(This article first appeared in the DNA newspaper)
A roadshow of BJP national president Amit Shah was attacked
in Kolkata. Priyanka Sharma, an activist
of BJP’s youth wing, is arrested in Kolkata for making a meme of Bengal chief
minister Mamata Banerjee. Journalists are heckled during election coverage in
Asansol and the body of an opposition party activist is found hanging from a
tree in Midnapore.
These are only some of the many incidents that signal that
all is not well with democracy in the Mamata Banerjee-ruled West Bengal. The
‘Mamata model of politics’, it seems, has no room for opposition, media and
free speech.
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An Election Commission observer in West Bengal, Ajay Nayak,
has said on record that the situation in Bengal is worse than what it was in
Bihar 15 years ago. He suggested that more central forces were required in the
state to ensure free and fair elections.
Over the last few phases of the general elections, more
central forces have been deployed in the state, but with their presence
restricted to polling booths. With the state police remaining truculent, the
All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) activists are on the rampage.
Polling officers — usually state government employees — fear
the wrath of the Mamata government if they don’t act in favour of her party.
Several videos have surfaced where TMC activists are seen
casting votes under the pretext of helping voters, with the polling officers
looking on sheepishly.
Mamata has gone on record saying that she will have her
revenge inch-by-inch after the elections. Terrified, helpless and cheated by
the current TMC government, the voters are silent. But, masked in their
silence, a greater change is afoot. Opposition parties have accused the TMC of
giving shelter to anarchist elements and using foul means to garner votes.
The BJP has emerged as the principal opposition party after
the panchayat elections and most activists who have bled in the wake of
political violence are from the BJP.
A few months ago in the panchayat elections, too, the TMC
had created a similar environment of terror. So much so that the high court had
to allow opposition candidates to file nomination via email and WhatsApp, as
they could not make it to the nomination centres in the wake of violence
unleashed by TMC activists.
Opposition candidates, who eventually won the panchayat
election, could not return home fearing violence. More than 50 BJP activists
lost their lives during these panchayat elections.
This environment of political violence unfolding in Bengal
is a legacy of the Left Front government that ruled the state for 34 years and
which Mamata had opposed and uprooted.
In 2011, the Mamata government was formed with the slogan of
‘ma, mati, manush’ (mother, motherland, people). At that time Mamata stood for
the farmers of Nandigram and Singur, where the CPM-led Left Front had used
violence to suppress voices.
Today, Mamata’s line of political thought panders to the
state’s nearly 30 per cent Muslim population, of which many are illegal
Bangladeshis.
Therefore, it stems from this that in a matriarchal society
like Bengal, there were reports of Kali Pooja, Durga Pooja and Saraswati Pooja
being stalled to respect the sentiments of a community.
In 2017, Durga idol immersion was stalled for two days by
the administration on account of Muharram. Last year, processions on Hanuman
Jayanti were stopped and vandalised as the police stood mute witness.
What started with ‘ma, mati, manush’ in 2008-2009 has now
clearly been reduced to ‘Mamata, Muslims and Muharram’, with Hindus and their
symbols becoming soft targets and Muslim appeasement politics touching a new
low.
It is clear Mamata has chosen her politics to garner Muslim
support. On several occasions, she has spoken in favour of illegal Bangladeshi
migrants too. In the ongoing general elections, Bangladeshi actors were called
in to campaign for TMC candidates.
Today, appeasement, extortion and illegal migration have
emerged as the most important issues that have left an average Bengali
troubled. Ranging from the Bhadralok of Kolkata to the rural population of
Midnapore – the disquiet over TMC’s strong arm appeasement, extortion and
support of illegal migrants is palpable.
The weakened Congress and the CPM are in no position to
offer an alternative to TMC’s politics. As a result, a large section of voters
are now looking to BJP for help and support. This was why the BJP won several
seats in the Bengal panchayat election.
Instead of countering allegations, Mamata has gone further
into the deep end by using the power at her disposal to silence resistance.
Little does she realise that by not allowing the helicopters
of Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath to land for political rallies, she’s only
validating their claim on the electorate.
Earlier this month, when a group of youth chanted ‘Joy Shri
Ram’ (read Jai Shri Ram) as Mamata’s cavalcade passed by, the CM lost her cool.
She stopped her vehicle and threatened them with dire consequences.
The events of the last few years have created a background
and environment where people are fed up with the Mamata administration and for
them, the enchanting of ‘Joy Shri Ram’ has emerged as a slogan of resistance
against the Trinamool model of politics
where there is no space and scope for other voices.
The land of Aurobindo, Vivekanand, Subhash Bose and Shyama
Prasad Mukherjee will not tolerate this.
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