After HC rap, Mamata gets call from CM

Banerjee, however, said that state CPI(M) secretary Anil Biswas had threatened to deploy party cadres on streets and foil the bandh. Earlier, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee had said if the government had any reservations in talking to her, it could always approach the Opposition leader.

The state’s invitation follows a Calcutta High Court division bench’s observation that ‘‘the political contribution of West Bengal in recent years is the philosophy of no work and protest without purpose’’.

‘‘As Bengalis, we hang our heads in shame that this should be so,’’ said the bench that rejected Mir Abdur Rahman’s writ petition seeking judicial intervention to halt the Trinamool bandh. An injunction order was not passed because the court said the state did ‘‘not have the machinery’’.

The bench of Justice Ajoy Nath Ray and Justice Arun Kumar Mitra, however, did not pass up the opportunity to make a significant observation: ‘‘In our state, we have practically quarterly bandhs. The last two bandhs occurred on 10.1.2002 and 16.4.2002. The first one was a SUCI bandh. The next a CPI(M)-supported bandh. The present one is a Trinamool bandh.’’

The observations are a commentary on the state’s current political culture. It could even have wider implications on the ruling Left Front’s and the Opposition’s policies.

The bench also said in such circumstances the ‘‘court restrains itself from passing an empty order of injunction. It is the English tradition of looking the other way when one knows one is helpless and powerless’’.

During the Wednesday hearing, state counsel T. Dutta said if ‘‘injunction is passed, the state does not have sufficient machinery to enforce the order’’.

The Trinamool has called the bandh to protest the delay in salary payment to government school teachers, power tariff hike, and administrative failure to protect farmers from distress sale of paddy.