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Journalism of Courage
Mamata Banerjees adversarial politics may have begun to invite adversities upon her government
In the latest in a series of legal blowbacks,the Calcutta High Court has given Mamata Banerjees government an ultimatum to reverse a strange experiment in mind control. Last year,the government had pruned the list of newspapers acquired by public libraries. Leading English and Bengali publications were dropped. Only those perceived to be close to the Trinamool Congress survived. One was Sakalbela,promoted by the Saradha ponzi group. Now,if the government does not provide leading newspapers in public libraries within two weeks,the court has threatened to step in and order subscriptions itself. It is not clear,of course,why Banerjee thought the exclusion of certain publications from libraries would change hearts and minds in these media-immersed times,when alternative sources of information and opinion always exist. Especially in West Bengal,where the CPMs daily Ganashakti is pasted up in neighbourhoods and bus stops like a wall magazine,this would be highly improbable.
Apart from these cases,on June 24,the SC had rejected the state governments appeal against a high court order for a CBI inquiry into a custody death earlier this year. A state entry tax on goods was quashed,and courts in the state pulled up the CID for shoddy work on the Kamduni rape and murder case,which has become politically fraught. Attacks on institutions has been a feature of Trinamool politics but now,happily,the judiciary is stepping in to offer some protection.
