Violent politics in West Bengal disrupting law and order

By Abheek Barman
Sherlock Holmes asked, “Why didn’t the dog bark at night?” He alas, is no more, nor are Feluda or Byomkesh Bakshi. Because today Bengal politics is rocked by the Case of The VVIP Dog.

In mid-June a dog, referred to simply as “Canine, VVIP, Unknown”, was admitted to the dialysis wing of Kolkata’s top state-run SSKM Hospital, meant for humans. Kolkata does not lack for veterinary care.

The outrage that followed – SSKM is hard-pressed to deal with people – produced a scapegoat: the director, a respected doctor called Pradip Mitra, who was kicked out.

The identity of the VVIP dog owner is so far a secret. Media speculates that Abhishek Banerjee, chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool Congress’s princeling, is the likely suspect.

The canine uproar is a symptom of something bigger. For nearly 40 years, Bengal has been India’s most electorally ‘stable’ state. For 34 of those years the Left, led by CPM ruled with an iron grip.

This crumbled dramatically in 2011 when TMC, in alliance with Congress, swept state elections and demolished the Left’s apparatus, built with violent, lumpen ‘cadre’ who migrated to TMC.

Since then Mamata has ruled with unquestioned authority, winning election after election. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls – when a Narendra Modi wave seemed to be sweeping India – Mamata held out, winning 34 of Bengal’s 42 seats. Congress managed just four and once mighty CPM tied with minnows BJP to win two seats each.

In April this year, 235 seats were voted for in municipal polls. TMC won 183 of those with the Left a very distant second and BJP struggling with seven wards in Kolkata. Yet, TMC’s numbers conceal undercurrents that have made Bengal politics fluid.

The Left, Mamata claims, is finished. The attenuated Congress hangs on to a few seats in the central part of the state. BJP wants to storm Bengal but its presence is pathetic: in the assembly it has one MLA, without voice.

On June 19 Gautam Deb, a senior CPM leader, spoke about aligning with Congress to combat TMC and BJP in the state. Veteran Congressmen like Abdul Mannan backed the idea. But soon it was nixed by the central Left leadership led by Sitaram Yechury.

His argument: Bengal and Kerala will fight assembly polls together in 10 months’ time and it’ll be tough to justify a Left-Congress partnership in Bengal, while the two parties face off in Kerala.

Yet, in Bengal, Deb’s argument makes sense. In 2014, TMC won 34 seats with 39% of the vote. If the Left and Congress had fought together their vote share would have been 39.3%, topping TMC’s tally.

Historically, Left parties have sorted out ideological and electoral conflicts by splitting. Maybe, it’s time for the Bengal Left to break with its southern half.

BJP quadrupled its vote share from 4% to 17% between 2011 and 2014. Yet it’s clueless about Bengal politics. Just before the municipal polls the local BJP leader, a rootless wonder called Rahul Sinha, was besieged by ticket seekers from the districts.

Holed up in party headquarters in north Kolkata, which ‘rebel’ BJP ticket-seekers had surrounded, Sinha called local police for help. The cops insisted on a written complaint if they were to disperse the BJP rebels. Sinha baulked at this and instead called upon ‘lathails’ or goondas, from a neighbouring state, to beat up his own party workers.

With such internal breaking of bones, what hope does BJP have? In any case, the Modi wave is over as the April municipal polls showed. But will this clear the way for TMC rule for the next generation? Unlikely. Mamata hasn’t grown into an administrator. She’s also deeply insecure, and chops party colleagues off at the knees at any whim.

A one-time Didi favourite called Madan Mitra has been in jail from December 2014, for his Saradha chit fund links. Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, one of her most senior leaders and architect of TMC’s trade union movements, is being stripped of his powers.

Mamata has created a parallel union system, led by sycophants like Dola Sen (who recently humiliated cops who stopped her for a traffic violation), to undercut Chattopadhyay. In some sarkari departments, there are as many as half a dozen TMC unions at each others’ throats.

Subrata Mukherjee, a veteran of many parties, is empowered with ministries and departments that maximise cash: panchayat and public health. Aroop Biswas, brother of a notorious TMC goon, is a new favourite. Biswas supposedly ‘controls’ Tollygunge, which houses Bengal’s film industry. He can mobilise starlets and stars for the public appearances Mamata craves.

Meanwhile Mukul Roy and many others who were Mamata’s earliest colleagues are being dumped. In this chaotic universe, stuff like law and order is out of control: local media reports 491 murders in Bengal in the last six months, all politically motivated. The districts of East Midnapore and Murshidabad are on top with 60 killings each, followed by North 24-Parganas with 56.

Shockingly Kolkata, Didi’s capital and home of so-called high culture, is third, with 38 killings. Under the apparent stability of Bengal politics, violent tides threaten the status quo.

The author is Consulting Editor, ET Now.