Mamata cares little for laws
By Ashis Biswas
Her impetuosity might have been an asset for Ms Mamata Banerjee in her former avatar as an opposition agitator. These days, as the Chief administrator of a problem-ridden state like West Bengal, her impulsive style of politics is about as helpful as an albatross round her neck!
From the word go, it was clear that some of her official policy decisions were “bad in law”, to use a common enough phrase in legal parlance. Consider the decision to allot 400 acres out of 993 to farmers who refused to part with their land for the proposed Nano car project at Singur. Several surveys have established conclusively that actually reluctant peasants collectively own only 40 acres of land, nowhere near 400, as falsely claimed by Ms Banerjee and her party since 2007 !
It is another matter that investment-starved West Bengal lost an extremely promising project because of her insistence to turn a figment of her imagination into reality. In its unseemly hurry to drive the Tatas and their vendors physically out of Singur, the state government, pressured by Chief Minister Banerjee and her advisors, bulldozed a legislation through the Assembly. This, after having burnt its fingers to introduce an ordinance. Only a timely intervention by the Supreme Court prevented a proposed allotment of land forcibly from the site to “reluctant” farmers, who account for only about 12 per cent of the local peasantry!
If this is what happened at Singur, where the existing legal tangle may take years to settle – and may God help unwilling farmers! — there was always the apprehension that the legal basis of some of Ms Banerjee’s more dramatic “schemes” for the people would prove to very shaky indeed.
And so it has turned out. Recently, the Kolkata High Court has ordered a stay of two months over Ms Banerjee’s proposal to allot an individual compensation of Rs 200,000 for over 170 victims of a recent hooch tragedy in South 24 Parganas. The court moved on a PIL by intrigued citizens who wanted to know on what legal basis could such compensation for hooch victims be handed out of the taxpayer’s money.
The official decision comes at a time when the government stubbornly refuses to pay a single paisa as compensation to the kin of farmers who are committing suicides in several districts of the state almost daily. At last count, 28 people took their lives, the details of their tragedy well highlighted by the print and electronic media.
Ms Banerjee insists that only ONE farmer has committed suicide, without naming him. A strange stand, to say the least, from the leader of a party that won elections on the Ma-Mati-Manush slogan! She accuses the media of “conspiring” against her along with the hated CPI(M) and “another party” (read the Congress). The reason? “I cannot satisfy the media by paying them money!” Clearly, her ideas regarding press freedom need public discussion. A recent move by the state government to cancel accreditation cards arbitrarily has been legally challenged, forcing the government to backtrack.
It may be recalled most state governments, including Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, usually pay compensation to families afflicted by suicides.
The expenditure incurred in some other official “schemes” seem equally bizarre. Hundreds of retired transport workers are not being paid their pension and many of those still in service are going without their regular salaries for months. At least one transport worker has committed suicide. Ms Banerjee insists that she would not allow subsidies in public transport and appears determined to do away with Rs 600 crore as subsidy overnight!
But the same government has just announced a grant of Rs 2,00,000 each to sports and youths clubs , costing the state exchequer Rs 21 crore , arguing that existing standards in sports must improve! The selection of the clubs was arbitrary. MLAs from the Congress and the CPI(M) complained. The payments were made regardless of the record of these clubs in sports activities or their equipment!
Further the Supreme Court finally ordered the release on bail of CPI(M) MLA and former Minister Sushanta Ghosh, held in jail over 170 days because of his alleged involvement in murders and kidnapping cases in West Midnapore. The state government had repeatedly refused him bail.
And the Kolkata High court, also allowed bail, again after repeated refusals of the lower courts, for three young SFI members who had demonstrated against their principal at Majdia College, Nadia. The principal fell sick.
However he was not physically assaulted or pushed around, as was the principal of Raiganj College, by Trinamool Congress supporters. Ms Banerjee blamed the media and condoned the rude behaviour of her lumpen party cadre as “misguided excess of youth in the face of strong provocation!’ The fault of the Raiganj principal was that he was apparently not a TMC supporter. As soon as he resigned, the state government, instead of arresting the hooligans, promptly accepted his resignation. The culprits were arrested for a few minutes before being released on bail! Talk of administrative impartiality.
Clearly such incidents have not exactly enhanced the prestige and credibility either of the chief Minister or her party. But so far, there is no sign that things are about to take turn for the better, causing concern among even Trinamool loyalists. (IPA Service)
