Nandigram Myths Decoded: CBI Calls the Bluff

By Nilotpal Basu

HISTORY is cruel; in its own way, it squares up the truth. Seven years back, a rural tract in West Bengal – Nandigram – shot to prominence.  It resonated across the country. The cyber world took it beyond the national boundary and drew international attention. Political observers attributed electoral nemesis of the three decade electoral sway of the Left to the developments in Nandigram.  Nandigram was seen as the ‘diabolical’ anti-peasant face of the Left in Bengal. And overall, it contributed to undermine the credibility of the Indian Left.

What was the background of the unfortunate developments that unfolded in Nandigram in the early days of 2007?  The government of West Bengal in its attempt to industrialize the state had zeroed in on the Petroleum Investment Region scheme mooted by the central government; taking advantage of incentives of the scheme to facilitate the petroleum investment hub where Nandigram would be the core. The requirement for the scheme was a large amount of land.  The locational advantage of Nandigram was its proximity to port city Haldia and existing oil refinery and petro-chemical complex. These existing facilities provided important infrastructure to locate the petroleum investment zone. That agricultural land in Nandigram suffered from salinity, forcing people to migrate for work was another factor which weighed in favour of developing industrial activities in the region.

However, the decision of Left Front government did not find major support from the people. A major factor which affected the mood of the people was the lack of communication. The comprehensive consultative exercise which ought to have helped galvanise popular opinion for industrial activity failed to fructify. And this communication deficit was compounded by a tendentious propaganda blitz by the opposition. A rainbow coalition emerged to oppose acquisition of land for the project.

Taking advantage of the uncertainty that emerged, the broad platform virtually took physical control over the proposed project land. The platform took to violence; digging up roads and blowing up bridges, the entire area went out of the writ of the state government. The law and order situation became captive to these forces. Several killings ensured that discourse on the industrialization agenda could not reach the people. Discussion and debate towards any informed conclusion was the casualty.  

CATCH-22 SITUATION

It was a catch-22 situation for the state government. Given the broad opposition to the project and the related issue of land acquisition, it became clear that without concurrence of people, it was impossible to go ahead with the project; notwithstanding its importance in the overall context of the industrialization agenda. Thus, between January and March 2007, atmosphere of uncertainty and anarchy prevailed in the area.  In February itself, the state government and the chief minister announced that there will be no land acquisition against wishes of the people.  But despite that, the opposition was unrelenting and carried on their violent and lawless ways making the area incommunicado to the state government. The state government was found helpless in ensuring the right of the entrapped citizens. 

And, this was the backdrop of 14th March 2007. A police party which entered the area to restore communication to re-establish rule of law was confronted with. The consequent unfortunate police firing and related incidents resulted in the loss of 14 persons; widespread condemnation against ‘forcible acquisition’ followed.

Nandigram became the symbol around which opposition to the Left government galvanized.  From Maoists on the Left to communal forces of all hues on the Right combined. With TMC spearheading the opposition, its supremo and present chief minister Mamata Banerjee shot into national fame. She became the icon of the anti-Left forces not only nationally but also internationally. Those who were pathologically opposed to the Left catapulted her to lead against hitherto electorally invincible Left; so much so, that she featured on the cover of Time magazine.

Ironically, the Left in India, which had been in the forefront of the struggle for agrarian reforms and land redistribution, was shown as having betrayed that legacy. The overall neo-liberal policy environment featuring large-scale takeover of agricultural land by corporate sharks came to be equated with what happened in Nandigram on the 14th of March. 

Of course, there have been several reasons which led to the setback of the Left in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and assembly elections in 2011; but Nandigram was widely seen as the trigger which set out the course for undermining the credibility of the Left. 

Much as they attempted to explain their approach, the Left failed in getting its message across. Even before the Left Front government could order any independent probe into the firing on 14th March, the Kolkata High Court, at the insistence of the opposition, ordered a CBI probe.

LF GOVT VINDICATED

Finally, the propaganda blitz that led to institution of CBI probe has come full circle. On 18th December 2013, the CBI, after almost seven years of investigation, filed a chargesheet before the court.  The findings could not be any greater indictment of the then opposition led by TMC and its mercurial leader Mamata Banerjee. The CBI findings completely vindicate what the Left government had contended at that point of time.

The CBI chargesheet reveals – “Investigation has disclosed that efforts were made by the district administration and the police officers to normalize the situation in Nandigram. Many meetings were organized between the administration, leaders of the opposition parties and BUPC”; Bhumi Uchhhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) being the umbrella organisation spearheaded by the TMC which led the agitation in Nandigram. But, the CBI has now opined that –“However, there was no visible improvement in the law and order situation which remained out of control for the District Civil and Police administration”.

Detailing about how bad the situation was between January and March, 2007, the chargesheet states -“During this period at least 56 FIRs were registered at Nandigram and Khejuri police stations relating to violence, arson, loot and murder etc. The period also witnessed death of 11 persons and injuries to at least 25 persons due to these clashes. A police Sub Inspector namely Sadhu Charan Chatterjee was kidnapped and killed by the mob, police jeeps were burnt and police weapons were looted. The cases registered could not be investigated by the local police as the local police were unable to enter into the villages during this period”.

The chargesheet comprehensively calls the bluff that the police entry was ‘clandestine’. The chargesheet categorically states that - “On 12.03.2007, the state home secretary briefed the press, in which he informed them about the proposed police action in Nandigram”. Subsequently, “it was decided that the police operation would be conducted on 14.03.2007 at three places in Nandigram”.

The firing was ‘after all attempts to disperse the crowd’ who blocked the police entry through requests over PA system, lathicharge, firing of tear gas and firing in the air ‘failed’.

The chargesheet also nails down the claim that there were hundreds of people killed, with gory charges of children and women being torn apart and their bodies smuggled out. The chargesheet categorically points out that ‘opposition consciously spread rumours’ and ‘organised armed men’ to take on police which led to the unfortunate firing.  As if to add salt to injury, the CBI rejected the plea of the TMC that the political leadership of the Left was responsible.  In fact, despite these findings, the current state government and the chief minister has refused to allow CBI to proceed against police and civil officials whom they found to violate some procedures, insisting that Left leadership must be investigated.

The CBI is no ‘holy cow’. Neither has it done anything spectacular to erase the impression that it is not insulated from political interference having earned the description of ‘caged parrot’.  But, TMC and Ms Banerjee have forgotten that for almost six and a half years during which the CBI was carrying out its investigation, it was they who were in company with the ruling Congress – both in the state and the centre.  The state government had every opportunity to inform CBI towards an ‘informed conclusion’ in course of last almost three years; not to forget that this CBI investigation on firing in Nandigram was essentially at their own behest. 

Therefore, it is an irony that truth has finally come through the CBI chargesheet. Those who had chronicled contemporary events during that period will hopefully revisit conclusions that they had drawn on Nandigram – and, more importantly, on the Left and its intentions.

West Bengal’s ban on vegetable exports is retrograde

ET Bureau Nov 4, 2013, 04.37AM IST

KOLKATA: Mamata Banerjee has imposed a ban on export of vegetables from Bengal, creating shortages, particularly of potatoes, in the north-east and in some neighbouring states.

This not only works to the disadvantage of farmers in her own state but also against the idea of India as one coherent economic and political entity. If Punjab were to clamp down on export of wheat and rice from the state, Maharashtra of onions and Gujarat of petrochemicals, the result would be loss and chaos. Such bans are irrational and anti-national. Banerjee should lift the ban.

This does not mean that state governments should play passive observers as artificial shortage crimps their citizens' consumption of vegetables. On the contrary. State governments can and must launch a concerted intelligence drive to locate missing onions and potatoes, crack down hard on hoarders and bring the hoarded stocks to the market swiftly. There have been minor rain-induced problems in production and transport but initial estimates are that the onion crop in the current marketing year would be as much as 15% higher than the output of 16.3 million tonnes registered in 2012-13.

The structure of the onion market is extremely skewed and amenable to abuse by a few large traders, found a study commissioned by the Competition Commission of India, published in October 2012.

Some speculate the current shortage is the result of political manipulation, in which onions have been bought up, secreted away in empty flats, to feed anti-incumbency passions in a key consuming state like Delhi. Since farmers receive as little as Rs 5 a kg, the outlay on sequestering a million tonnes for a month is the cost of financing Rs 500 crore, if the principal onion traders cooperate. The governments of Maharashtra and Karnataka should actively get to the bottom of the onion shortage.

The Centre should issue strict warnings against the tendency to play the populist card displayed by the Bengal CM. At the same time, it has to initiate action to clean up the structure of agri-marketing, which today serves middlemen at the expense of farmers and consumers.

SFI leader's death: Govt sits on rights body suggestion

TNN | Oct 29, 2013, 04.47 AM IST

KOLKATA: The Mamata Banerjee government is sitting on the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) recommendations yet again.

The WBHRC directed the government to pay Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the bereaved family ofSFI leader Sudipto Gupta, who was killed in police custody while being taken to Alipore Jail. The government didn't take any action on the August 26 order on the plea that the matter is lying with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

The SFI leader died on April 2 while being taken to the Presidency jail along with other protesters. The very next day, WBHRC took up the case suo-motu on media reports. During inquiry, the commission found that police had used a bus to take the protesters to jail and it was being driven by a driver who did not posses a driving licence. Subsequently, the commission directed the state to pay the compensation.

However section 35 (I) of Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 states: "The Commission shall not inquire into any matter which is pending before a State Commission or any other Commission duly constituted under any law for the time being in force." WBHRC members wondered how could the NHRC take up the matter when it was being probed by the state body.

According to sources from the state secretariat, the government had written to the NHRC about a month ago, asking for clarification from the commission as to whose order - NHRC or WBHRC - the government should follow as the matter was being taken up by two agencies. The NHRC took cognizance of the matter in May on the basis of two separate complaints filed by two NGOs, while WBHRC took cognizance of it suo-motu on April 3, a day after the incident. In fact, WBHRC communicated the same to NHRC on April 3 itself.

WBHRC received a communication from the government on September 12 saying that since the matter was being taken up by the NHRC, the state was in no position to implement the state human right's commission recommendations at this stage. Subsequently, this communication was placed before the full bench of the commission by registrar Rabindranath Samanta. WBHRC then wrote to NHRC saying that since it took cognizance of the incident prior to NHRC, it had no locus standi to investigate the matter fresh.

Manna Deys family upset with Mamata, refuses funeral in Kolkata

Aparajita Ray, TNN, Oct 24, 2013, 07.43PM IST

BANGALORE: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee called the late Manna Dey's younger daughter Sumita Deb around 11am on Thursday, asking to allow her government to host a grand funeral for the legendary singer.

She sent her representative, Kalyan Banerjee, MP from Kolkata, to pay tribute to the music maestro who had made Bangalore his home for two decades, and convince the bereaved family to allow the cremation to be performed in Bengal.

However, sources said Manna Dey's family ignored the Bengal CM's request and continued the rituals and cremation at the Hebbal crematorium here. Sumita was also not willing to talk to the West Bengal CM, they added.

The family was said to be upset with the apathy shown by the Mamata government in helping the singer's family during his five months of stay in hospital.

Sumita Deb told reporters the family had pleaded with the chief minister and Kolkata police commissioner to help them, when the funds set aside for his treatment were allegedly siphoned off by Dey's nephew. However, there was no response from them.

She said she hadn't rejected the offer to take the body to Kolkata but only decided to go ahead with the cremation, as everything had been arranged. "He was a simple man with great ideals, and would have preferred it this way."

Manna Dey's family had alleged that his nephew had withdrawn Rs 12 lakh from the joint account he shared with his uncle, jewellery and a watch valued at Rs 15 lakh from a locker.

"She didn't come forward to show any concern for the family which was going through a tough time in the five months and 10 days when he was undergoing treatment," Sumita said.

Manna Deys family upset with Mamata, refuses funeral in Kolkata

West Bengal floods and the blame game

By INDRANI DUTTA

THE HINDU, KOLKATA, October 21, 2013

It is indeed a tragedy that 17 lives should be lost in the recent floods in West Bengal, even as the trail of death and devastation left by the mighty Cyclone Phailin was hemmed in, in a manner that has attracted wide acclaim.

It is also ironical that an organisation like the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), described by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as one of the temples of modern India, found itself in the dock, accused of causing a disaster it was mandated to control.

Last week, just as the country heaved a sigh of relief that there was no major loss of life due to the monster cyclone, in West Bengal, people and their habitats were getting submerged under the gushing waters from the DVC and Jharkhand.

Caught unawares amid Durga Puja festivities, the West Bengal government simultaneously launched a rescue operation, and a tirade against the DVC and Jharkhand government, even shooting off a letter to the Prime Minister labelling the disaster as man-made.

The truth lies elsewhere.

The DVC came into existence in July 1948 as a multipurpose river valley project. Among its primary mandates were flood control, irrigation, and generation, transmission and distribution of power.

It controls floods mainly through four dams constructed in 1959. Their present storage capacity is 0.73 million cubic feet. All these are in Jharkhand, which had given land for these projects although it is not the targeted beneficiary.

These dams help check the mighty Damodar river which floods large parts of south Bengal when in spate during monsoon. The DVC, whose command area lies in a crescent through south Bengal and Jharkhand, is co-owned by the State governments of West Bengal and Jharkhand, and the Government of India.

The ageing DVC dams have helped moderate major and minor floods in 1959, 1961, 1973, 1978 and 1995, although their capacity has been reduced over the years.

The Durgapur Barrage, and its irrigation and navigation canals in West Bengal’s Bankura and Burdwan districts play a major role in the State’s flood control mechanism. They were built by the DVC and handed over to the State government for operation and maintenance. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s has charged the DVC and Jharkhand government with frequent discharge of water, which was flooding vast tracts of her State, adding that this was being done without adequate notice.

INDIFFERENT

Experts say that the buck should stop at the door of the successive State governments in West Bengal, including the present one, which has turned a Nelson’s eye to issues like de-silting the Durgapur Barrage — whose storage capacity is vastly reduced due to lack of maintenance. A day’s notice is given by the DVC and there is a 48-hour gap between the notice and the water actually reaching the flood-prone areas in Bengal. The same cannot be said of the Jharkhand government, which often releases water without adequate notice. The quantum of the release from the DVC and Jharkhand dams is linked with the actual amount of rainfall which does not come with much advance notice.

This year, the rainfall was particularly heavy in this region, which is unusual for this time of the year. Some flooding due to release of water is unavoidable and proactive measures, rather than reactive ones are called for. But it is the West Bengal government’s duty to protect its people from a ‘routine phenomenon.’ Playing politics and a high decibel blame-game is not the best way to do that.

West Bengal floods and the blame game - The Hindu

Mamata woos duped Saradha investors with money, feast

KOLKATA: Hilsa head and shrimp with vegetables, rohu kalia, potato stir fry, raj bhog (big size sponje rosogollas). No, this is not a lip-smacking menu of any famed Bengali food joint, but part of the repast laid out by the Mamata Banerjee government for those who lost their money when the chit fund aided Saradha Group downed shutters earlier this year.

The venue: Kshudiram Anushilan Kendra. 

The occasion: distribution of cheques by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to 929 investors who have been duped after parking their money in the ponzi schemes of the scam-tainted Saradha Group.

It was Banerjee's way of tackling any fallout of the scam, which came as the biggest challenge for her regime as it was perceived to be close to the Saradha boss Sudipta Sen.

Banerjee, who had earlier promised to compensate the depositors - mostly poor people in villages and small towns - decided to celebrate the occasion by organising the grand feast.

With the scandal having broken out shortly before the statewide rural polls, she had earlier formed a commission to probe the scam and recommend ways to return the money to the depositors and also announced a Rs.500 crore fund for the purpose.

Her steps at damage control seemed to have paid off, and the Trinamool came up with an impressive show in the July panchayat elections.

The well-publicised and lavishly organised programme inclusive of the sumptuous food is being regarded by observers as a continuation of her efforts to give a message to the duped investors that the government was by their side.

The beneficiaries of the day had deposited up to Rs.10,000 in the schemes, till the company went bust and closed shop across the state unable to repay the investors who had been lured by the promise of high returns.

Lakhs of people, mainly poor people in villages and small towns, have been affected by the Saradha scam. There has been a spate of suicides by investors and agents.

The government machinery kept no stone unturned to showcase the occasion and ensure its success.

Twenty cooks were engaged to prepare the food, while the beneficiaries were brought from all over the state at government cost.

"We were taken in a government vehicle to the local police station. There were were provided a good tiffin and given the bus fare. We took a bus and came to the venue in Kolka"a," said a beneficiary from Darjeeling district.

Official sources said the concerned district administrations were made responsible for bringing the beneficiaries for the programme and taking them back home.

From breakfast to lunch, evening tiffin and dinner and night stay - all arrangements were made.

The Murshidabad district administration, for instance, had sent vehicles to the Samserganj home of beneficiary Motiur Rahman."

"We spent a night at a panchayat training centre on the way. We were given a grand dinner there - rice, dal (lentils), fish curry, mixed vegetable, potato fry, chutney, papad and swe"ts," said Rahman.

Arrangements for around 3,000 people (including support staff) were made at the Kshudiram Anushilan Kendra, as the government spent lakhs of rupees to ensure the scam did not make any impact on the ruling p'rty's vote bank in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

A depositor seemed amaz"d. "I got back a part of the amount I had invested with the Saradha Group. But the money spent on the lavish arrangements could have been better utilised to give me back the entire am"unt".

The opposition Left Front lost no time in attacking the government for "he "money squand"red"."

"The government says it is deep in debt and has no money for development programmes. But at the same time it is squandering the tax p'yers' money to indemnify the investors who had been duped by the Saradha Group. What is worse is the lavish arrangements. They should have attached Sudipt' Sen's property and repaid the victims fro" it," said Leader of Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra.

Undaunted, the government has anoounced it would indemnify 104,000 more depositors before the Durga Puja (beginning Oct 10). Two lakh more investors would get their money back after Diwali (Nov 2).

The government has set aside Rs.50 crore for indemnifying the depositors upto Diwali.

(Sirshendu Panth can be contacted at s.panth@ians.in)

Mamata woos duped Saradha investors with money, feast (West Bengal Newsletter) | Business Standard

Money chase unites two M’s

Mumbai, Aug. 1: Amit Mitra delivered Mumbai’s business stars for Mamata Banerjee today. The question now is whether the stars will deliver for the chief minister what she wants them to: investments. 

The finance minister, saddled with the difficult task of managing Bengal’s straitened circumstances, put the full force of his persuasive skills developed during his earlier stint as Ficci secretary-general into play to get top industrialists and bankers for the meeting with the chief minister.

A beaming Mamata said later: “I am very happy at the turnout. My expectation was 100 per cent but it exceeded my expectation.” 

The chief minister — whose first investor meet in Delhi last December was a flop — had reasons to be happy as Mitra offered her both quality and quantity at the meeting at the World Trade Centre at Cuffe Parade in south Mumbai. 

In attendance were Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani, Godrej boss Adi Godrej, JSW Group’s Sajjan Jindal, RPG Enterprise’s Harsh Goenka, Pantaloon’s Kishore Biyani and Amit Kalyani of Bharat Forge. Top bankers — Uday Kotak of Kotak Mahindra and ICICI managing director Chanda Kochhar — were at hand, too.

The most notable absentee was Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry, though one group representative did show up — N. Chandrasekharan, the managing director of TCS that has development centres in Calcutta. 

Investment is critical for Mamata, who landed in Mumbai with a massive mandate in the rural polls, because of the absence of employment opportunities. Though the Trinamul government has been claiming that it has received proposals worth over Rs 1.2 lakh crore since the change of guard in Bengal, it has little to show in terms of actual investment. 

Asked if the meeting brought forth any concrete proposal, Mamata avoided a direct reply. “It cannot be done this way. We have made our points. Bengal is a gold mine, I told them. They should now decide what to do,” she said. 

Although a meeting of this nature was not quite expected to yield tangible gains, Mamata — often portrayed as anti-industry for her Singur agitation — scored on two counts. 

First, she managed to draw a packed audience, which would help silence her critics for some time. Some industrialists The Telegraph spoke to said they had come because of Mitra. “I was at the meeting because I could not say no to Amit Mitra,” said one of them.

Mamata’s second success was winning a bouquet of praises, with one industrialist describing her after the meeting as “charming”. 

“We have seen your passion on TV, today we felt that in person as you addressed us,” Kochhar said, according to tweets by Derek O’Brien, Rajya Sabha MP and Mamata aide. 

Ambani, the biggest draw, said the fact that she had come to Mumbai within 48 hours of a landslide victory “means you mean business”, according to O’Brien’s tweet.

Later, Ambani met the chief minister at the Sahyadri Guest House. The Reliance chairman, accompanied by Reliance Gio head Tarun Jhunjhunwala, is believed to have brought to Mamata’s attention the roadblocks to rolling out 4G services in Bengal.

At the meeting, the industrialists avoided asking tough questions either because they did not wish to offend the chief minister or they were not interested enough in Bengal.

To questions about land, Mamata said 10,000 acres were available with the government. But the fact is that most of this land is in small parcels. 

Speaking to The Telegraph after the meeting, Goenka summed it up. “It went off really well. She certainly won the hearts of the people, but she has to also win the purse of the people.”

SEE MORE:

Money chase unites two M’s

Why Mukesh Ambani met Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

Digbijay Mishra | Business Standard | Kolkata   

August 2, 2013 Last Updated at 18:45 IST 

Ambani is known to have discussed key matters in a one-on-one interaction with Banerjee after the meet

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s meet with the who’s who of India Inc in Mumbai turned out to be a runaway hit, courtesy Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani.

According to a tweet by Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’ Brien, Ambani was believed to have said that the Chief Minister meant business, given that she was in Mumbai barely 48 hours after a big electoral victory. But it’s not just Banerjee who meant business.

 

After the India Inc meeting Ambani met the Chief Minister one-on-one at the guest house where she had put up. State government sources said, none of the other state ministers were present during the meeting.

 

“HPL and 4G were the key matters discussed. He (Ambani) was very keen on 4G but HPL too was important on his agenda,” industry minister, Partha Chatterjee said, but added that no one was allowed to inturrept the one-on one between Banerjee and Ambani.

 

On the 4G front, the company plans to lay optical fibre cables across 5,500 km. It would use 3,500 telecom towers to support its 4G services in the state. Work has already started on laying cables across 300 km, the company management had said during a recent conference in the state. The investment in the project was around Rs 3,000 crore.

 

However, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) could just higher on Ambani’s priority. HPL, eastern India's biggest petrochem company, has been on the radar of RIL for quite some time. RIL has submitted an expression of interest for the state government’s 40 per cent stake. The five other bidders are Anil Agarwal’s Cairn India, Essar, IOC, ONGC and GAIL.

 

The plant visit, as part of the due diligence process, started on Thursday wherein the bidders would visit the plant, which according to HPL's former MD Partha Bhattacharyya could boast of international quality products. 

 

While RIL has formally joined the race for HPL now, its interest is an open secret. In 2006, Ambani had come down to meet Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who was the Chief Minister then. 

“Ambani said, I will come if you want me,” a senior Left leader said.

 

The state government was keen on selling its stake to Ambani, but an agreement with TCG’s Purnendu Chatterjee for the first rights of refusal, held it back. Ambani was asked to settle the matter with Purnendu Chatterjee directly, but it didn’t result in anything material.

This time too, the stake sale could get entangled in a legal battle. TCG has already filed an appeal in Supreme Court against a Calcutta High Court order. TCG wanted to move the international court of arbitration, against which the state government had moved the High Court.

 

SEE MORE:

Why Mukesh Ambani met Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee | Business Standard

McCarthyism, Mamata style

By Badri Raina

Recent events seem to suggest that the patron saint of paranoia has passed on the baton to the West Bengal Chief Minister

My alma mater, Wisconsin, is much in the news, sadly for some unlovely reasons; and some equally unlovely events at home remind me of one Joseph McCarthy who used to be a Senator from Wisconsin during 1950-1954, a period which has gone down in American history as the “Second Red Scare”.

The first red scare is associated with the years just after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 when the cry went up on the American mainland that “the Russians are coming”. Much of that has been captured memorably by Robert K. Murray in his book Red Scare: A Study in Hysteria, 1919-1920, published by the University of Minnesota Press in 1955.

But returning to the second scare: it seemed to some American right-wingers that there was a Communist in every closet on American soil, rather a tribute to the influence that Bolshevism had achieved on both the European and American continents during the period between the First and Second World Wars. A no-holds-barred campaign was unleashed to ferret out these commies from all sorts of nooks and crannies. And the method adopted was of making accusations of disloyalty or treason without proper regard for evidence, a procedure led vociferously by Joseph McCarthy, whence the term McCarthyism.

The witch-hunt led to thousands of individuals, among them Charlie Chaplin, Bertolt Brecht, W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Arthur Miller, Paul Robeson, Paul Sweezy and many other outstanding intellectuals and creative artists, being hauled up before governmental or private industry panels; the most infamous of these being “The House Un-American Activities Committee”. And most of those summoned found themselves answering accusation by insinuation, innuendo, third party rumour and so forth, with no evidence of actionable criminality. And never mind what Harry Truman had said on record: “In a free country, we punish men for the crimes they commit, but never for the opinions they have.”

Recent events in West Bengal seem to suggest that good old McCarthy may have passed on the baton to our own Mamata Di. In disregard of Harry Truman, not to speak of the Indian Constitution, there is evidence now to believe that the holding of an opinion unflattering to the power-that-be in West Bengal in and by itself constitutes criminality, deserving of an “off with his head” form of justice on the instant.

First there was Taniya Bharadwaj who was instantly branded a Maoist for asking a fairly innocuous question of the fairy queen on a TV channel, then the poor professor from Jadavpur University, Ambikesh Mahapatra, who was arrested for circulating a cartoon determined on the instant to be dangerously subversive of Mamata Di, and now a poor farmer, Shiladitya Choudhury, again, ah, a Maoist, or else why would he ask a question about the rising price of fertilizer, and his inability to obtain rice at Rs.2 a kg, as per policy. So off he goes too to the slammer, and no bail yet either.

How “liberators” turn “oppressors” I was told in confidence by an erstwhile staunch supporter of Mamata Banerjee, the giant killer who it seems is sadly unaccountable to any democratic or legal norm.

It will be remembered that before the last Assembly elections in West Bengal, when Mamata Banerjee was often accused of collusion with the Maoists, it was her riposte that there were no Maoists in Jangalmahal, and that the mischief was entirely owing to the cadres of the CPI(M). Now that the latter is out of power, it makes good political sense to reconstruct the enemy as the Maoist, since everybody knows how dangerous and outlawed they are.

Mamata’s McCarthyist paranoia now seems to extend its reach. She has charged that judgements from courts are “purchased”, that Commissions are useless and wasteful (just when the West Bengal Human Rights Commission has ordered her to compensate Professor Mahapatra and his neighbour, Subrata Sengupta, for the unlawful excesses vented on them, and asked for departmental action to be initiated against two police officers in the matter), and that civil society groups are a nuisance without accountability.

These accusations seem to take in institutions dear to the urban middle class’s heart, and it will be interesting to see whether those that sought “poribortan” for West Bengal had precisely this sort of package in mind. Indeed, there is speculation that where it took the Bengali electorate some three decades to be disillusioned with the Left Front, three years may bring them to reconsider the choices they must make.

Given the assertiveness of Indian democracy, it would seem that McCarthyism of any sort must have a small shelf life, regardless of who its patrons are — a lesson that the Left seems assiduously to want to learn during its exile from power.

(Prof. Badri Raina is a Delhi-based writer.)

McCarthyism, Mamata style - The Hindu

BJP's decision had helped Trinamool Congress to retain the Howrah Lok Sabha seat

KOLKATA: Aided by the withdrawal of BJP's candidate at the last moment, the Trinamool Congress today managed to retain the Howrah Lok sabha seat with a comfortable margin.

BJP today also claimed that its decision not to field candidate had helped Trinamool Congress retain the Howrah Lok Sabha seat, but said the drop in the winning margin was a "warning to TMC".

"It is known to everyone that our decision not to contest the Howrah parliamentary by-election, which was our party decision, has helped Trinamool Congress win and retain the seat," BJP's state president Rahul Sinha told PTI.

He claimed that there was a "substantial drop in the winning margin" of the Trinamool Congress "which should be a warning for the party".

The BJP had decided at the fag end of the poll process, not to field candidate following instruction from the party's national president,Rajnath Singh.

Had the BJP contested the bye-election, Congress would have slid to fourth position, Sinha added.

Dispelling the negativity surrounding the Mamata Banerjee-government post Saradha scam, TMC candidate and former international footballer Prasun Banerjee defeated his nearest CPI-M rival Sridip Bhattacharjee by a margin of  over 27,000 votes.

While TMC and CPI-M grabbed 4,26,273 and 3,99,258 votes respectively, the Congress candidate became a distant third securing 96,727 votes.In 2009, TMC had an alliance with the Congress and won the seat by a margin of more than 37,000 votes.

However, TMC-Congress had a lead of over 1,80,000 votes in 2011 assembly election in the seven seats that comes under Howrah Lok Sabha constituency. A comparison with political's party's vote share shows it was the absence of BJP that determined today's election result in favour of TMC.

While TMC got 44.62% votes, CPI-M secured 41.70%. It should be noted that BJP had secured about 4-5% votes in 2009 Lok Sabha and 2011 assembly elctions in the area respectively. As it is believed that BJP's votes are more inclined to go to TMC than the Left in absence of the party, analysts poitned out, BJP's absence favoured TMC.

Left and Congress, however, were quick to accuse TMC of having an "understanding" with BJP ahead of 2014 general election. "The Howrah Lok Sabha seat was BJP's gift to TMC," said senior Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed.

BJP, which had secured over 50,000 votes in 2011 in the area withdrew its candidate at the last moment, despite announcing its candidate earlier.

But this time it was always a close battle, given that TMC was contesting on its own and opposition made the Saradha scam and TMC's alleged assoiciation with such companies a major campaign issue.

The by-election was necessitated following the death of Trinamool Congress MP Ambika Banerjee.

Reacting to the poll result West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said, "This time we have fought Parliamentary by-election at Howrah all alone. A new era is born. Our candidate Prasun Banerjee, an Arjun awardee, has won the election today."

http://www.business-standard.com/article/politics/tmc-wins-howrah-lok-sabha-by-poll-113060500533_1.html

http://www.business-standard.com/article/politics/margin-drop-in-howrah-bypoll-a-warning-for-trinamool-bjp-113060500685_1.html 

18 of Didi’s Bengal projects are gathering dust

KOLKATA: Rail politics between the Congress and the TMC heightened on Thursday, with the minister of state for railways Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary releasing a status paper alleging the projects announced for West Bengal by former railways minister Mamata Banerjee were motivated by “political considerations”.  

Eighteen projects costing more than Rs. 12,000 crore have not progressed because of inadequate funding or bad planning, Chaudhary said.

Projects have not made tangible progress because of lack of cooperation from the West Bengal government – including delays in providing land and according the necessary clearances, he added.

The status paper points out that the Rs. 3,951.98 crore project for building the NSCB Airport to New Garia metro line had made only 5% progress due to delay from various departments of the state government. 

The document also blames the TMC railways ministers for making “infructious expenditure”. For example,Rs. 54 crore was incurred towards transporting only eight coaches to the diesel multiple unit at Haldia for furnishing, it says.

“The Integral Coach Factory” at Chennai has the capacity to furnish 20 rakes. It was meaningless to transport only eight semi-finished rakes for more than 800 km,” the paper says.

The Rs. 184.70 crore project for the setting up of a mid-life rehabilitation workshop at Adra and the Rs. 277.77 crore electric loco assembly and ancillary unit at Dankuni  — announced in 2010 and 2009 respectively — had also made zero progress, the document says.

“TMC leaders spread the propaganda that rail projects were showered by Banerjee on West Bengal and that huge employment opportunities were being created. The facts are quite to the contrary, as the rail-based industries in the state are a non-starter”, Chaudhary said........

MoS rail: 18 of Didi’s Bengal projects are gathering dust - Hindustan Times

Artist's book on TMC flip-flops

KOLKATA: Jadavpur University alumnus Debalina Chakraborty, who was arrested as a Maoist leader last year, was a regular to meetings at the Trinamool party office in Tiljala. The shocking fact has been revealed by theatre artist Manik Mondal in his recent book 'NijerDhak'.....

Interestingly, the author himself was arrested as a Maoist in 2010 from a Jangalmahal village and has spent more than 40 days in jail. On page 165 of his book, Mondal states that he used to assist present Trinamool leader Dola Sen during meetings to maintain a register of the participants. "I saw several Maoist leaders in the meetings," he writes, adding that some of the Maoist leaders also attended meetings where CM Mamata Banerjee used to be present.

"I know that Maoists had helped Trinamool a lot till the assembly election," writes Mondal, going on to talk about the Nandigram movement....

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Artist's book on TMC flip-flops

Mumbai to miss Mamata - Business meet put off, several theories swirl

The Bengal government has “deferred” indefinitely Mamata Banerjee’s Mumbai roadshow to woo investors.

Industries minister Partha Chatterjee said the meeting, scheduled for February 13, could be put off by a “few days” but added that it had not been called off.

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Mumbai to miss Mamata

Imams not keen to take Mamata Banerjee’s largesse

By RAJIB CHATTERJEE

Indian Express, Posted online: Thu Jan 24 2013, 03:32 hrs

Kolkata: Religious angle Many feel imams and muezzins consider accepting government against Islam.

Last year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a controversial announcement of giving a monthly financial aid to imams and muezzins. The Trinamool Congress government had hoped to receive a windfall of applications from the imams and muezzins across the state. However, almost nine months after the scheme was announced, the government has received only a trickle of applications from the community leaders.

Officials say the main reason behind the lukewarm response could be that a large number of imams and muezzins do not want to accept money from the government as they consider that Islam does not permit accepting financial aid from a non-religious body.

Unofficial estimates show that there are around 70,000 mosques in the state. The government, which announced Rs 2,500 monthly aid to imams and Rs 1,000 monthly aid to muezzins, had set aside Rs 126 crore — Rs 90 crore for the imams and Rs 36 crore for muezzins — for the current financial year.

A brief calculation could mean that government had set a target of enrolling 30,000 imams and 30,000 muezzins for this financial year. Till date, only 23,000 imams and 12,000 muezzins have submitted their applications to the Wakf Board.

“I have heard that a section of imams and muezzins do not want to accept money from the government since the fund does not come from a religious body. So, they consider accepting money from government as un-Islamic. At one point of time, we had expected applications from 3,000 imams of Burdwan district alone. But so far, we have received only 700 applications from that district,” said West Bengal Wakf Board Chairman Abdul Gani.

A senior official of Minority Affairs Department said imams in most of the interior parts of the state get food and other necessary material from the locals. “This may be another reason why not all the imams and muezzins have opted for the government money,” said the official.

When the government had announced the scheme, there was widespread criticisms with some alleging that Trinamool government’s bid to woo the minorities may flare up communal tensions in the state. Hindu outfits demanded that priests too be given such “honorarium”. To counter the allegation, the government said the money was being given to imams and muezzins as they help government agencies implement various social schemes like pulse polio drive and creating awareness among the community.

Mamata and her men stoke controversies as rivals ‘hiss’

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has a penchant for courting controversies, effortlessly stirred yet another when she wondered at a public meeting whether she should beat up the prime minister for getting her demands met.

As the Trinamool Congress supremo came under intense criticism for her remarks, she found an able comrade in ministerial peer Jyotipriya Mallick – now famous for bizarre prescriptions – who this time dished out a “venomous” decree.

The week began on a stormy note when Banerjee, while venting her ire on the Congress- led central government said: “What else can I do? Shall I go beat him up? Then people will call me a goon. But I don’t care. I can go to the very last mile for the people.”

She made the remarks at Canning in South 24 Parganas while stating that her repeated meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yielded no result on her demand to lower fertilizer prices.

The remarks gave the opposition – the Congress and the CPI-M led Left Front – the much needed fodder as they went ballistic in slamming her, with some of the leaders even questioning her mental health....

(IANS WEST BENGAL NEWSLETTER)

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Vancouverdesi.com – Mamata and her men stoke controversies as rivals ‘hiss’ (West Bengal Newsletter)

DOREMI At Leads, business sings and bears it

Haldia, Jan. 15: Never mind big business has not yet danced to Mamata Banerjee’s tune. The chief minister has made some sing — and lip-sync — her tune.

The chief minister today converted Bengal Leads into Bengal Culture Leads by getting two industrialists — C.K. Dhanuka and Sanjiv Goenka — on the dais and persuading them to perform two songs.

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DOREMI At Leads, business sings and bears it

Once pro-Mamata Di, West Bengal intellectuals now turn their backs on 'lawless' Trinamool : East, News - India Today

Barely two years after Trinamool Congress came to power, most of the pro-Mamata Banerjee personalities like painter Samir Aich, academician Sunanda Sanyal, writer activist Mahasweta Devi, theatre personality Bibhas Chakraborty and Kaushik Sen, singer Indrani Sen and Protul Mukherjee are now humming a different tune.

Read more at:http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/west-bengal-intellectuals-resign-from-tmc-mamata-banerjee/1/242540.html

Once pro-Mamata Di, West Bengal intellectuals now turn their backs on 'lawless' Trinamool : East, News - India Today

We won’t accept 99% work done lie: Peerzada Toha Siddique

I will request Mamata Banerjee…. You must be aware that she is saying one thing repeatedly and that is she has done 99 per cent of what had to be done for the minority communities. We will not accept such a lie,” said Peerzada Toha Siddique, the director of Furfura Darbar Sharif in Hooghly.

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We won’t accept 99% work done lie: Minority leader

Why Mamata puts up with Arabul Islam

By Monotosh Chakraborty, TNN | Jan 8, 2013, 01.44 AM IST

BHANGAR: The attack on CPM veteran Abdur Rezzak Mollah has bared the underbelly of the gory politics in the bheri lands (wetlands) of South 24-Parganas.

Bhangar, a mere 28km from the city, was under the writ of Mollah's party for years. Now, Trinamool Congress strongman Arabul Islam calls the shots.

Arabul, a former MLA, is the prime accused in the attack on Mollah - yet another criminal charge in a long list of pending cases, from criminal intimidation to attempt-to-murder. According to police, none of the cases have been dropped though Arabul has got bail in some.

The CPM has demanded his arrest within the next 24 hours. "We will wait for the administration to act by Tuesday noon. Else we will stage a dharna in front of the police superintendent's office," said Leader of the Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra.

The condemnation of Arabul across political lines has come as a ray of hope to a woman from Bhangar, who was driven out of her home and hearth in August and forced to take shelter in New Town, Rajarhat, with her husband.

"Some men, led by Arabul, beat me up at Satulia bazar in front of everyone, tore off my sari and blouse, and attacked my private parts. They dragged me to the local dumping ground thinking I was dead. That was on August 28," she told TOI on Monday. She went to Kashipur police station to lodge a complaint but in vain. "Police did not initiate an inquiry till I moved Alipore court. On hearing my complaint, the chief judicial magistrate directed the officer-in-charge to start a case," she said.

While the traumatized woman had to wait till October for the police to start an inquiry, the man who is accused of "leading the attack" is unfazed. "I do not know of any such complaint. You can check with the local police," said Arabul.

Kashipur Police, however, recognised the complaint. "Yes, a complaint was made by (TOI is withholding the name) though her injury report doesn't confirm all the elements of the complaint, or Arabul's having a hand in it," a police officer said. But he has not sent the report to the court, saying the complaint is untrue.

The entire episode goes against the chief minister's directive to police to take a complaint as and when a victim comes to the police station.

However, the rules of the game changed when a woman known to Arabul went to Kashipur police station to complain about a family dispute. While the sub-inspector on duty took a few minutes to record the complaint, Arabul angrily stepped into the police station and slapped the officer. This was within days of the molestation complaint lodged against the Trinamool leader. As usual, the police officer bore with the assault.

The Trinamool chief - who showed "zero tolerance" to pay leaders Meer Taher Ali and the others who swayed with girls and showered money on them at the party's foundation day at Bhangar - has been bearing with Arabul for long. Is it because Mamata needs Arabul for the coming panchayat polls?

Mamata's infinite tolerance for this infamous leader from Bhangar has raised questions even among Trinamool circles. There was not a word of caution from the Trinamool leadership when Arabul, the president of Bhangar College, barged into the staff room in April last year and allegedly threw a jug full of water at lecturer Debjani Dey.

Former Union minister Saugata Roy gave vent to his disgust at a meeting of college principals held at Ashutosh College. Trinamool minister Rabi Ranjan Chattopadhyay had also spoken against Arabul. However, the CM kept mum while education minister Bratya Basu threw his weight behind Arabul.