West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee
By G Krishna Mohan Rao*
Even as the Special Assembly Session of West Bengal today unanimously passed the anti-rape bill, over the gruesome Kolkata rape cum murder of a young junior doctor, the country continues to witness unending protests and dharnas. For the first time, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee faces a politically awkward position with the Opposition led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India -Marxist (CPI-M) demanding her resignation. Political pundits observe that it is the worst-ever situation for Mamata Banerjee, who has been ruling the state since 2011 for the third term. After the passing of the Bill, Mamata took to microblogging site X and posted” A society that cannot ensure the safety of its women can never be ideal. Today, GoWB [Government of West Bengal] passed the historic Aparajita anti-rape Bill to address pertinent issues caused by gaps in the existing criminal laws. Let us all unite together and address this menace collectively!”
However, countrywide protests over the gruesome incident and reported “ mishandling “ of the murder of the junior doctor on duty, have virtually dented Mamata’s image. And she is desperate to wriggle out of the situation, so the administration is resorting to all kinds of alterations. One such thing is the proposed Bill, which envisages life term or death for child rapes. The Bill is known as the Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws) Amendment Bill 2024. It says, imprisonment for the remainder of the convict’s natural life. A death sentence will be awarded in case of a particular brutal attack, for instance, one that leaves the under-18 rape victim in a vegetative state.
For the last two weeks, the city of Kolkata as well as the remaining state and the whole country has been agitating over the brutal rape and murder of the medical intern at the BG Kar Hospital in Kolkata. The incident occurred on 12th August and later the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the investigations. Even, President Droupadi Murmu reacted to the incident without taking the name. Murmu expressed her deep anguish and concern over the rising crime against women in the country stating that “enough is enough”. She said that many rapes have taken place since the Nirbhaya case, and all this had to change.
Realising the situation and widespread condemnation of the incident, the BJP has been mounting pressure on Chief Minister Mamata to quit. Without coming under pressure, Mamata decided to fight it out, by declaring that if Bengal was set on fire, the flames could spread to other parts of the country as well. This was her way of letting the BJP and others that the ramifications of their agitation could be in other regions too and therefore, this kind of political activity was not going to benefit anyone as such.
However, one thing is certain that ever since Mamata came to power in 2011, this is for the first time, she is under direct threat, and within her own political party, the Trinamool Congress Party, also, there are voices which do not concur with how the government and the police handled the aftermath of the brutal rape. The very fact that the case is being investigated by the CBI and obviously a lot of things, in the process, though not related to the incident could come out of the probe.
Ever since this incident broke out, the political situation on the ground also changed with the ruling Trinamool Congress Party becoming defensive. Though the BJP and its allies tried their best to gain to a maximum extent by protests and dharnas, in real terms , it is the Left which took the issue to the people. Many observed that it is the Left parties, which ruled West Bengal for decades, could be on the road to revival and thus the vacuum created by Mamata’s losing popularity, would be filled by these parties rather than the BJP. The other opposition party in Bengal, that is the Congress Party, apparently could not gain much as it was perceived to be managed by Mamata to some extent.
Before the rape and murder incident, Mamata was trying to create an anti-Congress lobby within the INDIA bloc. She had been trying to isolate the Congress Party by making a public display of her meetings with senior opposition leaders Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav, MK Stalin and Arvind Kejriwal. It was evident that what she was aiming at was to create a perception that the Congress Party may have secured the highest number of seats amongst opposition parties, but so far as the leadership of the INDIA bloc was concerned, the matter was open and had not been settled. There are many within the Congress Party, who believe that it is time for the party to review its relationship with both Mamata and the Trinamool Congress Party.
In the background of Mamata’s dip in popularity and to regain some of its lost ground, there are opinions within the Congress Party that it should distance itself from her and send the correct political message, by supporting Adhir Ranjan Choudhary in the state. Adhir, who was the leader of the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha after the 2019 polls, lost this time because Mamata had put up former Cricketer Yusuf Pathan against him. Adhir had held his ground despite being humiliated by the Central leadership. Party men feel that he is the only one who can strengthen the party in West Bengal.
Therefore, the Trinamool Congress needs to first unite itself before thinking about taking on its adversaries. The BJP’s role is more in media and less on the streets where it is the Left led by the CPI-M which is gaining ground in the state.
Analysts say the happenings in West Bengal could also lead to some developments within the INDIA bloc as well, which may force the Congress Party to change its approach and strategy concerning West Bengal.
For one thing, it is true that the present agitation in Bengal is not led by any single leader, but it is impacting the way people are thinking and it is apparent that the people of West Bengal are not endorsing the role of the Trinamool Congress, in this particular incident.
*Senior journalist
