I thought I would do a pen-down strike, offended by the recent events in West Bengal. The rain of bricks was targeted at the convoy of the BJP leader J.P. Nadda, while he was visiting Diamond Harbour. Kailash Vijayvargiya, the BJP minder of West Bengal and the State BJP leader Dilip Ghosh suffered minor injuries, while many cars were damaged. The sad incidents were telecast by all channels, including those normally considered sympathetic to the ruling Trinamool party.
West Bengal will be facing the state assembly elections in a matter of barely a few months. Visits by political heavyweights are therefore normal to all critical areas to disprove the invincibility factor of the strong Trinamool control in a few areas. It is not therefore unusual for the BJP chief to tread into Bhowanipore, Kalighat areas, Didi’s fortress and after that to Diamond Harbour, Abhishek Banerjee’s constituency.
JP Nadda is provided with a Z+ security cover, but the State wherever he visits fortifies the security cover during his visits to ensure no untoward happens anywhere around. The State, as I understand, had provided a bulletproof vehicle and deputed three senior IPS officers for the leader. Later, the police arrested ten persons for stone-throwing incidents. The congested roads to Diamond Harbour make it impossible to breezily commute, a fact known to those who are acquainted with the area.
Two wrongs cannot compound to one right. First, the kneejerk reaction by CM Mamata Banerjee, who went on ballistic, in her address soon after the attacks. She questioned characteristically need of outsiders to visit West Bengal every other day, calling the BJP Chief names in her ‘poetic’ rhymes. She compared the entire episode theatrics of BJP, similar to the Vidyasagar episode, that is fresh in the minds of those who follow Bengal politics. Today, I hear of a hatched conspiracy, as alleged by a senior minister of Trinamool, to murder the CM. The State police must ensure adequate safety to the CM.
The irrepressible State BJP chief too retorted a tit-for-tat. The Union Home secretary summoned the Chief Secretary and the police chief of West Bengal. The officers have declined to comply stating that actions have already been initiated at the State. The Union Home Ministry in a later move had requisitioned the three police officer posted at the site during the attacks on the BJP leader’s convoy. The State has retorted that the move was not in conformity with the federal structure of democracy. I expect that the matter will be in court soon.
Bengal has a history of thriving in bloody politics, before and after independence. Time seems to stand still in the mindsets of people, gloating over past heroes, who were many. West Bengal led the nation with its literati, cultrate thinkers and politicians of a different genre. The State has sunk to a low in the many above aspects, the political scenario monopolized by sub-optimal players, whose utterances make us shrink and shirk away. Such standards can be attributed to all the parties, snatching away Bengal as the ‘epitome of thinkers’ label.
The stone-throwing and an unapologetic response are reflective of such lowered levels of politics. I do not support the constant affronts to the federal structure by the Centre either.
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
1 Comment
Excellent