Mamata Banerjee’s 'Achhe din' finally over in Bengal?

The TMC chief is spending sleepless nights over the spar with the Centre, the BJP threat at home, and worsening law and order problems in the state.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (File | PTI)

KOLKATA: It seems the good days are over for West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. The TMC chief is spending sleepless nights over the spar with the Centre, the BJP threat at home, and worsening law and order problems in the state.

With their indefinite strike entering its 24th day on Sunday, Gorkhaland statehood agitators have formed a united Gorkhaland Movement Coordination Committee (GMCC) to take the movement forward. Adding to Didi’s woes is the state government’s spat with Governor Kesari Nath Tripathi over Basirhat riots. West Bengal is witnessing its worst law and order situation. Since the Durga Puja in October last year, it has seen at least 12 communal riots.

While Mamata’s initial response to the new phenomenon of communal riots had been to stem their spread and placate the rioters from engaging in vandalism, her later postures got stringent.

“We have been directed to deal with rioters of all religions equally and with an iron fist to maintain peace in the area,” an Basirhat police station official said. Inspector in-charge Nasim Akhtar was transferred for failing to take stringent measures to prevent rioting and arson.

“More than 50 people have been arrested. Charges under rioting, arson and damage of public and private property will be pressed against the accused,” the police official added.

Along with arrests, what has worked against Gorkhaland agitators and

Mamata Banerjee.

Basirhat rioters is complete clampdown of the internet. While the internet ban has prevented Gorkhaland agitators from coordinating for massive rallies through WhatsApp and spreading news of the statehood movement on Facebook in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, wild rumours of desecration of places of worship and deaths of co-religionists were prevented from spreading in North 24 Parganas district.

The law and order problems in West Bengal have also exposed the troubled relations between the state and the Centre. While refusing to provide extra paramilitary forces in Darjeeling hills, the Centre has formed a three-member committee of BJP MPs to study and submit a report on Basirhat riots, completely bypassing the state.

The state BJP has also jumped into the Basirhat crisis when a worker of the party, Kartik Ghosh, succumbed to his injuries after getting hurt in the riot. However, both the Centre and the state units of the saffron party have
maintained a safe distance from the Gorkhaland statehood movement as the Hill region gives only one MP, whereas the rest of Bengal gives 41 MPs.

While the BJP is growing at a massive pace in the plains of Bengal, eating into the Congress and the Left strongholds, it is yet to make any mark as a political party in the Darjeeling hills.