There is a very sad incident of the year 1990. 32 years ago today, there was an incident of gang rape in Bantala, Bengal. Three officials of the medical department were brutally abused 20 km from Kolkata city. Anita Dewan, a medical officer, was even murdered on the spot. On May 30, around 6.30 pm, the mob, including activists of the ruling Left Party, carried out the brutality. Jyoti Basu was the Chief Minister then. There was a lot of uproar and then Mamata Banerjee was in the opposition. She had taken the protest against this violence and rape to a different level. Jyoti Basu had reacted that ‘such incidents keep happening. What doesn’t happen… Mistakes happen.’ Even in that era, when such incidents used to happen, Jyoti Basu often used to say that more than this happens in Bihar.
Once there was an incident of rape of a deaf and dumb girl in Bengal, Mamta Banerjee reached the Chief Minister’s Office Reuters Building with the victim. Then Chief Minister Jyoti Basu had refused to meet and was told that they could not meet without giving time. Then there was a lot of scuffle with Mamta Banerjee. A lot of news was published and there was a lot of discussion. Indeed, history is cruel, history keeps repeating itself. Mamta Banerjee is the Chief Minister today, rapes happen in West Bengal even today, but listen to her statement. Today, apart from the biggest opposition BJP, the Left parties and the Congress are also making a lot of noise about the law and order situation and the insensitivity of Mamata Banerjee. On the other hand, the Trinamool Congress, which is in power today, is very angry, saying that the Bharatiya Janata Party is doing more politics than necessary in such matters.
In the 2021 assembly elections, the BJP had come out with full force with the intention of winning in West Bengal. Yet Mamata Banerjee defeated the BJP and stunned even its central leadership. It was said that this is Mamta magic. She does politics very aggressively and BJP has also done the same in Bengal, but despite applying full force, BJP lost. Mamata Banerjee emerged as a leading leader, but what is her position in reality today?
The Trinamool Congress has no better position outside West Bengal. He tried in Goa and Tripura. He did not have anything in Goa, so something has increased, but did not get much success. On the other hand, Arvind Kejriwal has done wonders in Punjab. Today Kejriwal also wants to become the leader of the opposition at the national level. But what is being seen in Bengal today, in what is going on in social media about Bengal, Mamata Banerjee’s public welfare politics seems to be going backward. Even today BJP is active to win the next battle. Not only in Bengal, even at the national level, the BJP’s enthusiasm has not diminished, while Mamata Banerjee does not have a strong position at the national level. Until recently, even the secular, Left-affiliated civil society had started thinking that Mamta could defeat the BJP, but what is the situation today?
I am having 40 years of experience in journalism and have lived in Delhi for 35 years. I have my roots in the same Bengal which was once the capital of the country. Bombay was called the commercial capital and Kolkata the cultural capital. This is the Bengal of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Raja Rammohan, the Bengal of the great poet Tagore, which gives a feeling of pride to the whole country. It is more or less the cultural capital of India even today. At one time, the highest cultural sensitivity was reported in Bengal. Bengal has always had a lot of respect in the civil society. But the perception that is being created about Bengal now, I am saddened. We have to protect the honor of Bengal.
When LK Advani was the Deputy Prime Minister, Kamal Pandey used to be the Home Secretary. Then the DG, IG conference was held in Vigyan Bhawan. According to the report presented therein, communal and caste violence is less in Bengal, but political violence is highest. After that, when Sushilkumar Shinde became the Home Minister during the time of Congress, even then the IB had presented the report in the IG-DG conference and in that too Bengal saw the most political violence. There is still a tradition of political violence there. Now there is a debate whether violence is in Bengali DNA? We are seeing that Mamata Banerjee has completed ten years in power. Is there no responsibility of a leader under Rajdharma? The job of the opposition is to raise issues, but the job of the ruling party is to find a solution by taking responsibility.
Whatever is happening is not good for West Bengal. There we are seeing unpleasant conflicts at every level. Bengal remains a topic of discussion all over the country. There is a lot of discussion on social media. Once upon a time there was not much media, there was no electronic media, today every moment is breaking news. Breaking news creates perception and also drives politics. Frustration is increasing in Bengal. Need a job today, need an opportunity to move forward. The new generation wants to move forward with education, wants to illuminate the name of Bengal. Therefore, Mamata Banerjee will have to remedy the spreading negativity in Bengal. Mamta Banerjee cannot be underestimated in politics. There are still two years left in the Lok Sabha elections, it is difficult to say what turn the politics will take. His game is not over yet. Right now there will be a lot of politics, elections will come, but right now the image of Bengal which is being tarnished by rape and violence, which is being challenged, is a matter of great sadness. Every Bengali should fight against this.
(These are the author’s own views)