The last one month has been horrific in Bengal. Student activist Anis Khan was allegedly killed by the local police on the night of February 18. One Congress and one Trinamool Congress (TMC) councillor were shot dead on March 13 in two different incidents. Bhadu Sheikh, TMC’s deputy panchayat head of Barshal village in Rampurhat area which comes under Birbhum district, was killed on March 21. The same day, eight people, including women and children, were burnt alive inside their homes in Bagtui village, Rampurhat.
Mamata Banerjee, who presides over the state’s home department and is the chief minister of Bengal, has not yet acted strongly enough. She has formed SITs but aggrieved families do not have trust in the independence of the police because of political control. Apparently, it might look like these are not connected incidents. However, all of these incidents are related to the Trinamool Congress, the ruling party of Bengal.
It is time for Mamata Banerjee to look into her party and send a strong message that such violence has no place in a democracy. After the Rampurhat massacre, the Bengal chief minister has finally decided to visit the spot. In all these incidents neither her party senior leadership nor she has visited the aggrieved families. Interestingly, as an opposition leader, Mamata used to visit such places even before the police.
Whenever such horrific violence takes place in Bengal the common rhetoric of Mamata Banerjee is, these are some isolated incidents and the opposition is intentionally politicising them. After the Rampurhat massacre, the Bengal chief minister said that such incidents also happen in BJP-ruled Gujarat. Similarly, the TMC has been talking about the violence of Uttar Pradesh and other states. One top TMC leader commented that this incident is nothing but a conspiracy to tarnish the image of the state.
Even before the investigation began, a top IPS officer of the state told the press that there is no political connection in the Rampurhat massacre.
Such an incident cannot be apolitical since it followed the death of a TMC leader. The wrong rhetoric is only harming the image of Mamata Banerjee and if she does not realise this now, it will be too late to fix the problem. The ruling party must accept that such statements are bizarre and shameful.
With the rise in violence and poor response of Mamata Banerjee, the question today is: why will someone not call the situation in Bengal ‘anarchic’ or why will the opposition not ask for President’s rule? Mamata Banerjee must realise that goons do not have any ideology. The goons who were earlier with the Congress and then went to the Left parties are now with the TMC. With the goal of TMC to make “Birodhi Shunno Bangla” (Bengal with zero opposition), the goons have gathered courage to do whatever they want.
For example, every other day in the media and on the ground, Birbhum district president of TMC Anubrata Mondal makes inflammatory speeches. Forget about taking action against Mondal, the TMC supremo has recently elevated him to the party’s national working committee. According to media reports, last year Mondal said, “There was a murder in 2011, there was murder in 2014, there was a murder in 2019 and now again there will be a murder in 2021.” The Rampurhat area is part of the Birbhum district, and Mondal is Birbhum TMC president. Just after the incident, he said that the reason behind the fire was fridge burst and nothing else. Mamata is yet silent on such leaders.
The situation did not reach this point in one day. Without the direct or indirect indulgence of the top leadership, can the lower-level workers continue such unbridled manipulation and corruption? Secondly, the ruling party’s leaders have learnt from experience that no matter what wrong they do, they face no danger if the party’s umbrella remains intact.
CM Mamata Banerjee will also have to accept that the police have miserably failed in their duty. The responsibility ultimately lies with the chief minister. Without blaming the media, the central government, the governor, the opposition, she has to admit first that what has happened in Rampurhat, what is happening across the entire state, is the ultimate failure of the administration.
The TMC chief will also have to acknowledge that this is a political failure. The party’s top leadership, including Mamata, also bear responsibility if they do not believe they have control over the local leadership. Neglecting such matters is criminal negligence and Mamata being the face of the government and the party will have to take the onus. If the chief minister or her administration had done whatever it took to control the situation, would the situation have reached here today?
Violence has no state, no ideology, no caste and no religion. Violence is violence. The people of Bengal checked the aggressive Hindutva push a year back and voted Mamata to power for a third time. People kept their faith in Mamata Banerjee and it is her responsibility to provide safety to every section of Bengal. Anti-incumbency is not always loud. The recent Punjab result has again shown how anti-incumbency can work silently. People will lose faith in TMC if such violence continues in the state. This is why it is high time for Mamata Banerjee to act against her party and take stern action against any such violence.
The author is an independent journalist based in Kolkata and a former policy research fellow at Delhi Assembly Research Center. He tweets as @sayantan_gh. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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