dna edit: Dissent at your own peril

It’s a sorry state of affairs in Bengal. Mamata Banerjee, who rode to power on the back of her emotive promise of transforming Bengal, is rapidly belying that hope. Here is an autocratic chief minister who refuses to see the failures of her administration. More importantly, she is not prepared to tolerate any form of dissent. Banerjee’s disdain for all forms of protest was once again evident on Thursday when a group of women activists protesting outside her home against the rape of a 20-year-old college student in Barasat was arrested. After coming to power, Banerjee appears to have undergone a metamorphosis, turning her back on the very principles she once claimed to champion.

Nearly 20 years ago in 1993, Banerjee, then a Youth Congress leader, had staged a dharna outside the then-chief minister Jyoti Basu’s chamber in Writers’ Building, to protest the rape of deaf and mute girl by a CPI(M) leader. She had then been summarily evicted from the building — something she never failed to make political capital of.

As Bengal’s first woman chief minister she is supposed to lead a gender-sensitive government. In February last year, when a woman picked up from Park Street was raped in a car, Banerjee’s insensitive comments provoked public outrage. The chief minister dismissed the victim’s allegation, describing it as a means for defaming her government.

Curiously, her behaviour reminds people of the arrogance of the Left who had ruled Bengal for more than three decades before being dislodged by Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress.

Like her predecessor, she too has perfected the tactics of suppressing any opinion critical of her and her government. Not long ago, a professor of the Jadavpur University was beaten up by Trinamool goons and then arrested for circulating cartoons featuring Banerjee, on the internet.

Banerjee doesn’t realise that her highhandedness is contributing to the decline of Bengal.

Forget big-ticket investment, the level of lawlessness in the state has risen since she became the chief minister. The National Crime Records Bureau data shows Bengal topping the list in crimes against women.

The Saradha chit fund case is yet another government blunder in which thousands of poor people have lost their life’s savings. Two of her ministers were allegedly involved in the scam, but Banerjee hasn’t bothered to take any action against them. On the contrary, she has asked people to smoke more cigarettes so that she can levy a higher tax on tobacco products to create a fund for the chit fund victims.

With the hopes of Bengal’s turnaround dashed, Banerjee has clearly failed to deliver.