Calcutta Diary

April 7, 1973 Calcutta Diary AM THE time has come, the Walrus said. Those, who ought to be in prison, are out; those who ought to be out, are in: would this not about sum up the situation around those parts even as summer, along with the lean season for foodgrains, ensues? Tucked away in remote corners of newspapers, you will find stories of murders, mayhems, assaults, raids by armed gangs. If it were two or three years ago, our conscientious, truth-serving newspapers would have provided those items with shrieking headlines: civilisation has reached the end of its tether: joyti Basu, assassin, to the gallows; enough is enough, we demand the restoration of the regime of law and order, productive economic activities have come to a halt in West Bengal: the polity must be saved from the marauding Left; the Centre must act and put an end to the gory events.