oppn parties Political Drama Intensifies In West Bengal As Real Issues Get Buried

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Political Drama Intensifies In West Bengal As Real Issues Get Buried

By Tanmaya Das
First publised on 2021-03-16 09:09:37

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Tanmaya is a budding journalist

The BJP may have never estimated the intensity of political drama in West Bengal. While chief minister, Mamata Banerjee is busy holding rallies on the wheelchair and proclaiming that a wounded tigress is infinitely more dangerous, Union home minister Amit Shah is trying to draw the people's attention towards the breakdown of law and order in the state by citing political violence and murder of BJP workers. In a Bankura rally, Amit Shah indulged in drama of his own when he prayed for the recovery of chief minister Mamata Banerjee while questioning the violence and death of 130 BJP workers under her governance.

In a Purulia rally, Mamata Banerjee played the victim card which she is trying to use to gain the sympathy of the voters as she claims to have been hurt as part of a conspiracy by the BJP. Meanwhile, Amit Shah, attended a virtual rally in Jhargram and pointed out that Bengal was under 'goondaraj'. Glorifying the several aspects of West Bengal, he indicated that TMC took the state to new lows in the last 10 years.

On the other hand, the president of the BJP unit of West Bengal, Dilip Ghosh, demanded a CBI probe into the attack asking whether it was a "well-scripted drama." He concluded that the people in West Bengal had witnessed such drama earlier. Lok Sabha MP and West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee Chief, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, asked Mamata Banerjee to form a SIT, instead of blaming the BJP.

Another script is unfolding as the Election Commission reviews the situation after the security lapse in Nandigram that allowed a huge crowd to mill around Mamata's car. It has chosen to suspend the SP of Medinipur (East) and transfer the DM of the district. It also ordered the removal of Director, Security for lax bandobast in the security of a Z+ category protectee and asked for charges to be framed against him. The officers, on their part, have pointed out that there were deviations in the chief ministers route which made it difficult to provide security.  

Although it is not clear whether the voters will sympathize with Mamata over the injury as it is now clear that it was a mere accident that has been blown out of proportion, such is the propensity of politicians to introduce theatrics in the campaign that a wheelchair-bound Mamata is likely to become the defining image of the ensuing elections. For the moment, the drama has pushed real issues aside as both sides engage in verbal duels over political issues. 

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