Bengali, I have always carried a quiet pride about Bengal’s heritage, the land of reformers who once shaped India’s moral imagination. Yet, in recent years, that pride has given way to a deep unease. The state that once symbolised intellect and refinement now finds itself struggling under the weight of lawlessness, economic stagnation, and corruption.

For many Bengalis living outside the state, the recurring images of disorder, political violence, and administrative decay are extremely disturbing. What troubles me most, however, is not merely the state’s governance failures, but the silence of Bengal’s self-proclaimed intellectual elite, popularly known as Bhadralok.

Once a term of respect, Bhadralok literally means “gentlefolk". It embodied qualities of education, ethics, and public conscience. The bhadralok class was the moral anchor of Bengal’s Renaissance — cultured, principled, and community-minded. But, over the years, this once-admired identity has been appropriated by a small, self-serving elite whose values now bear little resemblance to the virtues the term once signified.

The original bhadralok stood for discipline, learning, and service to society. They believed that intellectual responsibility came with moral duty. But that spirit seems long lost.........

© News18