Union Home Minister P Chidambaram expressed concern over West Bengal’s culture of violence and advised the so-called educated classes to stop living in a fool’s paradise. His comments on the need for democratic forms of dissent were strongly contested by the Mamata Banerjee government that is already suspicious of the UPA because of the CPI(M)’s support to Pranab Mukherjee as the Presidential candidate. Chidambaram, however, admitted that there had been a remarkable improvement in tackling Maoist violence in West Bengal. But inter-party clashes have been taking place. It is not a good sign for democracy, he said. His reference to the violence in the first half of 2012 when the Trinamool government was well entrenched was especially galling to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who had repeatedly said that she had prevented bloodshed in the State after the Assembly elections. It was all the more disturbing to her because the comments were addressed to industrialists, reflecting on the investment climate in the State. State Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee disagreed with Chidambaram’s comments that law and order in West Bengal was in a pathetic state. He even suggested that the comments were meant to keep the CPI(M) happy.
A battle between the Union government and the West Bengal government over statistics is meaningless as statistics are often misleading. What is significant is the growing rift between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress. Mamata cannot deny that rape and murder in West Bengal have been very much in the news of late. Even an erstwhile friend like Chidambaram highlighted it. The notion that the Congress is trying to please the CPI(M) is without substance as Chidambaram also spoke very critically of lawlessness in the State under Left Front rule.
