#dnaEdit: Lessons in a slap

The disproportionate response in the wake of an assault on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, a Trinamool MP, is yet another sign of growing lawlessness in the state. Abhishek was attending a public rally on Sunday in East Midnapore district when an engineering student slapped him a couple of times on the dais. While the conduct of the youth, Debashis Acharya, was inexcusable, the subsequent brutal attack that the 22-year-old suffered in the hands of the party members left him in a critical condition, with multiple fractures and bruises and, perhaps, with internal haemorrhage. Ironically, the rally was held to counter an increasing public perception, whipped up by an aggressive BJP, that the ruling party had been hand-in-glove with Saradha proprietor Sudipta Sen. The BJP’s relentless campaign over the Saradha scam, virtually coinciding with the arrests of two MPs Kunal Ghosh and Srinjoy Bose, and state transport minister Madan Mitra has made Mamata increasingly desperate. It was amply evident in the despicable behaviour of the Trinamool foot soldiers who handed out instant ‘justice’, instead of immediately handing the youth over to the police. The TMC supremo is contemplating moving the Supreme Court to fight what she considers the BJP’s political vendetta in trying to implicate her party in the ponzi scheme. She had alleged that the Centre is using the CBI as a tool to malign her party and administration.

The TMC is much to be blamed for perpetuating the culture of violence that has been institutionalised by the CPI-M led Left Front in the politically volatile state. Mamata, herself, had transgressed propriety when she took on her political opponents recently using abusive language. The tolerance she displayed right after coming to power is long gone. Over the months, the political discourse in Bengal has been marred by intolerance, brazen threats and gender-insensitive comments.

Now compare the savage brutality of the TMC goons with the restrained behaviour of the Aam Aadmi Party’s leaders when they faced similar assaults while campaigning during the Delhi assembly elections and the Lok Sabha polls. Arvind Kejriwal had been slapped at least on two occasions and Yogendra Yadav was smeared with ink, yet they didn’t take recourse to violence against the attackers. At the East Midnapore rally, Abhishek was whisked away minutes after the incident, when, ideally, he should have been around to defuse the tension. Barring the local TMC MLA who tried to intervene in an attempt to save the youth, it was virtually free for the cadres. More importantly, the Trinamool leadership is now cynically trying to give it a political twist, blaming the BJP for the slapgate.

Mamata must realise that she cannot maintain her iron grip on the party and the administration if her government fails to deliver good governance. In a state plagued by unemployment, growing incidence of crimes, especially against women, and communal violence, the rise of the BJP in not surprising. There are also growing murmurs of differences within the party, which further undermine Mamata’s leadership. 

At this precarious juncture, she has to play her cards carefully and not give in to impulse. For that to happen, she has to effect a radical course correction at the earliest since the municipal elections in 2015 and the 2016 assembly elections will pose formidable challenges on her own turf.