Lessons unlearnt!

West Bengal CM, Mamata Banerjee, reverted to her streetfighter image, threatening to cut the tongue of anyone who would dare to accuse her of the Partha-SSC scam. That was soon after the ED seizure of 21 crores of cash and property deeds in a flat owned by Arpita, a close accomplice of Partha Chatterjee. She exploded as to why the ED chose the 22nd of July, the very next day of the massive Annual Martyrs’ Day Rally of her party. She scalded the ED over their midnight raid on the minister, which she termed the BJP party’s handiwork.

The SSC recruitment probe scuttling by the TMC and Mamata is not unknown, which the party defended as an onslaught on the federal structure. Mamata and her partymen were never tired of asking why Suvendu Adhikari, the LoP, was left free. It may not be the best time for the counteraccusations, or the whataboutery, as the ED searches resulted in more seizures of cash and assets, which could run into nearly Rs.200 crores. There was a graveyard silence from Mamata, save hoarse shouts by party spokespersons that the raids were an act of vengeance by the BJP.

The protests could be normally engineered by political opponents for a distant political observer. However, a few events revealed the succession battle within the party and the deep division between two generations of the Trinamool party, one the elders, who owed allegiance and unwavering loyalty to Mamata, to which Partha Chatterjee belonged. The other is the group owing their loyalty to the rising star and youthful Abhishek Banerjee, which includes the TMC party spokesman, Kunal Ghosh.

After the crisis reached an unmanageable level and the public mood was getting nastier by the minute, Abhishek called an emergency meeting of the Disciplinary Committee meeting at 5 pm on the 28th of July to discuss Partha Chatterjee. The party spokesman already set the mood, tweeting that Partha must be sacked from all government and party posts. The Mamata camp got jittery. What if the Disciplinary committee sacks Partha from the party? As a non-member of TMC, he cannot continue as a minister, which would have embarrassed the Mamata camp. Hurriedly a meeting was convened, and Partha was sacked from all ministerial posts, thus saving a big embarrassment and a showdown between Didi and her nephew. Later, when Partha was taken out of the hospital after being sacked, he shouted that it was a conspiracy while still trusting his leader, Mamata Banerjee.

Abhishek took another step, deciding to meet the protestors who had passed the TET tests and were entitled to employment but were denied by Partha’s scam. Their protests have now crossed 503 days, and a solution had to be found. Mamata, on the contrary, blames the court cases for impeding appointments. But, who can stop the government from correcting the wrongs made? However, it needs grace and courage to admit that one is wrong; sadly, the CM may not possess that.

As I had written earlier, I refuse to believe that a single minister and her cronies could have perpetrated a scam of such magnitude. The investigation trail would lead to many more, affecting the longish tenure of the government. For those who think that Mamata’s aspirations for the PM’s chair in 2024 are still great, I merely smile at their naivety. If Didi could shrug off Narada, Sarada or many other accusations, Partha was, on the contrary, her close confidante and the General Secretary, manning for very important ministries and five senior party positions. She may find it difficult to rise from this tsunami.

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix