STATE OF PLAY
On May 5, the third Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal will complete one year in power. This will also mark Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s 11 years at the helm of affairs in the State. But, at a time when Trinamool Congress should have been celebrating, the State government is grappling with a series of incidents that have raised serious questions on the law-and-order situation in the State. The violence at Bogtui village in Birbhum on March 21 when nine persons, including seven women and a child, were burnt to death in a retaliatory violence after the murder of a local Trinamool Congress leader is something that is going to haunt the West Bengal government and the State’s ruling party for a long time.
The Bogtui violence and the murder of Congress councillor at Jhalda in Purulia was followed by a spate of cases of sexual assault on women, particularly minors. These incidents have come as an embarrassment to the State government.
In half a dozen instances, including the violence at Bogtui, the murder at Jhalda, the rape and death of a 14-year-old girl at Hanskhali in Nadia, the Calcutta High Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the case. In its order directing the CBI to investigate, the court has shown little faith in the State police and affirmed that a probe by the central agency is essential to restore faith among people.
While questions can be raised on the track record of CBI probes including its prolonged ongoing investigation of the various chit fund scams, one thing is clear — the West Bengal government needs to sort out the prevalent law and order situation. The common refrain by the State’s ruling party that these are “isolated” or “trivial” incidents do not hold true particularly when the High Court had to interfere and hand over the investigation to the CBI in many cases in a span of just a few weeks. Further, the Trinamool Congress’s habit of pointing at similar or more violent incidents in the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled States like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh makes little sense to the people of the State, who had overwhelmingly rejected the BJP in the 2021 Assembly polls. After 11 years of continuous rule, the Trinamool Congress should have been able to project West Bengal as a model State, an alternative to the BJP-ruled States, but the party leadership seems to perpetually point an accusatory finger when cornered over the declining law and order situation.
In all the incidents where the Calcutta High Court had to intervene, questions have been raised on the role of the police. There have been allegations of the police not taking action at Bogtui and Hanskhali. There have also been cases, like the death of the student leader Anish Khan and the murder of Congress councillor at Jhalda, where the police itself stand accused of being involved in the crime.
On April 27, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee publicly pulled up senior police officers and asked why the State should suffer a loss of face because of their negligence. However, it is not only negligence. It is an open secret that the ruling party at the local level controls the police. This was made evident on March 23 when the Chief Minister herself ordered the arrest of a block president at Rampurhat, for refusing to deploy the police at Bogtui village to prevent the massacre. Inadvertently, Ms. Banerjee indicated the power the local Trinamool leaders wield over the police. At present one of the most difficult and immediate tasks ahead for Ms. Banerjee is to restore the reputation of her police force, which has taken a major battering over the past one year. The police in West Bengal will have to shrug off local political interferences and carry out its functions, without being partisan, to put a check on such violent crimes.
shivsahay.s@thehindu.co.in
