The vandalism of the 100-year-old Baker Laboratory at Presidency University on Wednesday has put West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the back foot.
The Left parties had, after a long time, chanced upon a deeply emotive issue when 22-year-old student leader Sudipto Gupta was recently killed, allegedly due to police atrocity. However, Tuesday’s SFI attack on Mamata and State Finance Minister Amit Mitra in the capital proved to be a watershed incident for the TMC.
Didi used the incident to her advantage and diverted the attention from Sudipto’s death. However, with political violence spilling onto the streets of West Bengal and Wednesday’s vandalism of one of the country’s premier institutions, the TMC is facing the brunt of widespread criticism once again. The State Human Rights Commission has ordered a probe into the Presidency incident and demanded a report from the city police.
CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday slamming West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan’s statement blaming the party for the SFI attack and said his statement had encouraged the TMC workers to attack offices of the Left. Karat urged Mukherjee to advise the Governor, who is the President’s representative in the state.
“How is it that Narayanan sitting in Raj Bhawan in Kolkata has come to the unfounded and totally baseless conclusion that there was a pre-meditated assault on the Chief Minister, the Finance Minister and others? In fact, the entire visual media showed how the Chief Minister entered and left the Yojana Bhawan without any hindrance. It is highly improper for the Governor of a state, who holds a Constitutional post, to declare that a political party or leaders have forfeited their right to function within a democratic framework,” said Karat in his letter to the President.