West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee is opening new fronts in her fights, and the latest offensive is against her own party-men/women. This past week, she created a stir by asking TMC local leaders to return the bribe-money they took from people for availing various welfare schemes. The call came in the context of reports that up to 25 per cent commission was taken by such leaders for grant of free houses to the poor and other similar schemes. Protests had erupted in front of TMC leaders’ houses in several districts in coordinated action against the “cut money” system in welfare schemes.
It is not often that one gets to hear a politician sternly asking his or her party-men/women or government officials to return the bribe-money they took or to threaten to arrest those who failed to return the money. The general trend is to duck the issue. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, in his first innings, famously slow-pedalled cases of corruption. In five years, for instance, his government could not move a finger against Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, against whom the PM himself had made accusations vis-a-vis land grab with alleged support of the erstwhile Hooda government. During the present LS campaign, he revisited the theme, saying Vadra would be arrested; but he did not explain why he took no such action in his first term.
When allegations of corruption are raised against politicians and bureaucrats, governments so far did nothing more than initiating an inquiry, and not acting on the findings thereof. Public memory is short and such matters get forgotten over time. Against this backdrop, the West Bengal CM’s firm stand – though belated – must be appreciated.
Without doubt, she has her back to the wall these days due to the electoral defeats her party suffered and the other issues that came up in the state thereafter which made her lose sleep. In much of these, allegations are that the BJP played a sinister role. At the same time, despite her frenzied attempts to craft a unity of opposition leaders to take on PM Modi and grab power at the Centre, she has her good sides. The nation would now watch as to how the scenario in West Bengal, vis-a-vis the cut money issue pans out. If she shows the guts and disciplines politicians, that is bound to set a trend for the entire nation and this will also help Mamata Banerjee reinvent herself from the bad times she’s been through in recent times.