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So today (4th May 2026), we finally find out who's going to run Bengal till 2031.

And tbh, reading Bengal's history while waiting for election results is a recipe for depression.

Let me take you through what I've been thinking.

We were once the richest place on earth.

No, really. Under Mughal rule, Bengal alone contributed nearly 12% of GLOBAL GDP. Whole European countries couldn't compete with one province.

But guess who paid the price? The common Bengali. Zamindars and elites got rich. Peasants got exploited. Just like the european model.

Then came Siraj-ud-Daulah.

Young guy, became Nawab at 23. Was he perfect? No. He made enemies, was impulsive, and pissed off his own aunt. But his complaints against the British were 100% legit:

- They were building forts without permission

- They abused trade deals

- They sheltered his corrupt officers

Then Mir Jafar happened.

You know the story. Betrayed him at Plassey. Siraj got executed at 23.

And Mir Jafar? He became a puppet, found an empty treasury, couldn't pay bribes, and died an opium addict. Betrayal didn't even work out for the traitor.

That one event — 1757 — opened the door for the British.

And bro, the British absolutely drained us.

Within 50 years, we went from richest to one of the poorest.

The famines:

- 1770: 7-10 MILLION Bengalis died. The British increased taxes DURING the famine.

- 1943: 3 million died. And here's the sick part—between Jan. and July 1943, while people were starving, the British exported 70,000+ tonnes of rice from India for their war effort.

- Churchill literally asked, "Why hasn't Gandhi died yet?"

- This wasn't a natural disaster. It was manufactured.

Fast forward to independence.

INC? Didn't do much for Bengal specifically. Refugees from Partition, yes. But industry? Stagnation by the 60s.

CPI(M) came in 1977. Land reforms were good. But then they refused economic reforms, industries fled, and Singur-Nandigram finished them. Forced land acquisition broke their back.

TMC since 2011. I won't say much because you all live here. Welfare schemes increased. But industry? Kaput. Capex down 35% this year. And the political violence, cut money, and syndicates—we all know.

Here's my real takeaway:

Bengal's problem isn't just "this party bad, that party good."

It's structural. 300 years in the making.

1. Zamindari mindset — rent-seeking over actually building things

2. Deindustrialization — we lost our manufacturing and never got it back

3. Political instability — from Mir Jafar to MLAs switching parties every season

4. Populism — every government buys votes instead of building factories

The numbers don't lie:

In the 1950s, Bengal was ~25% of India's GDP. Today? ~7-8%.

We went from 12% of WORLD GDP to 7% of ONE country's GDP.

That's the fall.

So, whoever wins—TMC, BJP, INC, CPI(M), BSP, anyone—please just do four things:

1. Stop the Hindu-Muslim, Bengali-non-Bengali divide. We've been fighting since 1757. Enough.

2. Bring manufacturing back. We have a port, cheap labor, and a location advantage. WHY are we losing to other states?

3. Fix education. Our kids need skills, not just useless degrees.

4. Kill the syndicates and cut money and political violence. Just govern like adults.

Let this election be the start of actually fixing and developing Bengal.

Rant over. What do you guys think the future of Bengal will be?

Drop your thoughts below.

I'm a 21 y/o male.

In late november 2025 a girl approached me on Instagram (this was the first time a girl approached me in 21 years (I'm currently 21 years old, and she currently 20 (in november 2025 i was 20 y/o))

Before she approached I commented on an instagram post about how i got a good government college in Pune, better than my current tier 3 engineering college, but my parents didn't allow me to go there since i'll have to be out of my home state.

(All our conversations happened on instagram only.)

So she also had a similar story, so she approached me and asked how I managed that setback.

She said she has a history; her parents are, like, very much conservative, and after she passed her 12th, her parents forced her to marry, but she somehow came out of that and currently is pursuing her bachelor's.

So then from november we started talking. By talking I mean just simple talks about my hobbies, etc., etc.—nothing romantic, typical of platonic friendship.

So here is the thing: I would ghost her mostly like 3-6 hours or 12 hours; once, in February, I ghosted her for 3 days.

So i'm explaining why i did so; on social media my feed would be like that girl cheated on her boyfriend, and similar things; that wife seeks alimony while she only cheated in that marriage; some influencers saying girls like bad boys (red flags); and similar things (you get what kind of content i'm trying to say) (the content where the girls are at fault mostly)

So I would ghost her; she would send me reels. sometimes i would react to all the reels and sometimes, let's say, 2 out of 4 reels and would see her reels like 3-6 hours later; if she texted something, I would consciously (most of the time; sometimes i really was busy) wait like 1-2 hours before messaging her (if she texted something, I would mostly text her back in 30 minutes to 1 hour), and we would have a conversation.

She would text me at night, like after 11 pm, but I would reply to her back at 7 am. this was because I actually slept early, by 10:30 pm, and would wake up by 6 am. I told her that since i sleep early, I couldn't reply to her message, and she said, "It's totally fine."

Ok, so in april I had my birthday, and on my birthday she texted me "Happy Birthday" at like 9 pm, and she also apologised for that, and on her birthday which is in April, only i wished her happy birthday by 7 am. The next day she sent her photo of her birthday cake; i just liked that picture. I actually wanted to have a conversation about how she celebrated her birth, but again, that chad sigma thing came inside me, and I thought, why should i start a conversation with her.

From november till april most of the time she will only start the conversation, and i would rarely; she would herself send photos of her applying mehendi on her hand, though, in one time photo. I would react to it. I would send her photos rarely.

In march i sent her photos of my college, but she just totally ignored it.

After talking for like 4 months in April, I asked for her number, and she gave hers, and we talked once in April, though after that i didn't text her on whatsapp or call her again till now.

She also said that she trusts me.

So coming to the present, in the last week of april, she sent like 3 reels one day; I reacted to them 18 hours later, and on the second day she sent 4 reels, and i reacted to 2 after 6 hours.

I said sorry to her that in late April, due to my exams and project, I wasn't able to like communicate with her properly. She said it's ok, but I know that she is still angry at me, and she is kind of like ignoring me.

I know that she is giving me my treatment only, and i think this is totally fair because of what I did; she has the right to do so.

I believe social media brainwashed me to act badly with a girl.

Though she hasn't blocked me, she keeps ignoring me.

Tbh I actually am feeling guilty that I hurt a girl.

Tbh I don't have any romantic feelings for her, but I care for her as a friend, and i really feel bad for doing the above things, and i also don't think she has any romantic feelings for me.

I actually don't like hurting anyone; i'm like, if i hurt someone, the pain he/she gets is 2x the pain for hurting that person.

What should I do because i just can't say sorry to her by saying, "I'm sorry for intentionally ghosting you"?

I know i'm at fault here, and i actually want to know if she is still angry with me and also don't want to seem like i'm desperate.

Currently i initiate conversations, but she kind of ignores them.

(I know you will be thinking i'm a person who likes attention and it's fair for you all to also think that and tbh to a point, it's true but not at the cost of hurting someone.)

I want to fix things.

Though i've little hope that I may be able to fix things, as i believe in the statement that if you break a glass (heart), the glass will never totally 100% be repaired.

I am kind of guy who had gynophobia (fear of girls) but after class 11 i somehow was able to recover from that.

You can say this is my first ever proper interaction (virtual) with a girl. But still larkiyo ko approach karne mein fatt ti hain, isliye lagta hain she is my kind of first and last female friend if I lose her!

Also I tbh actually cant continue a conversation for a long time as I'm a big introvert so most of the time I don't have any topic to initiate or continue upon.

What should I do now?

(I will kind of like keep on editing this sometimes!!)