Mamata’s cheerleader

Back in the Capital from a whirlwind five-hour tour of West Bengal’s violence-affected Midnapore district, George Fernandes has done the needful. The NDA convenor, defence minister and proven troubleshooter has made pronouncements that are bound to assuage an increasingly restive member of the Vajpayee government. Parliamentary democracy has completely failed in West Bengal, Fernandes has intoned, and the situation is worse than Bihar. He is also certain that the Marxists are wholly to blame. By all accounts, it can be safely presumed that Fernandes’ unambiguous verdict will go a long way in calming Mamata Banerjee’s insistent clamour for Central intervention in West Bengal. For the time being, and at least till the Prime Minister comes back from the United States.

Ironically, there may be more truth in his dire conclusions than Fernandes can possibly suspect after his whistle-stop tour. For many months now, reports from Midnapore, Bankura, Hooghly, Birbhum and Burdwan districts have warned of a rapidly deteriorating law and order situation in West Bengal. Many lives have been lost and many have been rendered homeless in the frenzy of violence that has seized parts of the state. In the run-up to the Assembly elections due next year, the ruling CPM and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress are fiercely locking horns in the state’s rural backyard; a lot of blood has been shed in the process. Undoubtedly, the situation in West Bengal is grave and merits attention. But it calls for a more serious response than sending a one man-mission, visibly under pressure from a shrill ally, who then comes back from a merely five-hour long inspection to pronounce obviously hasty judgements in full media view. It requires the building of an atmosphere less clouded by transparentlypartisan posturing, including loud threats of Article 356.

With elections round the corner, it suits Mamata Banerjee to up the ante by invoking the spectre of Article 356 in West Bengal. But surely others in the Vajpayee government know better. They cannot have forgotten how they burnt their fingers in Bihar where they had to beat an ignominious retreat for want of adequate numbers within two months of imposing President’s rule in that state. They must remember that that predicament has not altered in any significant way. The Vajpayee government continues to lack the requisite strength in the Upper House. Also, it is not just that the Congress can be counted on not to support such a step, many within the NDA too have voiced their apprehension about the advisability of wielding Article 356 in West Bengal. Surely, the Centre has other constitutional means at its disposal to keep an eye on a state. Let it use those and with care. In the last instance, the onus is on the Vajpayee government to ensure that its response to the situation in West Bengal is not seen to bescripted by Mamata Banerjee’s campaign managers for the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state.