West Bengal heading in dangerous direction
The Trinamool Congress can go red in the face denying the involvement of its members in the violent clash that occurred in a village in the restive Birbhum district of West Bengal, but few would be willing to buy its innocence. This is both because of the opinion independent observers have and the Mamata Banerjee-led party's pitiable track record in impartially maintaining law and order in the State. Every now and then, Trinamool workers and supporters have viciously attacked their political rivals — be they from the Bharatiya Janata Party or the left Front. They just needed some excuse to do it; they targeted the BJP office and its senior office-bearers when the heat of the Narada and the Saradha scams was turned on certain senior members of the party. Rather than allow the legal machinery to take its course, Trinamool Congress supporters decided to flex their muscles to get their voice heard.
The BJP has become a special target of late because the party has been expanding its base rapidly in the State and threatening the Trinamool's hegemony. In a recent by-election, the BJP came second to the ruling party, pushing the left to the third position and the Congress to an abysmal last. Over the last three years, the BJP has been improving upon its vote-share, and this has given Mamata Banerjee and her party sleepless nights. One of her leaders from Birbhum has claimed that certain “homeless” members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) were involved in the Birbhum violence. It's easy to pin the blame on the left because the communists have had a history of using violence as a means to subdue their political rivals. One of the reasons why Mamata Banerjee stormed to power, ending three decades of uninterrupted left rule, was because the people had got disgusted with the goondaism of the left. But now the Trinamool Congress is following in the footsteps of the left.
Trinamool Congress leaders and workers lost no time in securing their vested interests from the time Mamata Banerjee took charge as the Chief Minister. The Saradha scam is a classic example, and so is the Narada sting operation. Besides, her brazen minority appeasement policies have created tension and fissures in society. The bias has gone to such an extent that the law enforcement machinery in the State simply ignores provocations and even violent conduct from sections of the minority community. What is worse is that there have been reports of illegalities being indulged in, by members of the community, that directly impact national security. Experts have been warning the State regime of infiltration and settlement of people with dubious conduct from neighbouring Bangladesh, but the Banerjee Government has turned a blind eye to the crisis. The Chief Minister is engaged in competitive minority appeasement politics at one end and BJP-bashing at the other, and wrongly believes that in doing so she can continue to maintain a stranglehold on the State.