After 34 years of
Left –front rule (communist rule) in West Bengal a political change took place
in 2011 in the State. The people of West Bengal expected lots of
development from the new government under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee,
first woman Chief Minister of the State. In 1977, the Left-front won a
majority of seats in the State legislative elections and became the ruling
party. It is pertinent to mention that I am a retired professor and when I was
in service in an organisation of the Government of India for official and
academic purposes I visited across the state of West Bengal. I had the
opportunity to interact with the people from grass root level to different
levels including officials and others. One major problem I observed was the serious
unemployment issue, refugee issues, high density of population etc.. It
is pertinent to mention that as per the ‘Refugee Relief and Rehabilitation
Department of the Government of West Bengal, the census figures show the number
of refugees from East Pakistan in 1971 was nearly 6 million (60 lakh) and in
1981, the number was assessed at 8 million (80 lakh)’. Anyway, the people of
West Bengal had lots of expectations from the State Government but talk of some
leaders and scandals have lowered the image of the All India Trinamool
Congress. Indians always want to see a political leader who should be free from
corruption. A few cases I am highlighting as a senior citizen I am pained
because the State produced a number of great personalities in all the fields-
cultural, religion, literature or freedom movement. First case which took place
in 2014 June, “TMC MP Tapas Pal has threatened to kill opposition
CPM workers and have their women raped if a single ruling party worker was
attacked. The comments triggered an uproar and sparked condemnation by
opposition parties with CPM demanding that the Lok Sabha Speaker take suo motu
cognisance of Pal’s outburst and disqualify him. (The Times of India,
30/6/2014). Tapas Pal was a great actor and I had the opportunity to watch many
movies acted by him and observed he was a brilliant actor but after such
statements I had no respect for him. Simply for political reason rape and
killing cannot be accepted. Another case is post poll violence which was a
great news in the after the announcement of results of the 2021 West Bengal
Legislative Assembly election, declaring that the incumbent Trinamool Congress
government would be returning to power for the third time, violence broke out
in some parts of West Bengal where many people in the present party in power
played devil’s role. Now corruption is in a State where so called ‘Bhadralok’
(gentlemen) live. The case of Partha Chatterjee glaringly reveals the
fact that he was not honest. “In an exclusive interview with India Today, former
General Secretary of West Bengal College and Universities Professor's
Association (WBCUPA), Baisakhi Banerjee said that Partha Chatterjee knew of
massive corruption in the education department but he did not take action”
(Suryagni Roy, Kolkata, July 31.2022, India Today). It is known to readers that
Partha Chatterjee and his close aide Arpita Mukherjee (female) were
arrested as crores of money were recovered from them by the Enforcement
Directorate (ED) officials and many other valuable items. Another great leader
of the arrest of Trinamool’s Congress was Anubrata Mandal, by the CBI for his
alleged involvement in cattle smuggling scam. Here also he accumulated huge
amounts of money as properties. Interestingly, the body guard of Anubrata
Mandal is also a beneficiary. A police Constable, Saigal Hussein deputed by the
State administration as the personal security guard of Anubrata Mondal, “may
have built up property worth Rs 80-100 crore, Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) sources said. His fortunes include both movable and immovable properties.
He is currently in the custody of the CBI on charges of cattle smuggling.
Hussein, considered a powerful man in the inner coterie of Mandal, who, too, is
facing similar charges, has palatial houses at Domkal in Murshidabad, luxury
apartments near Shantiniketan and in Kolkata New Town, all in the names of his
daughters, wife, and even domestic help, sources say, adding the Bengal Police
Constable also has two petrol pumps” (The Pioneer, August 16, 2022). It
is pertinent to mention that “on March 15, 2001, that Banerjee rocked the
Vajpayee government by resigning as railway minister in protest against NDA's
'inaction' against Samata Party leader and defence minister George Fernandes
after his name cropped up in Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly's conversation
with the Tehelka correspondent” (CL Manoj, March 16, 2016, he Economic Times). It
is really surprising that when so many Trinamool party leaders’ names are being
discussed, Trinamool supremo is playing a different role. Unfortunately, many
other types of corruption such as ‘Cut-money’ (commission from a project) etc.,
are always in the news. The corruption now has been proved in West Bengal. Truth cannot be suppressed permanently.
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