Post-poll violence mars West Bengal but Mamata Banerjee focused on oath day

KOLKATA: West Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi has sought prompt action from the Mamata Banerjee government to maintain law and order in the state. The governor’s unusual move followed reports of violence that continues since May 19, when Trinamool cadres began victory celebrations after winning the assembly elections.

CPM state secretary Surya Kanta Mishra and WBPCC chief Adhir Ranjan Choudhury met the governor earlier on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum on the post-poll violence.

Mishra said that over 500 party offices were torched and houses of CPM cadre vandalised in several districts and Kolkata. A Left Front delegation on Tuesday marched to the Kolkata police headquarters to protest against the post-poll violence. BJP state president Dilip Ghosh too met the governor and demanded his intervention. The governor’s letter to the CM was after the leaders met him.

Over 1,100 party offices of Opposition parties were torched since May 19. Three Trinamool men were killed in factional feud by own partymen. Among the injured in the state-wide violence, 125 have been classified as critically injured. A report submitted to the Union home ministry by central agencies said 195 incidents of clashes were recorded from May 19 to May 23 but FIRs were registered in only seven cases.

Banerjee was, meanwhile, occupied with her grand swearing-in ceremony. She has decided to shutdown major arterial road in Kolkata for five days to prepare the dais for the ‘people’s ceremony. Clashes between the cadres of the ruling Trinamool and CPM are routine grist for Bengal’s political mill. But the difference between the 2011 and 2016 scene is the attitude of the incumbent government. In 2011, efforts were made to control violence and there was instructions from the seniormost leaders of the ruling party to pacify the situation, in 2016, violence goes unabated and there is stoic silence from the administration’s leadership.

Analyst Biswanath Chakraborty said the situation was the result of bureaucracy’s politicisation: “The state suffers badly from political untouchability. The incumbent government is indifferent towards lawlessness. The ruling party in Bengal has always practised opposition-less politics and Trinamool has mastered the art. This is a conscious effort by the Trinamool as it does not want any opposition to stand up against it for the 2018 panchayat elections and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.”