A supporter of an independent candidate was mercilessly shot dead by TMC goons in the Bhangar area of South 24 Parganas district in the outskirts of Kolkata. As per news reports, the TMC goons resorted to their murderous tactics after a scuffle broke out between ruling TMC workers and the save farmland committee.
It has come to light that the TMC miscreants hurled bombs and opened fire on a rally that was taken out in support of the committee-supported independent candidate. The victim was taken to a hospital in Rajarhat in a critical condition where he succumbed to his injuries.
The fact that the attack was planned and conducted by the TMC has been further confirmed by the fact that TMC strongman Arabul Islam went into hiding after the incident. The Mamata government has not taken any substantive action in the matter. Thousands of supporters of the committee are protesting in Bhangar demanding prompt action by the police and the Mamata led government against the TMC murderers.
This is not for the first time that the TMC has resorted to violent tactics in order to affect the elections in the state. The panchayat elections have been marred with violence ever since the process of nominations started. TMC has been having a high handed attitude and has resorted to widespread violence against the BJP in order to dominate the panchayat elections. The BJP candidates and cadres have been facing the wrath of the state protected TMC hooligans in the state who not only carried out lethal assaults against the BJP leaders but also prevented them from filing their nomination papers in the prescribed time period. The BJP having nowhere to go approached the state election commission, but the commission in turn succumbed to massive pressure being exerted by the ruling Mamata government. Even though the state election commission initially decided to extend the last date for filing nominations, later on, it recalled that order and therefore, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee prevailed over the democratic institution. Such was the nature and extent of violence during the nomination process that even Calcutta High Court had to intervene. Last month, the Calcutta High Court had put a stay on the process of elections in West Bengal till further orders. The Calcutta High Court expressed displeasure over the election commission’s decision and held that where the state election commission failed to provide a level playing field for all the parties and their candidates, the court was justified in correcting it.
Having failed in its objective of stopping other candidates from filing their nominations and contesting elections, it seems the TMC has now started killing those who somehow managed to filed their nomination papers. This sums up the modus operandi of Mamata led government in West Bengal. If booth capturing is not possible in present circumstances, the TMC workers immune from any administrative or police action, prevent other candidates from filing nominations. Those who still somehow manage to file their nomination papers are then mercilessly killed by the TMC goons. The crime for opposing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the state is deadly assaults and lynching to death. Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee has the state machinery in firm control. She controls and curbs even the constitutional bodies at work in the state.
The most visible manifestation of totalitarianism and dictatorship in the form of rampant violence taking over a democratic set up is when the ruling dispensation has the audacity to hijack the election process. Free and fair elections are central to parliamentary democracy. Where the tenets and basic structure of democracy themselves is destroyed, what remains is virtually a dictatorship masquerading as democracy. This is exactly what Mamata Banerjee and her TMC goons are doing in the state. They are making every effort to make sure that there are no free and fair elections in the state and TMC enjoys monopoly over the state. This calls for an urgent action on the part of the central government as well. No state can be allowed to run administration in a way that impinges upon the democratic set up of the country. This amounts to a breakdown in law and order of the state and imposing president’s rule in the state by the centre is more than justified in such circumstances.