The 1970s in West Bengal are remembered as an era when the Naxalite movement, the influx of refugees and brutalities by the security forces competed with the liberation of Bangladesh, the garibi hatao slogan and the resounding victory of the Congress party in elections that caught the national attention.
There were countless allegations of police atrocities and fake encounters to eliminate Left activists. As the city of Calcutta (now Kolkata) plunged into near anarchy, the unnatural death of youngsters became a regular feature—it almost stopped making news in the local media.
(This story appears in the 21 October, 2022 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)