Last week, the Calcutta High Court mandated the National Investigative Agency (NIA) to look into the incidents of communal violence that occurred during Ram Navami celebrations in Howrah and other areas of West Bengal. The high court has already reacted to the law and order situation in the state. From corruption to communal violence and terrible crimes — the situation in terms of law and order and governance has gotten worse under WB Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Banerjee has not, however, taken a strong stance against these violent acts. The chief minister and her party — Trinamool Congress (TMC) — typically blame the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or other Opposition political parties for communal violence concerns as well as other law and order issues.
Unprecedented attacks are taking place across the state against BJP functionaries. In East Midnapore’s Moyna, the TMC goons allegedly kidnapped and murdered the BJP’s booth chief. Last week, police allegedly fired at a BJP worker in North Bengal, resulting in his death. But the government is not only silent but also claiming that the BJP is orchestrating these killings to divert attention from the ongoing mega mass outreach program by Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. The TMC supremo is remaining silent because she worries that taking a strong stance against communal violence will cause her Muslim support to further erode. It is sad that she has treated minorities like a vote-bank ever since she was elected the chief minister of West Bengal in 2011. There is no denying that Banerjee is not the first politician and TMC is not the first political party to appease minorities in West Bengal politics. The Congress and the Left have already done the same. Bengal’s electorate is roughly 30 percent Muslim — and without their support — winning elections is impossible. However, there is also widespread misgovernance in West Bengal, and Banerjee is unable to dodge this issue because her administration has repeatedly fallen short of ensuring the safety and security of Bengal’s populace.
The BJP began to gain support in West Bengal in 2016. The party performed well in 2019, winning 19 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats. As a result, West Bengal politics became more divisive. However, things started to change after Mamata Banerjee won the 2021 Assembly elections. The TMC has been the target of protests from Bengal residents after several of its top leaders were accused of corruption. The party noticed that its support within the Muslim community exploded in the recent by-elections of Ballygunge and Sagardighi.
Mamata Banerjee is aware that her party cannot afford to lose the support of minorities under any circumstances. She has even reverted to her strong appeasement push at this point. However, the issue here is that Banerjee is encouraging competitive communalism by using this style of politics. She actually advised Muslims to vote against the BJP when she spoke at a rally this year on Eid. She is politicising the entire community and their support, despite the fact that Eid is a religious holiday and has nothing to do with politics. Banerjee has been accused by the Opposition of stirring up the minority, and this kind of provocation from Bengal’s leading political party is truly frightening and disturbing.
The administration under Banerjee is rapidly slipping out of her grip, which is another problem. Bengal has seen a number of horrific atrocities and acts of violence. A 17-year-old girl was recently discovered dead in North Bengal’s Kaliagunj. The police insisted that early investigation showed it was a suicide, despite the family members’ claims that it was a murder and rape occurrence. In this case, there were large-scale protests in the neighbourhood, so the police dragged the girl’s body to protect it. This tragedy shocked the locals, and there were numerous protests that followed. The situation got out of hand, and the mob not only set fire to the neighbourhood police station but also assaulted the officers. This tragedy is not unique; numerous other horrible crimes are occurring often in West Bengal, and Banerjee’s administration is largely silent.
Bengal’s political watchers think Mamata Banerjee has been losing control of her government. She has failed to present an organised front during her third term. The party is working hard to politicise every problem, but the degree of police resistance is unmatched. It is important to note that the Calcutta High Court made the following statement during the hearing of the Ram Navami violence case: “In the cases at hand, we prima facie find that there has been a deliberate attempt on the part of the concerned police not to register any offence under the provisions of the Explosives Substances Act.”
Here, the West Bengal police are the target of the query. The Mamata Banerjee administration is allegedly not operating in a manner that can guarantee the safety and security of the populace, according to the Opposition political parties in Bengal. Most importantly, there are numerous instances of how the West Bengal police and administration have been biased against the current government and operated in a partisan manner. It is true that the government and police in every state support the ruling party. However, there should be some attempts to be impartial when it comes to deteriorating law and order situations and providing safety and security to the state’s citizens. In the end, the people will have no choice but to not trust such a system if the government cannot offer harmony and the police cannot provide protection.
Mamata Banerjee needs to understand that if her party tries to politically mobilise minorities, the Opposition is going to do the same with other groups. In the most recent by-elections, it was evident that Muslims were also against Banerjee, and there is a growing feeling among the people of West Bengal that the TMC is now in a desperate state. Banerjee’s outspoken demeanour and prowess as a street fighter helped her rise to prominence in West Bengal politics. But these days, she avoids standing by the victims when there is violence.
The state of affairs in West Bengal as a whole is rapidly deteriorating. Violence has become a common occurrence in the state. Across all communities, there is a growing unhappiness with the TMC. The Panchayat, Lok Sabha, and Assembly elections will all take place in West Bengal in the next few days. The populace will only witness more bloodshed in the coming days if the TMC administration continues to operate in this manner. It’s crucial for Banerjee to understand how her current condition is resulting in a negative administrative and appeasement-focused political perception of herself. Banerjee, like many other Opposition leaders today, is attempting to play a significant national role, but if the political and administrative climate in her home state continues to be so dire, it is unlikely that she will also have much credibility in national politics. Within Bengal’s Opposition political parties, there is a growing perception that Mamata Banerjee is playing with fire and taking no firm positions against any form of violence in order to gain an electoral advantage.
The author is a columnist and Doctoral Research Scholar In Media & Politics. He tweets @sayantan_gh. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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