Almost two months after BJP’s humiliating loss in Bengal, Modi-Shah duo continue to needle Mamata Banerjee

Aggression against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is the only design to salvage the image and prestige of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah after the BJP met with its waterloo in the Bengal assembly election. Though both the leaders were caught in a nasty domestic fight with UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath on dictating future politics in the state, they have continued with their scheming to trap Mamata in a Chakravyuha.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar has launched a concerted diatribe against Mamata with the threat that the existing scenario was the best case for imposition of President’s rule at the behest of Modi and Shah.

Though ground level workers, including even the original BJP workers, are leaving the party against the sectarian and anti-Bengali stance of Modi and Shah, these two leaders are least concerned with the systematic disintegration and tearing apart of the party in West Bengal and are busy raking up the issue of ‘post poll violence’.

The National Human Rights Commission has taken up an investigation into alleged cases of rights violation. An impression of Bengal turning into a war ravaged state is being created. It is alleged that more than one lakh people have been displaced due to the post poll violence in the state.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre and Bengal government to respond to a plea filed by kin of a deceased BJP worker seeking directions to prevent the alleged exodus due to "state-sponsored" violence after the Assembly polls, constituting an SIT to probe the issue and take action against culprits.

What is quite significant is that the BJP cadres who have lodged complaints have expressed their lack of trust in the state police. The BJP leaders even allege that the police has been discouraging and threatening victims from filing FIRs.

The fact of the matter is that in most of the places where post poll violence took place, the BJP workers have been found to be aggressive and were the first to resort to firearms.

It is worth noting that petitioners have not only sought intervention of the judiciary for ensuing justice is done but have also approached the Modi government to ‘discharge its duty’ vested under Article 355 of the Constitution to protect the state from internal disturbance and to ensure that governance in the state is carried on in accordance with provisions of the Constitution. Since they have approached the court, they should wait for the judicial directives. But Modi and Shah are evidently so desperate that they cannot wait for that.

The BJP cadres present a very grim picture of the ground level situation prevailing in the state. The issue of exodus of lakhs of people from the state cannot be taken lightly, if it was a reality. But international human rights organisations or even Red Cross have not uttered a single word condemning this massive exodus. It is beyond comprehension why would international human rights organisations, which have been quite active and have in fact criticised Modi personally for his inability to protect the human rights of the common people, remain a mute spectator to what has been happening in post poll Bengal.

While the petitioners have been critical of the post poll violence, it is strange that they are maintaining a passive silence on the threat of their leader Suvendu Adhikari to the migrant workers. Reacting to the allegation that Trinamool’s unit in Mahishda had issued a social boycott fiat against BJP workers for their aggressive postures against the local people, Adhikari had warned, “Forty lakh people from Bengal work outside (the state) in BJP ruled states. If they (Trinamool) think that they can boycott BJP workers in Keshpur from having tea… even we can stop them from working in Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Noida, Surat”.

Does not it fall within the ambit of the violence? This threat must undergo legal scrutiny.

Fabrication of cases against the TMC and striving to prepare the ground for action against Mamata are nothing but manifestation of alienation of the BJP from the people of Bengal. The BJP’s leaders are instigating the people to react and retaliate. In fact, the original BJP leaders are opposed to this move and some of them have even lodged a protest with the RSS leadership.

For further tightening the noose around Mamata, both the leaders have been humiliating and victimising former chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay. His only fault was that he followed the rule book and skipped Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting on Cyclone Yaas as he was on official duty with the chief minister. In retaliation, he was transferred to Delhi the very next day.

It was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the architect of Indian Administrative Service and allied services, who cautioned some Members of the Constituent Assembly when they had sharply criticised civil servants of that period for so-called acts of commission and omission and told them in no uncertain terms that, “It is bad workmanship to quarrel with the instruments.”

The top leaders of the Modi regime who leave no stone unturned when it comes to singing paeans for Sardar Patel should learn from his exemplary conduct with civil servants.

The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday hit out at the BJP-led Central government accusing it of trying to disturb the functioning of the West Bengal government by initiating disciplinary proceedings against Alapan. "It is the prime minister who sits at the helm of the DoPT, and there's no point in guessing that this is nothing but personal rage, which is desperately finding a venting point to roar," senior TMC MP and party spokesperson Sougata Ray said.

After losing Bengal, the BJP is trying to create unnecessary hurdles in the functioning of the state government. The aggressive attitude of its top leaders has even provoked the Left Front chairman Biman Bose to severely criticise the Central government and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. The Left also feels that Modi and his government were undermining the prestige of Bengal. Bose said that the Left parties would meet and decide how to protest against the actions by the Centre and the Governor.

(IPA Service)

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