Mamata’s image makeover bid falls flat as 'TMC goons' unleash reign of terror

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s recent public posturing of giving an image makeover to her party and the administration got a severe beating after a wave of mob violence hit the state.

Involvement of strongmen linked to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in some of these incidents of public vigilantism raised questions about her so-called cleansing exercise.

A harrowing video clip of a TMC strongman, Jayant Singh, and his associates pinning down a woman and beating her at a club in the North 24 Pargana’s Kamarhati went viral on Tuesday (July 9).

The bad boys

Earlier, in another video clip, a teenage boy and his mother were seen being assaulted by a mob at Ariadaha in the same district. The main accused in the assault case is again Singh.

These incidents are merely part of a series of atrocities videos involving local toughs linked to the ruling party that surfaced from different parts of the state in the past weeks.

A TMC functionary, Tajemul Islam aka JCB, was seen flogging a woman and a man in public for getting into an “extramarital affair” at Chopra in North Dinajpur in a video that went viral on June 30, two days after it was ostensibly shot.

Kangaroo court

In yet another case of a cruel dispensation of justice by mob, a homemaker was abused and insulted publicly at a Kangaroo court at Phulbari in Jalpaiguri district over her alleged extramarital affair.

The Kangaroo court was convened by an influential woman TMC leader of the area, Swapna Adhikari, the victim’s husband alleged. The woman later committed suicide due to the humiliation.

These are among a dozen cases of mob violence reported from various parts of Bengal in the past fortnight that exposed a near breakdown of civil and police administration in the state.

Mamata’s lament

The incidents assume more significance as the TMC supremo last month came down heavily on her party colleagues and members of her administration for transgressions.

That in many of these incidents of instant justice, the prime accused are TMC functionaries further brought to the fore the much-talked about syndrome of party goons becoming a law unto themselves despite Banerjee’s repeated assertion that violence and criminality would not be tolerated.

“What Bengal is now witnessing is political patronage of this lynch mob mentality, coupled with a glaring lack of political will to stop it,” said senior journalist Monideepa Banerjee.

Rule of terror

Both Islam and Singh are repeat offenders.

There are already 12 cases, including that of murder of a CPI(M) worker last year, against Islam, police sources said. Singh is an accused in nine cases, including that of murder, attempt to murder and assault. He was arrested in June last year for allegedly firing at a builder, Aritra Ghosh.

Such heinous charges, however, could not keep them behind bars for long ostensibly because of their political clout. Both had been out on bail within months to resume their reign of terror.

Strong-arm methods

Police arrested them again after their recent cruelty went viral. But opposition parties doubt whether they would be brought to justice.

They cite filing of FIRs by police against BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya and CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Salim for circulating the video of the flogging as an attempt to protect the actual offenders by diluting the case.

“The TMC’s SOP (standard operating procedure) in such cases is to file fake cases against voice of protest,” Salim said about the FIR filed against him. He said “TMC criminals and police work in tandem”.

Friends of politicians

TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh of Sandeshkhali recently gained notoriety for his alleged atrocities. But in most cases aberrations of these “bahubalis” go unreported as victims are often scared to speak out or the police prefer to turn a blind eye or become complicit allegedly to avoid the wrath of MLAs and MPs.

Islam is said to be a close aide of Chopra MLA Hamidul Rahman. The MLA, however, distanced himself from Islam reportedly under pressure from the party leadership. But he did not forget to remind that Chopra gave TMC a lead of one lakh votes in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Chopra Assembly constituency is part of the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat.

Singh is said to be close to TMC Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra. He now accuses the police and TMC MP Saugata Roy of giving protection to Singh.

Police play dumb

The police chose not to act even though it knew about the illegal activities being carried out by Jayant Singh at Taltala Club, Mitra claimed. “Whenever, I urged the police to take action, I was asked to speak to the MP (Saugata Roy). At times I am scared of my life because I am fighting against gambling, satta and other illegal activities,” the TMC MLA added. Roy refused to comment on Mitra’s charges.

“There is no denying about the TMC’s role in giving free hand to these musclemen to control their respective areas. Without patronage of ruling party leaders, it would not have been possible for them to rule the roost in spite of several cases lodged against them,” said political commentator Nirmalya Banerjee.

Left-turned-TMC goons

These musclemen are the important cogs in the TMC’s formidable election machinery. This was alluded to by the party’s Chopra MLA when in the context of flogging he had boasted about the party getting an overwhelming lead in the constituency.

This practice of mobilising votes with the help of strongmen trace back to the CPI(M)-led Left Front era. In fact, many of the present-day TMC strongmen, including Islam and Shahjahan, are Left Front turncoats.

The ruling party of the day allows these strongmen to hold sway over local affairs so that they could mobilise votes wielding their influence in what is called effective booth management in political parlance to give some respectability to this quid-pro-quo arrangement.

Vote counting

The votes are counted booth wise since the introduction of electronic voting machines. This has enabled the political parties to get a fair idea about who supported them and who didn’t in a particular locality.

The number of voters per polling booth cannot exceed 1,500 as per the Election Commission (EC)'s guidelines. Parties under the garb of “enhanced booth management” assigned booth workers to keep tabs on the political affiliation of voters.

Keeping such a track is not very difficult in a close-knit village set up. More so as the village society in Bengal has long been turned into a party society where almost every resident identifies himself or herself with one party or the other.

Post-election violence

The one consequence of this voter-marking is pre- or post-poll political violence to establish or retain the party dominance. Here comes the utility of musclemen.

“If we cooperate with the party in power, we don’t face any problem and get benefits of all the welfare schemes run by the state government. All hell breaks loose if we fail to comply,” said a resident of Kachari Patti at Bolpur in Birbhum district.

Attack on BJP voters

“TMC goons attacked the house of Balaram Mal and Mohan Barui, both voters of booth no 222 in the Bolpur Assembly segment on the night of June 4 because their party failed to get a lead in the booth. The duo voted for the BJP though they are not directly associated with the party,” alleged Dharmendra Rajak, a BJP leader of the area.

Reports of such retaliation are galore. Police registered nearly 100 cases of post-poll violence since the announcement of parliamentary election results on June 4.

A TMC auto union stormed into a housing complex in Kolkata’s Ultadanga as the party did not get enough votes from the society in the Lok Sabha polls.

EC’s proposal

The EC, in a letter dated November 21, 2008 to the secretary, Ministry of Law and Justice, recommended amending the rules to provide for the use of a totaliser for the counting of votes recorded in a group of 14 EVMs (that is 14 polling stations).

The rationale behind the EC’s proposal was that the current system of counting votes by each polling station revealed the voting trends in each booth thus, exposing the voters in that vicinity to harassment, intimidation and post-election victimisation.

Unfortunately, the change has not been initiated yet.