Mamata Banerjee is a street fighter and no one does this better than her. Mamata’s indomitable fight against the entrenched Communist rule in Bengal where she squarely defeated them in 2011 is legendary. She fought the Communists for nearly three decades despite threats and intimidation until she finally dislodged them. But Mamata’s Trinamool Congress has only replaced the Communists. The Saradha and Narada Scam that hit the state of West Bengal saw Mamata’s Trinamool being tainted by it as some of her ministers and MPs were involved. Rajeev Kumar the Commissioner of Police was directed by the country’s premier investigating agency – CBI to probe the matter but he took his own time and refused to appear before the CBI despite several summons. It is a different matter that the CBI overstepped its brief by trying to enter the Kumar’s official home on Sunday to question him over the multi-crore chit fund scams. The CBI claims that Kumar had incriminating evidence against the Ponzi scheme offenders, such as laptops, pen drives and diaries with entries but was holding on to those and refusing to hand them over to the Agency.
It is unprecedented for a Police Chief of any state to join a political protest. Kumar forgets that his loyalty is to the Indian Constitution. This has cast a shadow over the police force not just in Bengal but across the country. The politicization of the police has been a worrying trend in this country. Attempts to bring in Police reforms have met with resistance from the political establishment because politicians of every hue use the police to further their nefarious aims.
Mamata Banerjee has been sitting on a dharna to redeem the Constitution. This is the point of contention. In her eagerness to demolish Narendra Modi and the BJP, Mamata has pulled out all the stops including that of turning the police force into her minions. Mamata is using this incident as a political stratagem. Meanwhile the CBI has approached the Supreme Court on the matter. The apex court has stated that if the CBI could produce even a single piece of evidence against the West Bengal Government or Police then it would, ‘come down so heavily on them that they would regret it.’ Very strong words from the Court which will hear the case again today!
Meanwhile all anti-BJP political parties have converged to share the stage with Mamata. She is, after all the glue that binds them until May 2019. It remains to be seen what happens after Tuesday’s Court hearing.