West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi’s address to the opening day of the Budget session of the state Assembly on Thursday afternoon did not reflect the “sense of cold horror” that he had felt post-March 14, 2007 when the police killed 14 villagers in Nandigram. Neither did it spell out the concern he had shown when in November last, “outsiders” had forced their entry into Nandigram for territorial assertion. The address didn’t make any reference to the Dinhata police firing either that claimed five lives — all of whom belonged to the Forward Bloc, a major constituent of the ruling Left Front.The speech also missed out on the outbreak of violence in Kolkata in November last when the Army had to be called to control rampaging mobs apparently because the religious sentiments of a minority community was hurt. The incident had then led the Governor to appeal to the people for peace. The Governor’s speech, however, touched upon the issue of law and order in the state and described the scenario as “generally stable, notwithstanding a few specific incidents”. He said, “The incidents of major crimes in the state have shown a marginally downward trend for the past few years.” It also mentioned that “there was no major communal incident during the last year”. The address also made passing references to the reduced KLO-ULFA activities in North Bengal, the Greater Coochbehar People’s movement and the movement against the dominance of the Gorkha National Liberation Force in Darjeeling. The speech talked about the attempts made by Bhutanese refugees to march into Bhutan through North Bengal. All through the Governor’s address, the Trinamool Congress members tried to draw his attention to what they termed as “acts of omission.” The Governor, however, kept his cool.Later, a disgruntled Trinamool Congress leader, Partha Chatterjee, who is also the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, said, “The Governor’s speech did not reflect the true picture of the state.” Chatterjee demanded that the Governor’s address should incorporate a tribute to people killed in police firing for taking part in democratic movements. It should have a word for the police to show more patience and have a humanitarian point of view while dealing with such incidents.
