Lesson of Kamduni

Perhaps never before in Mamata Banerjee's regime any ordinary mortal could dare reply to her rebuff with equal vehemence like two women of Kamduni village near Barasat.Mamata Banerjee paid a surprise visit at Kamuduni after ten days a young girl student of the village was brutally raped and killed.People, particularly women there, were furious over Mamata's apparantly casual attitude to such a barbaric incident as was manifested in her inordinate delay in visiting their village and that too after repeated requests.So fuming villagers almost mobbed her to pour out their grievances.Mamata lost her cool and blasted at them at the the top of her voice.Though others were seemingly cowed down by Mamata's rebuff but two women continued to argue with her.Mamata as usual termed them Maoist as she earlier called Shiladitya,a poor farmer and Taniya Bharadradwaj, a student of Presjdency University. for asking her uncomfortable questions.Being marked as Maoist two women got initially frightened but later regained their brave self when they found they were not alone and all villagers were with them . People of Kamduni were further enthused when they saw massive rally at Kolkata in their support,They also participated in the rally too.So when the school headmaster of Kamduni was served a shawcause notice alleging he arranged protest rally by the students in the village, the Kamduni people took a procession condemning this move of the administration.The situation has turned the meek villagers mutinous.This metamorphism is common wherever people are oppressed and administration is insensitive and indifferent.Kamduni episode has inspired people even in remote villages to launch protest against crime against women and other wrong doings.Here villagers are host in themselves. They need no politicians to stand by them.Govt should seriously listen to their voice.

Poribortan!

Mamata Banerjee claims she played a pivotal role in bringing about Paribartan in Bengal.In fact,her sustained efforts for 34yrs has made this Paribartan possble.Intellectuals have only made superficial efforts and so their role is only marginal in bringing in Paribartan,she demands.Her statement has, however, offended many intellectuals.They contest that they also played a significant role. The above debate is a meaningless exercise as there has not been Paribartan worth the name after Mamata Banerjee has come to power.On the contrary the situation has worsened.Our state is receding almost in every respect compared to other states except in crimes against women where it has shamefully occupied the highest position.State can't tolerate the slightest criticism against it.An atmosphere of fear prevails all over.Did people fight for this Paribortan?Definitely not. However, if change of guard is a 'Paribotan', we've definitely achieved it.In fact, change of govt was absolutely necessary in our state.Long stay in power is apt to make any govt corrupt and arrogant. So LF govt was no exception.That apart,Left leaders began to believe they'd rule the state perpetually after 34yrs of uninterrupted rule..From this stand point 'Paribartan' was welcome.But what's very worrying is it's difficult to put up with the evils associated with this 'Paribartan."They've even outweighed the Left misrule.So instead of contesting Mamata Banerjee that they were also instrumental in ushering in Paribartan intellectuals should lament they did not struggle hard for this sort of Paribotan.

Mamata's Kamduni Visit

If not taken that seriously Mamata Banerjee's utterances both amuse and amaze people.Her recent statement that CPM, Maoists, congress and a press named Ananda Bazar Patrika(ABP) have joined hands to kill her seems anything but her wild imagination.She went to Kamduni at Barast without any notice whatsoever to visit the family of the girl student who was brutally raped and murdered ten days ago.Women folk of the village in particular were fuming over CM's not visiting their village even after gruesome incident of rape and murder of an innocent girl who was struggling hard to continue her studies amidst abject poverty.So when they got CM among them they almost mobbed her to pour out their grievances.But CM lost temper and was locked in altercation with two women in particular who dared reply her rebuff.In less than an hour she left the village.Incidentally, she paid a brief visit to the family of the rape and murder victim riding on the pillion of a motor-bike as the condition of the road was not good. CM later complained at Kamduni she was without any security and her life was in danger.However, TV footage suggests other wise.Her security personnel were there and her life was in no way in peril.However, if she thinks she is right she should show cause her security men and if necessary might suspend or even sack them for criminal negligence of duty.She also called the women who questioned her Maoist.However, it's her habit to label any body who lofts unpleasant questions before her as either CPI(M) or Maoist. Massive rally on June21 immediately after CM's Kamduni tour,which was virtually a sea of humanity, suggests in no uncertain terms that people in general have identified themselves with the cause of the villagers .Rally has also conveyed to the administration that people are in no mood to tolerate crimes against women any longer.Enough is enough.So it's high time govt could awaken to reality and take stringent measures against the criminals.

Fate of Panchayet polls!

Ever since Panchayet system came into being never has it claimed such a media attention for so long .Panchayet election has now, in fact, turned into a war between State Election Commission(SEC) and Panchayet ministry, to be precise the Panchayet minister.Mamata Banerjee floated the probability of holding Panachayet polls much before its due time.Perhaps she had in her back of mind her waning popularity among the masses with the passage of time.So hit the iron while it's hot.But SEC refused to buy her concept of earlier Panchayet polls.They claimed Panchayet polls couldn't be advanced and they'd be held in due time.Perhaps it drew Panchayet ministry's ire and the relation between them turned sour. SEC could perhaps envisage Panchatet polls would be most turbulent this time and the ruling party would exercise its muscle power as much as possible to win the elections(CPM also did the same thing earlier, though not as nakedly as this time).So tight security would be required to foil the design of the ruling party and make the election free and fair.So it put much stress on availability of security personnel from the very beginning.It particularly gave importance on deployment of Central forces along with local cops as the former are more efficient in tackling any unruly situation effectively as has been seen in cases of assembly or Lok Sabha polls.SEC also suggested holding of polls in three phases as it'd help conduct elections with adequate security forces and man power. However,to start with the Panchayet ministry suggested to hold Panchayet elections in single phase only and without deployment of Central forces.After much bungling State has agreed to hold Panchayet polls in three phases but it claims it reserves the right to decide which areas would be included in which phase and the dates of election of different phases. SEC agreed to differ and the matter was referred to High court for judicial intervention.After much flip flop Court, however, gave verdict in favour of SEC. Now the matter has struck at the availability of security forces as requisitioned by SEC.Court has suggested state should provide the requisite number of security personnel as SEC has asked for.But State has not sufficient forces and Center and other states have expressed their inability to provide forces to the state.So fate of the Panachayet election is totally uncertain. SEC has long been clamouring for adequate forces for free and fair Panchayet polls.State did not pay any heed to it.Nor did High court seem to have considered the matter very seriously.If the matter was given due weitage from the very beginning, the Panchayet election could be done in six or more phases to meet the problem of availability of adequate security forces. Imagine, to begin with state proposed to hold Panchayet election in single phase.How dare they make such a proposal?Did they have some sinister motive to hold the polls in such a way that they could easily bag majority of seats by simply exercising muscle power in absence of sufficient number of security personnel?Inability of opposition parties to submit nomination papers in the face of threat of the leaders and the cadres of the ruling party bear testimony to such a conjecture.

An Ill-fated State

Thanks to Mamata Banerjee for her rare ability to disillusion and defriend people in the shortest possible time.Just the other day electorate out poured their all-out support to bring her to power to see better days to come in their way.They were disgusted with Left rule of long 34yrs and earnestly vouched for a change.But little did they think what form of change was in store for them. They've soon found them dropped from frying pan to wallow in fire. Mamata now strictly follows what she vehemently opposed when in opposition during the Left regime.Ensconced in seat of power she's changed a lot. In many cases she's even excelled the LF govt in display and perpetration of vices.What's more, she do them overtly what the Left did covertly.So in this respect at least she's honest and transparent.In her regime, persons belonging to ruling party and those of opposition invariably receive different treatment from the administration for committing the same offence..Obviously, harsher punishment awaits the opposition without any rhyme and reason, of course.Some leaders of her party openly cursed the opposition to instigate the party cadres to take on them(opposition). What's very annoying is she's scanty regard for criticism of her work.Rather she can't put up with any adverse criticism, whatsoever, against her. Mamata was once very sensitive and her heart bled for any suffering individual.But now even heinous crimes like rape and murder can't apparently move her the way they did earlier.Recently, she's not as yet visited the house of the raped and murdered victim at Barasat even after repeated request.In Park Street rape case she called it concocted.In crime against women West Bengal is now a topper state in the country according to National Crime Records Bureau.However, attempt is being made to establish that the situation is not that bad as claimed by NCRB.Incidentally, whenever any untoward incident takes place ,it's the tendency of the present govt. to deny it or to play it down as if the govt itself is responsible for the occurrence.There may be spurt in the crimes against women but instead of downplaying them it is wise to accept it as such and take appropriate measures to minimise the crimes.Such a pragmatic attitude should be taken in each issue. The 'yes' men or sycophants surrounding Mamata do more harm than good.Each of them has personal axe to grind.So they never dare point out her weakness or mistakes as it might offend her and they'd fall from her grace.Here lies the tragedy.However, at the end of the day who suffers most is our state-West Bengal.This is the hard reality.