A cyclone lashed Odisha and parts of West Bengal and Jharkhand on 26th May 2021, prompting a visit by PM Modi to inspect the affected areas. He held a review meeting at Kalaikunda, West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal, was peeved at the inclusion of her bête noire, Suvendu Adhikari, in the meeting. The Centre justified that they had included him as the Leader of Opposition.
All the above are but matters of little interest, but what arrested the notice was the absence of the West Bengal government in the PM’s review meeting on the cyclone damages. The Bengal CM kept the PM waiting for nearly 30 minutes, which she claims were due to the PM’s security protocol not letting her chopper land.
Mamata Banerjee met the PM for less than 90 seconds to seek Rs.20K crores assistance for the Yaas relief and left. The West Bengal Chief Secretary Shri Alapan Bandhopadhyay accompanied the CM and exited with her. Perhaps the Centre was upset that a Central cadre senior officer showed scant respect to the PM by walking away with the Bengal CM.
The tenure of Alapan, retiring as the C S on 31st May, was extended for three months from 1st June by the Centre at the State’s request. The Centre, strangely, directed the CS to report to the North Block on 31st May at 10 am, the last day of his original tenure. Having approved the extension for the CS just four days before, the Centre also knows that it has no case under the IAS cadre rules to act against him. The Bengal CM refused to part with the Chief Secretary and wrote to the Prime Minister to review and recall their order on the CS Alapan, who was engaged in the Yaas relief work.
The Centre would not heed the Bengal CM and sent a show-cause notice under Sec 51(b) of the Disaster Management Act, under which the Centre can try anyone for non-compliance. Mamata retorted by letting Alapan retire on 31st May and appointed him as her advisor from 1st June for three years.
Many might disagree with me if there was a breach of protocol, which I think there was. Mamata Banerjee’s disdain for Centre, Modi and Amit Shah is no secret. The latter two do not publicly exhibit such emotions in public is the only difference between the mercurial CM and the PM, HM duo.
Didi’s lament that the harassment is because the CS is a Bengali, I guess, is grossly misplaced. Much like the Armed forces, the IAS cadre is the classic example of federalism and is the spine of the country, despite the increasing onslaught by politicians. I guess India is intact due to the dedication of the IAS cadre, but for which the politicians would have succeeded in splitting Punjab or Assam from India.
Many retired IAS officers have uniformly condemned the Centre’s action as an act of arrogance. What cannot be denied is IAS today is a poor and weak image of what it used to be earlier. Political leaders mowing down honest officers are meekly accepted as ‘perils-of-the-profession’ and for the sake of plum postings and personal gains. Such condemnation is never heard of when States attack sincere officers. Strict observance of rules and procedures would have spared the Chief Secretary to escape the crossfire in a Modi-Mamata conflict. Alapan disregarded the basics act of balancing, basking under Mamata’s cloak of protection and, in the process doing a disservice to the cadre itself.
It will be good for the State only if both parties end the conflict in a graceful manner and focus on Covid and Cyclone relief work.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
