The recently concluded civic polls in the state of West Bengal leave us with a blazing question, “is the display of violence always predominant in elections in West Bengal?” West Bengal Polls since the time the TMC came in power, have always been indulged in a barbarous display of power politics using muscle power as and when felt necessary by the ruling party. The Trinamool Congress Congress(TMC) has been seen openly defending the cadres, who have been alleged with involvement in violence against the supporters of the other parties, chiefly the Communist Party of India (Marxist). This is not the first time that the opposition party cadres and supporters have been left in a blood stained condition by the unruly cadres of the TMC.
The elections had become so troublesome and unfair in the state that the State Election Commission had to announce the repolling in 9 polling booths in the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and 2 in the Asansol Municipal Corporation. The counting of the votes is to be held on the 10th of the month. Previously, around 70 percent votes were polled in both the polling stations in the original polls. (Source)
The election commissioner in the state said,
“We held series of meetings and re-examined and re-scrutinised the evidences distinguished between violence on the street and the vitiation of the poll process.”
The election commissioner has been staunchly defending his decision to let the state go to re-polls by saying that the violence on the streets is palpably demonstrating to be affecting the poll process. In BIdhannagar, more than 12 journalists were attacked .
The TMC in its attempt to defend the uncontrollable ‘didi’ supporters from repeated allegations from the common masses and the bureaucracy, said,
“Large numbers of outsiders were present” in the areas that went to the polls.” They went on to say that such people , who were present n the polling areas without any connection to the ruling party should not be misconcepted as been deployed by the TMC to help their candidates. Violence resorted has been escalated to such a level that two voters at AMC at Asansol were injured with bullet wounds. Several motorcycles were burnt between the clash between the Congress and the TMC.
Even in Murshidabad, two persons were reported to be killed . The police had maintained a dubious statement on the same saying that the two were involved in making crude bombs ahead of the polls when the explosions had taken place. However, the locals rejected such statement and hung on to the fact that two were local congress supporters.
The use of violence by the TMC resulted in the defeat of the TMC in Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad, where the left front led by the CPI(M) won 6 out of the 9 seats, recording a great victory over the ruling tyrannical government. This loss came as a major sham on the TMC which went on to say that “Campaign by the Opposition in Siliguri was of a very low standard, where political ideologies did not matter.”. Such statement by the TMC in an area where the left, known to be primarily based on ideology and not electoral politics, has regained the post, remains a matter of humour ad exemplies the hollow ideological well of the TMC. The TMC did win the majority of the seats in the Gram Panchayat that in Murshidabad, Birbhum, Bankura and Nadia. (Source)
Opposition parties have also questioned the appointment of a serving IAS officer as the head of the WBSEC , which is a constitutional body. The opposition questioned the viability of the serving IAS officer who has been serving as an officer in the State Government, the opposition, quite naturally put up questions regarding the neutrality of the officer, being on the official pay scale f the ruling TMC government.
All such incidents have given a look of the farce democracy that the TMC has been running in the state. In the tenure of the TMC, political arrests have reached a height unprecedented in the years of the left front government. While nobody says that the state g0vernmnet has no right to induce law and order in the state but the moment it stats hitting off the opposition by violence rather than its policies, it does not remain a democracy, rather it turns into a glib democracy thwarting the progress and thinking of the state. The return to barbarism by the TMC will play a major role while deciding their fate in the run up to the 2016 elections in the country, particularly in the state of West Bengal.
Some days ago, while Mamta Bannerjee visited the Presidency University, there took place a clash between the students and the TMC supporters. The students were brutally beaten ahead of the convocation ceremony of the university, the government backed VC not only supported the curbing of the democratic rights of the students but also held up the banner of TMC high amidst the massive protests led by the different student bodies in the campus chiefly the SFI and the IC. The demolition of the Baker Laboratory in the university by TMC cadres also, till this day, remains outside jurisdiction.
In the tenure of the TMC, we have seen the death of a young student activist, Sudipto Gupta of the SFI, whose death still remains an elusive mystery courtesy the state government . Repeated violence in the previous polls where the supporters of the opposition party were not even allowed to leave their homes has also come out from time and again. The Chef minister’s repeated rhetoric statements that anybody who protests against her is a ‘Maoist’ also has been clinching up the voice of dissatisfaction against the TMC government. What the BJP is doing in the centre is repeatedly criticised by the CM but the fact is that her activities in the state are no different than Modi’s in the centre.
The 2016 elections , remain to be seen, an interesting show in the state. But right now, it’s the result of the repolls that is keeping the TMC awake at night.
Reference Source: The Hindu
