Adil Hossain for BeyondHeadlines
West Bengal is going through rough times again. Today Governor M.K.Narayanan apologised to the studentsof Presidency University for the brutal mob attack on its campus on Wednesday. The series of events which started with the unfortunate death of SFI activist Sudipto Gupta in police custody few days back have shocked people to the core and right now they are craving for nothing but peace in the state. The present Government by not ordering a judicial inquiry into the suspicious death of SFI activist has only aggravated the situation. It must be hold accountable for failing in their duty to maintain peace in the state.
Bengal’s association with political violence is quite long. Be it during the bloody naxal movement in the 1970′s or in the Communist era political violence was always a grim reality for this state.
However, in the last elections TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee promised of ‘poriborton’(or change) to the people and captured the seat of power on this slogan only. But as reality ensued today, ‘poriborton’ remains an elusive word there in Bengal.
Now with the growing restlessness among the people, it will only result in furthering the political vacuum in the state. The problem grows manifold when we see that there are no doors for reconciliation and political parties are not accepting their guilt. One party blames another for the violence and law enforcing agencies remain mute spectator. And it’s futile to expect stability in near future if the cycle of violence not broken.
On the other side, the ruling party must understand that being in power, it is their utmost responsibility to protect the law and order in the state. The blame-gaming is not going to work for long as people are not blind to see what’s happening in the state. The Chief Minister who is also the Home Minister must take responsibility and ensure order is maintained in the state. She should also refrain from airing her judgments on any unfortunate incident even before any inquiry.This only complicate the job for the police who don’t want to take the opposite side that of their minister.
One of the main causes behind the recent incidents is Student Union(SU) elections. West Bengal has a long history of student politics and students can’t be expected to refrain from democratic discourse there. Instead of banning SU elections, the Government should ensure that elections are organized in a peaceful and non-partisan manner. At this moment, I believe few steps can effectively diffuse the situation. First, CM should call an all party meeting along with Election Commission representative to discuss how to hold the SU elections soon. Second, implement Lyngdoh Committee recommendations and get the nomination thing done online to avoid violence as most of the violence recently happened during the nomination process only. Third, all political parties should publicly ask their cadres not to be indulged in SU politics and it should remain an all student affair. And, lastly the government should ensure that Police forces are allowed to do their job of maintaining law and order without any political influence.
If the political vacuum get augmented with time, the day is not far when communal parties will use this opportunity to enter in the state which remained free from religious riots since last few decades.
Already both Hindu and Muslim right parties have made their presence felt in the last few elections and vote percentage of the main political parties have dropped significantly.
The world is changing today and people expect a better level of governance from the rulers. Rule of law is fundamental for the development of any society. Bengal will only remain aloof to any development activity if it fails to ensure rule of law and peace in the state. In the last elections, Trinomool Congress fought on the slogan of ‘poriborton’(change) and CPM on ‘pratyabartan’ (returning).
But I believe what Bengal needs today is ‘prabartan’ i.e. evolution which must come in the political culture there.
(Adil Hossain is a student of development anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London and intern at Media Standard Trust, London. He can be followed on twitter@adilhossain)
