Thursday, March 28, 2024

Bengal post-poll violence: ‘Has Mamata condemned it? Visited? Any compensation? NO’





West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has made some serious charges against the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal on the alleged post-poll violence against Hindus in an interview today. 

“Has she ever condemned post-poll violence? NO. Has she ever gone to any area to give any succour? NO. Has any member of the State apparatus gone there? NO. Has she assured any compensation? NO,” said the governor in a scathing attack on Bengal’s chief minister. 

“I said that I will visit the poll violence-affected areas. The state government said that I can step out of Raj Bhavan only on a programme given by them. I stepped out. They made no facilities available. I secured them from the Central government.

“Everywhere, I asked three questions: Why did you not go to police station? The universal response was…we will walk into the police station as a victim but come out as an accused. Did anybody from the government come to you? They said none. Three, did any journalist come to you. 

“If you belong to a particular segment, you can live in own house only as a tenant. You can run your business only by paying an extortion fee, village after village is under siege. 

All of this is being done to ensure two things: to preserve both banks…and two, no space whatsoever should be given to the Opposition…what we see is democracy taking its last breath…West Bengal has become a laboratory of violence.

“There are two kinds of people living in West Bengal today. Those who have a sound sleep, they have no fear of the law. The law enforcement agencies will be in their fear, they will be at their beck and call. The other category of people, I don’t want to name them, will have sleepless nights. They will be in fear of law enforcement agencies. Society is under control of rogue elements at the moment.

“I am extremely concerned at the stand taken by Mamata Banerjee that till May 5, it was the Election Commission that had control. No one with knowledge of the law will subscribe to this. She continued to be CM, with the same powers, when the model code of conduct was withdrawn on May 3… No mandate, howsoever emphatic, allows you to throttle, decimate Opposition… No mandate can allow you to discipline, punish a voter for voting against you.

“The entire violence is to punish, discipline and deal a final blow to the right to franchise and it’s being done in full fury.” 

Governor Dhankhar was scathing on the manner business is being conducted in West Bengal today. 

“You constituted a committee for pandemic purchase of about Rs 2,000 crore… You said there were illegalities. I’m asking only for the report. I have not got it for the last 14 months. For the Andal (airport) project, about 2,300 acres of land of farmers was taken. The government is giving loans, increasing its equity. I only asked them who is the beneficiary?… They tell me that projects (worth) Rs 12 lakh crore are being undertaken. I ask them in which part of West Bengal is it happening, on which piece of land is this project going on? Governance cannot be so cosmetic. Governance cannot be on advertisements, governance cannot be of a type where you are not accountable. Accountability of the government is the first requirement in a democracy.

“One day, I receive information of two ordinances on the same day… So I go to my office from my residence… how can I delay it? But the Assembly was in session, and a government cannot issue an ordinance when this is so… The session had been ‘on’ for 11 months! Because if they prorogue it, they can’t convene it without the Governor coming into the picture…”

No less sharp was Dhankhar’s tongue on the police in Bengal, terming May 17 as “dark day in our constitutional democratic history.”

“A sitting chief minister walked into the CBI office, was there for six hours, conducted a Cabinet meeting there and told CBI officials to release the four accused who were arrested after I accorded consent for prosecution. This is tampering with the essence of the Constitution… The CBI office was under siege. Prohibitory orders were in force. The crowd swelled. The Central forces were targeted with projectiles. Kolkata Police was just an onlooker.

I called Kolkata Police Commissioner Soumen Mitra and asked him what was happening. He said, ‘Sir, Section 144 is not implementable.’ How can we digest this? If there are prohibitory orders, they have to be enforced.”

Dhankhar was unsparing and harsh on India’s media, saying that its indifference is extremely hurtful for the democracy in the country. 

“In West Bengal, the silence of the media, the inaction of the national media, is resulting in slippage of democracy. 

“Send your reporters, they will give you photographs of villages and towns that have been destroyed. In such a situation your silence is not appropriate (I told the CM). If a majority decides to remain silent at such a critical juncture, I have no doubt it will be silent forever… The fear quotient in the state of West Bengal is higher than seen under any authoritarian or dictatorial government.

“All members of the media put themselves in judgmental mode…”

 


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