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| Edited By: |Source: DNA |Updated: May 14, 2015, 02:00 PM IST
The legitimisation of lumpens and a deeply embedded culture of violence have been instrumental in hastening West Bengal’s decline into a state of lawlessness, from which a turnaround appears virtually impossible. Days after the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress swept the municipal elections amid allegations of widespread violence, a crude bomb explosion in a Krishnanagar-bound local train in the wee hours of Tuesday left around 20 people injured. The trigger for the low-intensity blast was a row between two rival gangs of miscreants who had boarded the same compartment carrying other passengers. One of the goons lost an arm in the explosion, but in the panic that ensued, people jumped out of the moving train as it left Titagarh station.
The latest incident of explosion is not an isolated phenomenon in Bengal where goons, enjoying political patronage, are having a free run. But what it does highlight is the risk that ordinary people are exposed to on their way to work or home, and who invariably end up as victims of lawlessness. It also highlights the inability of the police to take action against criminals, fearing threats of reprisal from the ruling dispensation.
There have been two other cases of blasts in May this year, and three more since October last year. Two women, passersby, suffered splinter injuries when crude bombs stocked in a house in Burdwan district went off on May 10. An explosion at an illegal firecracker factory in West Midnapore claimed 12 lives and injured four others. The most infamous of these explosions was the Burdwan blast in October last year that led to the arrests of several high profile terrorists belonging to the Bangladesh-based Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen. But, instead of imbuing the Burdwan blast with communal overtones to gain political mileage and drive a deeper wedge among the electorate, the opposition could have exerted pressure on the government to crack down on illegal bomb-manufacturing units in rural Bengal, especially in the border towns and districts. Taking advantage of the political violence in Bengal and a growing demand for explosives among underworld elements in the neighbouring states, bomb-manufacturing has assumed the form of a cottage industry. Banerjee seems to have chosen to look the other way, and the police, taking a cue from the Chief Minister, stir into action only when an accidental blast becomes headline-grabbing news.
Banerjee, it seems, is adhering to the code of violence, authored by the erstwhile CPI-M-led Left Front, which enjoyed an uninterrupted reign for 34 years before being dislodged by the TMC. Violence has been a part and parcel of political life in Bengal for decades now, and the people seem to have become resigned to it. Today, Bengal suffers from the same lack of credible opposition that once characterised the CPI-M rule. If the municipal elections are any indication, Banerjee has been successful in decimating her political rivals, most notably the BJP, which has been trying to appropriate the space vacated by the dwindling Left and a rudderless Congress. However, she has consistently failed to use the mandate to her advantage to cast away unsavoury elements from her party. Unfortunately, the TMC has contributed its bit to further entrench violence in everyday life, and especially in the run-up to elections.
Banerjee has failed the people! The rising incidence of crime against women, lack of employment opportunities in Bengal and the communally fraught situation in the state are some of the highlights in the long list of failures of her administration.
