THICK SKINNED SIDDHARTH

THICK SKINNED SIDDHARTH

The opposition to corporal punishment is raging, after the fatal death of a young student who was caned and humiliated by the staff of the prestigious La Martinier college, Kolkata. The ‘Outlook’ weekly magazine has covered the menace of corporal punishment as a lead story and also carried out a survey on the subject seeking opinion of the parents as well. In order to make the publication interesting with varied opinions the views of Mr Siddharth Shankar Ray were also taken. As we know that he was a famous barrister who has been the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Governor of the Punjab , Ambassador to U S A and Cabinet Minister at centre. Probably his views were obtained as he too is a resident of Kolkata where the tragedy occurred and was educated in similar school. He seemed not much affected by it and narrated his days in St Xavier’s Kolkata when he was caned on many occasions for being late. He also mentioned that the late Jyoti Basu too studied in the same school as he and he too was subjected to caning. He looked back to those days with fondness and accepted that such treatment never affected him.

The caning and corporal treatment may not apparently bother Shri Ray at this juncture, but he is known to be a tough politician who carried out counter attack on Naxalites in early seventies as Chief Minister of the State. Based on his success in quelling the naxal threat he was sent to Punjab to restrain the terrorist movement in the state in the eighties. He was also among the coterie which imposed emergency and the repression which followed it. History will therefore look at Ray as someone who was insensitive and hard on people. Could it be the caning in school which made him so ‘thick – skinned’?