West Bengal: People’s Fatwa to Mamata

by Arun Srivastava

The message of the June 21 rally in Kolkata of the intellectuals, writers, poets, theatre and cinema artistes was clear and loud: “Mamata Banerjee, mend your ways. History will not forgive you.†Interestingly, the same civil society had hit the streets of Kolkata in 2007 in her support and against the killings and perpetrating torture on the innocent peasants of Nandigram by the police of the Left Front Government. This time they had come out on the city’s streets against the insensitive governance of the Mamata-led Trinamul Congress.

The two rallies were different in nature, but at one level the spirit and content were uniform. Both the rallies were organised against the apathy and insensitivity of the those in power. If the Left Front Government was averse to the plight of the peasants of Nandigram and did not find fault in their killing of the poor villagers, the Mamata Government was insensitive to the plight of the villagers of Kamduni who could not move around freely due to the fear of the perpetrators of the crime. The trigger for the latest spate of angry outbursts is the public reaction to the gruesome gangrape and murder of a college student on June 7 in Kamduni in North 24 Paraganas while returning to the village after attending her classes. Incidents of rape have been consistently on rise in the State, but the Chief Minister is not willing to go beyond the police brief to her. Coming close on the heels of the National Crime Records Bureau data, which put the State right at the top when it came to crimes against women, the Kamduni incident drew widespread condemnation.

When Mamata went to the Kamduni village, the women inmates came out to speak out their minds and seek protection. They were dressed in daily household clothes, some had wet hair and wet sarees as if they had run out of a bath. It was clear they had dropped every-thing and rushed to the victim’s house. They started shouting slogans, demanding safety and justice. Inside the house, Mamata got angry. “Did you bring me here for all this?†—she asked her party leaders. The CM got up and started walking back to her car. She was about to get into the car when the women caught up with her, shouting: “Didi, didi amader kathata shunun (Didi, please listen to us).†Mamata shot back: “I have heard all that was needed to hear.†Some of them women shouted back: “Did you come here to show your face? We are feeling unsafe, insecure. Our children could not go to school today.†Instead of positively responding to their feelings she accused the women of the village as being Maoists, with Tumpa Kayal and Mousumi Kayal getting the lion’s share of the blame as they had dared to speak to her.

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has not been known for prudence, but her recent utterances and actions give the impression that she has lost the sense to evaluate what is wrong and what is right. Else, how could she dub women villagers protesting against gangrape and murder as “Maoists†and “CPI-M activists†? She accused the media of “hatching a plot†to eliminate her and even called panelists in TV talk shows as being involved in “pornography†. This last remark of her has in fact enraged the intelligentsia in general. This was not shared even by the Governor, M. K. Narayanan. He had his reservations.

Mamata is purely guided by police briefing. She would utter only what the police would brief her. It was because of their briefing that she came out with the stunning revelation that the villagers of Kamduni had conspired to kill her. Her style of functioning and utterances are com-pletely devoid of rationale. In the process, she is fast losing friends who had earlier backed her to the hilt and aided her in dislodging the erstwhile Left Front Government in the State. What an irony for the intellectuals of Bengal! They, who brought her to power, have today become her enemy! The people of Kamduni had no long list of demands. In fact they have decried and rejected the offer of money and job. What they want is death for the perpetrators of the crime. But Mamata Banerjee is so helpless before her police that she is not in a position to accept their demand and initiate strong action against the perpetrators of the crime. Though the police arrested eight people and promised to fast-track the case so that “capital punish-ment†could be awarded to the guilty in a month, the villagers assert that the prime accused is yet to be arrested.

What has irked the villagers most is her considerably delayed visit to the village. She visited the village after ten days of the crime. But the trip turned sour after a group of women asked her to talk to them. The Chief Minister lost her cool and screamed at the villagers to “shut up†. To the astonishment of the people of the State two days later while addressing a public rally, she came up with the conspiracy theory and said: “The police told me, there is a conspiracy to kill you.â€

Filmmaker Aparna Sen, who had supported Banerjee in the protests against the proposed plant at Nandigram six years ago, lashed out at Banerjee: “She was a different person before becoming Chief Minister. She used to rush to the cause of the deprived. We liked it. But within two years of coming to power, she has changed.â€

Mamata must realise that the police has its own machinations. It had turned the British rule into the Raj rule and given a bad name to the Congress Government in the past. It defamed the Left Front Government. She must not be under the impression that the police is her friend and should not divorce herself from her tested and trusted friends. She should try to realise the extent to which rot has crept into her governance that the intellectuals and writers, who had not long ago supported her, were forced to take out a rally against her. On Friday (June 21), members of the civil society—inspired by personalities like filmmaker Mrinal Sen, poet Sankha Ghosh and thespian Soumitra Chatterjee —took out a huge march on the city streets where authors, painters, cultural personalities, educationists, students and thousands of commoners including families of the rape victims decried the incidents of sexual violence and the insensitive reactions of the Banerjee regime.

Mrinal Sen, who could not participate due to his advanced age, expressed solidarity through a letter, “This protest is not only against atrocities on women, but also against the misdeeds of the government and its tendency to browbeat people.†He said: “through the march the masses have given a fatwa to Banerjee and her government to mend their ways: If this forces the ruling party (the Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress) to be mindful of their words and deeds, well and good. This is a people’s fatwa.â€

But as it appears Mamata is unwilling to relent and repent. On Saturday (June 22) Mamata accused the civil society of taking undue credit for bringing political change in the State. At a panchayat election rally in Bankura she said: “By participating in a few processions, they claim to be the harbingers of change. They are belittling our tireless 34 years’ crusade against the Left Front. They behave as if they spoon-fed me into becoming the Chief Minister,†She blamed a section of intellectuals “patronised by the Communist Party of India-Marxist†of running a smear campaign against her.

The author, a senior journalist based in Kolkata, can be contacted at sriv@gmail.com