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Journalism of Courage
By the ferocity of her reaction to a weak cartoon,Mamata Banerjee proves her detractors right
Mamata Banerjee has made political satire redundant. Her exaggerated,distorted reaction to a cartoon about herself makes her look like a tinpot tyrant. Was the cartoon defamatory? Only to the extent that any political cartoon is it referenced Satyajit Rays detective classic Sonar Kella,and showed Mamata Banerjee and Mukul Roy making dushtu lok,like former railway minister Dinesh Trivedi,vanish. But merely forwarding it to his friends was enough to get Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra,and his neighbour,Subrata Sengupta,beaten up by Trinamool Congress workers,and arrested under Section 66 of the IT Act.
This incident is the perfect illustration of Mamata Banerjees increasingly tyrannical and me-centric universe. Over the months she has been in power,she has been out to prove that anything the communists can do,she can do worse. Formed by years in militant opposition to the Left,she has no idea how to wield power,and her coterie of suave advisors doesnt seem to be helping. As CM,she stormed Bhawanipore police station to free two of her colleagues arrested for rioting. Her administrative instincts are repressive. She selects what newspapers can be read in state-supported libraries Trinamool-friendly ones only. She decided that textbooks make too much of Marx and Engels and,when confronted,clarified she didnt consider them untouchables. Her few contributions to civic life have a surreal touch,like wafting strains of Rabindra sangeet at traffic crossings,and painting the dignified old city in a strange shade of blue to signify that the sky is the limit. Her hubris certainly seems to stretch heavenwards.
