By Arun Srivastava
Goebbelian thesis has come alive in Bengal. The RSS and the BJP have succeeded in their design to push a divisive narrative that the state has been in the midst of a communal war like situation.
Coinciding with the occasion of swearing in of Mamata Banerjee as chief minister, two more events took place. One that took place in Raj Bhawan was more politically noteworthy. Going beyond the constitutional practices and norms, just after the swearing ceremony Governor Jagdeep Dhankar used the occasion to tell Mamata that he was extremely concerned at unabated reports of unprecedented post poll retributive heart rendering violence.
Dhankhar also sent out a sharp message to her on the post-poll violence. “In our constitution, the law has the highest position and we should maintain that. We should immediately take necessary action and send relief to the victims’ families. I have every hope that the Chief Minister on an urgent basis will take all the steps to restore the rule of law”. The oath was administered at a low-key ceremony at Raj Bhawan held amid the raging COVID pandemic. Left Front and BJP boycotted the ceremony.
He said such senseless violence shames democracy. Such collapse of law and order will neither be overlooked nor allowed. He also said that Prime Minister had called and expressed his serious anguish and concern at the alarmingly worrisome law & order situation. Narendra Modi also extended his wishes and congratulated her. Taking to Twitter, PM Modi wrote “Congratulations to Mamata Didi on taking oath as West Bengal’s Chief Minister,”
Dhankar has the reputation of behaving like a BJP leader and adopting confrontationist attitude and approach towards Mamata and her government. But using this solemn occasion was deprecated not only by the political circles but even by the people of the state. It was perceived as a naked attempt by the BJP leadership to humiliate her. In fact on her part Mamata did not accept it lying low. She put the facts straight and said for three months the Election Commission was running the state administration obviously the responsibility to put a check on violence was its responsibility.
Mamata who was sworn in at 10.45 this morning, said, “My first priority is to control covid. I am now going to Nabanna (state administration headquarter). There I will hold a meeting with my officers. and will take necessary measures to control covid immediately. I will address media again this evening.”
“There is some sporadic violence after the election. We have to control that with a strong hand. In the last two months, the administration system was run by the Election Commission. There was some inefficiency. We have to change the whole setup immediately,” she further added.
Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee putting the record straight said on Wednesday that violence and clashes were taking place in those areas where the BJP won the elections and most of the videos of violence being shared on social media were either fake or old. She said; “I have noticed that violence and clashes are taking place in those areas where the BJP have won the elections. These places can be seen as black spots. Barring some sporadic incidents most were fake. BJP is showing old videos.” She even called upon the BJP; “You have been torturing people since the elections and now, stop this. Or else, law will take its course. “
Even after being aware that EC has been responsible for running the state administration, the home ministry has written to the state government, accusing it of not taking steps to stem the violence and asked why a report sought by it has not been submitted yet. The home ministry has asked the state government to take all measures necessary to stop the violence. “The letter has also said that if the situation report is not received at once, it will be viewed seriously,” the official said.
The state BJP, which has already launched a vitriolic campaign against her on alleged escalation of violence, organised an oath taking ceremony against ‘Politics of Hate’ in presence of its all India chief JP Nadda at its office in Calcutta. It was something like devil quoting the scripture.
Even while the polling process was on, its top leaders including UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had threatened the TMC cadres to wait till May 2, the day of the counting. After that the TMC workers would be thrashed. The state chief of BJP Dilip Ghosh had warned them to get ready for treatment. Its national general secretary Rahul Sinha opined that in Shitalkuchi the CISF should have killed 8 TMC cadres instead of gunning only four. Other senior leaders have been going around threatening the TMC workers.
Most intriguing has been the act of its senior leader Swapan Dasgupta. A fairly senior journalist, who had held many senior positions in media tweeted that thousands of Hindus are taking shelter in open field in Birbhum district. In his enthusiasm to serve the divisive politics of his bosses, he even ignored the basic tenet of journalism, which he must have learnt during his formative years to check and cross check. The incident was denied by the police. These incidents simply underline the degeneration of the learned Hindu protagonists.
It indeed came as a pleasant surprise that people who were engineering violence were taking oath against politics of hatred. All the newly elected BJP legislators took an oath against ‘politics of hate’. Nadda in his address to the MLAs said that the oath-taking by BJP MLAs was a mark of respect to accept the people’s mandate in the West Bengal Elections and also highlight post-poll violence allegedly by TMC goons. Nadda also stated that the opposition is boycotting Mamata Banerjee’s oath-taking ceremony to protest against the violence. In addition, he has also assured that the saffron party will ‘dismantle’ political violence in West Bengal.
Once the situation has comparatively cooled down, it transpires that the BJP cadres were aggressive and in contrast the TMC workers were the real victims and suffered most. More TMC workers than the cadres of BJP were killed. While the media management of BJP successfully exploited the situation and tried to convince the Hindu people that minorities had resorted to violence, the TMC miserably failed to present its story. For the first time during the last three months of electioneering TMC appeared to be defensive.
The BJP alleged that TMC-backed goons have killed a number of its party workers, attacked its woman members, vandalised houses, looted shops of the party members and ransacked party offices, the charges rejected by the ruling party. Even the home ministry sought a report from the state government on the post-election violence “targeting opposition political workers in the state”. In addition, following the allegations of BJP the human rights bodies National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and the National Commission for Women (NCW) have also raised concerns over the violence and sought an inquiry. (IPA Service)