Mamata Banerjee is using spin to divert attention from the principal bone of contention between her party on the one hand and her rivals on the other
In politics, pedigree matters.Violation of the law, particularly in West Bengal, has an ancestry that is popularly traced to the energetic passive and active resistance put up by its people against the 1905 partition of the erstwhile Province. Satyagraha came later. Spontaneously taking to the streets and staging a protest, is also sanctified by time, and hartal/bandh, dharna/gherao, rasta roko, rail roko have become the convention when sections of the public find themselves at odds with whichever action by authority strikes them as unacceptable — be it on account of arbitrariness, high-handedness or simple cussed coercion.
There is great similarity in the repertoire of public protests, especially defiance of authority that an announced or stealthily organised law violation or sit-in or now ‘occupation’, post the Wall Street marathon, Tahrir Square, Shahbagh events confirmed. The stagers were a select band and their success or failure depended on the buy-in from the public on the one hand and political authority on the other. It is a classic confrontation and the purpose is to compel a cave-in. In West Bengal, known for its traditions of protest, the do-or-die law violation programme of the left on May 31, turned into a damp squib. Neither side chose to push the moment to its crisis; both played by the rules. The police was clearly fearful as a replay of the April killing of Sudipto Gupta, a Students Federation of India leader who died in police custody, would have been politically disastrous.
What is moot, is the public takes to the streets when the in-built, that is, institutional means of give-and-take, such as registering opposition that leads to an accommodation of a different opinion, is violated. In a parliamentary democracy, which is how West Bengal's politics is structured, the failure of the ruling party to ensure that the streets are not routinely taken over by protesters is a good test of its intransigence. It is also a pointer to the new-found enthusiasm the Opposition has developed to convert the usual push into a shove.
But then, what else can the Opposition do, except take to the streetsIJ It is the safest place to collectively state their disapproval and demands. Ever since Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taken to declaring, especially at the multiple meetings she has addressed for the Howrah by-election, that the Opposition is trying to murder her, the CPI(M) and the Congress probably feel it is wiser to take to the streets and vent their anger than be suspected of conspiring to murder.
Having taken to the streets as the ruling party, the Trinamool Congress is upstaging and usurping the opposition space. The pressure from the ruling party will only increase over time, irrespective of whether the crucial panchayat election are done and dusted by July 15, as per the orders of the Calcutta High Court. By staking her claim to the martyrdom space, Ms Banerjee has pre-empted and bamboozled the Opposition and the West Bengal State Election Commission on the issue of spreading violence over submission of nominations in the panchayat poll. With Ms Banerjee claiming that she is in danger of being murdered, the issue of security for political leaders has taken a very different turn. Perceptions of threat post the Maoist attacks in Chhattisgarh, add considerable veracity to her fears.
By putting the perceived and real danger to her person into an election issue, Ms Banerjee is using spin to divert attention from the principal bone of contention between the Trinamool Congress on the one hand and the State Election Commission and the Opposition on the other: That the sanctity of a free and fair election process is under threat. The Opposition, SEC and the district administration had all voiced their fears that the over two lakh aspirants to the post of almost 60,000 panchayat members at three levels, are not safe. The lack of safety implied that intimidation and violence was widespread that it would jeopardise the election process. From what Ms Banerjee said in Howrah, it seems the election process is as much a threat to her security and safety as the Maoists are. The issue could undermine the normal politics of elections every time in West Bengal.