First of all, I am Bengali and not one of those self-hating types either. I am quite aware of all the positive contributions of Bengalis to India and the world.

However having said that, I would like to respond to concerns about Bengalis losing land. Just because we have lost land to the Muslims, does not mean we oppress others. Darjeeling et all have never been Bengali land. They have always belonged to the Gorkhas. They are merely part of West Bengal for administrative purposes. If we cannot look after them well, they perfectly have the right to ask for a separate state.

I would like to ask my fellow Bengalis where all this rage was when Muslims were killing and driving out Bengalis during Partition or where all this rage is when the Communist government encourages illegal settlers from the other side to come over and demographics of entire districts of WB are changing. It is always easy to oppress the weak, true courage comes from standing up to someone as big as you.

PRADIPTO BISWAS TAMPA, US