© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
AMID THE bitterly fought panchayat elections in West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress has opened fire on another front. On Monday night, it shot off a three-page letter to the State Election Commission (SEC), complaining against Governor C V Ananda Bose’s visits to areas where violence has been reported in the run-up to the July 8 voting.
Calling himself a “Ground Zero Governor”, Bose has started making these impromptu visits in the past few days and meeting family members of victims of poll-related violence, adding fuel to the Opposition parties’ claims of lawlessness and inadequate deployment of forces for the polls.
Bose has so far been to Dinhata in Coochbehar, as well as Bhangar (the site of some of the worst clashes), Basanti and Murshidabad.
In its letter to the SEC, the TMC accused Bose of meeting BJP workers “using facilities of the State such as Guest Houses / Circuit House and Transport facilities”. Calling this a violation of the Model Code of Conduct, the TMC said: “The actions of the Hon’ble Governor, for all practical purposes, amount to electioneering and / or campaigning.”
According to the TMC, there was a clear attempt “to portray the existence of a parallel government where he (Bose) and members of the BJP in tandem are trying to conduct fair electioneering”. It also questioned his remarks such as calling the situation “very, very disturbing” and that “the death knell of democracy should not ring in the hands of its custodians”, saying this cast a shadow on the sanctity of the SEC.
The TMC said the Governor was also “interfering in the election process”, with his “independent inquiries” and “setting up of an alleged control room at Raj Bhavan to purportedly oversee the election process”.
Bose, whose relations as Governor with the Mamata Banerjee government started off on a warm note but have cooled since, has been at odds with the TMC since the start of the election process.
After the Opposition went to court over the poll schedule announced by State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha, and sought Central forces, Bose – in an unusual move – refused to accept Sinha’s joining letter, days after himself administering oath to him.
That matter appears to have died a natural death after Mamata shot back pointing out that a State Election Commissioner could only be removed via an elaborate impeachment process.
After campaigning began and incidents of violence picked up, the Governor started his spot visits, later saying: “My visits to the field have convinced me that there is violence in certain pockets of West Bengal. There is a manifestation of what is called the politics of murder, the politics of intimidation, the politics of muscle-flexing.”
Bose opened a control room in the Raj Bhavan, which he dubbed “peace room”, where he invited people to send in complaints about violence. He also said his visits should not be construed as a “fault-finding mission” but seen as a “fact-finding mission”.
Some of the videos of his interactions with victims of the violence have been shared by the Raj Bhavan. In one, he is on a train and is seen consoling over the phone the family of Manwara, a TMC candidate from Kathalberia panchayat, whose father Ziarul Molla was shot in Canning town. Bose can be heard acknowledging the contributions of Mollah as a dedicated TMC worker, perhaps compounding the TMC’s discomfiture.
Opposition leaders criticised the TMC’s strong words against Bose. Congress state president Adhir Chowdhury said, “A Governor can go anywhere in a democratic state. The TMC is criticising him because it is now afraid of a defeat. We welcome the Governor coming to Murshidabad (Chowdhury’s stronghold).”
BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said: “The Governor is the constitutional head of this state. So, he can do anything to maintain democracy in the state.”
