Mamatha Banerjee had come to power in West Bengal ousting CPM-led Left Government led by Com.Budhadev Dasgupta by raising the slogan of ‘Paribarthan’ (change) and thus creating great expectations in the minds of the people.
It is wellknown that Mamatha could assume power in Bengal due to a ‘mistake’ committed by Com. Budhadev Bhattacharya. What was that ‘mistake’? His ‘mistake’ was that he had taken upon himself the task of starting many an industrial enterprises in West Bengal with a view to solving the problem of acute unemployment of qualified youths in the state. One among them was Nano factory to be set up by Tatas at Singur. While acquisition of land was taken up it was necessary to acquire some agricultural land also for the said factory. Whereas majority of the farmers were agreeable to surrender their land at the compensation amount offered by the Government, a minority was not inclined to accept the same and part with their land. It was at that point of time that Mamatha Banerjee came to the scene and took up their cases and incited them against the Government. Subsequently, these farmers started an indefinite satyagraha and a series of agitations followed. Unfortunately, their agitation turned violent resulting in police firing resulting in the death of a couple of farmers. Naturally this had given enough ground to Mamatha Banerjee for spearheading a state-wide agitation of the farmers against the government taking advantage of the people’s ire against the government on the issue. Subsequently, Mamatha Banerjee had embarked upon the slogan of ‘Paribarthan’ (change) and what followed is history. It hardly need any emphasis that had Com.Budhadev Bhattacharya not initiated any action towards starting new industrial enterprises in the state by acquiring agricultural land, Mamatha Banerjee would not have been able to oust the government led by Com.Budhadev Bhattacharya from power.
From day one onwards after Mamatha Banerjee had assumed office as Chief Minister, farmers, workers including agricultural workers and general public were all expecting the ‘Paribarthan’ (change) to take place in the state but to no avail. . Nevertheless, inspite of the fact that one year has since gone by after Mamatha had assumed office, ‘Paribarthan’ is yet to come into being. Interestingly, even the promise made to the farmers of Singur of returning the land could not be fulfilled by Mamatha Banerjee. The government has not taken any steps at ameliorating the hardships of the people who have to bear the brunt of unprecedented rise in prices of essential commodities. Moreover, to add insult to injury, incidence of rapes of woman is on the increase now. This was as a result of Mamatha Banerjee’s pooh-pooing the complaint of rapes whenever it s reported saying that such reports are baseless and nothing but CPM conspiracy to malign her government in the eyes of the public. This stand was taken without even declaring any enquiry to find out the truth. Consequently the incidence of rapes have become frequent in West Bengal and recently a small girl had fallen prey to rape. Had Mamatha taken stringent action to nip such things in the bud itself by making proper enquiry and punishing the guilty, such incidents would not have recurred.
It is not out of place to mention here that even the leaders of her own party who are discontented with the functioning of her government have started expressing their discontentment openly. To cite an instance, recently one leader of Trinamool Congress, while addressing a public meeting, posed a few questions to Mamatha Banerjee like “By pledging ‘paribarthan’ you have come to power. Why you have not done anything for the farmers, workers and common man during this one-year year period? What prevents you from doing anything for them”? On getting infuriated at the said reaction of her party leader, she lost no time in ordering his arrest under certain sections of IPC and jailed him inviting all-round public protest. This speaks volumes of her intolerance vis-à-vis criticism about her lacunae or inaction. As things stand at present in West Bengal, whoever dares to question Mamatha Banerjee is implicated in false cases and proceeded against by Mamatha’s government.
The failure of Mamatha government to ameliorate the conditions of the poor people as also the anti-people actions have resulted in more and more people getting disillusioned with her government day by day and CPM which is the main opposition party is gradually regaining the lost ground This was evident from the recent developments in the state the last one being the bye-election held for Jangipur Lok sabha seat which had won by President Pranab Mukherjee with a thumping margin of 1.28 lakhs where his son has scraped through with a slender margin of 2000 and odd votes. Interestingly, CPM candidate had led in four of the seven assembly segments.
Sensing the fact that people’s faith in her government is on the wane, Mamatha has already started indulging in cheap gimmicks to regain the confidence of the people viewing the ensuing Lok Sabha elections. Now-a-days it is Durga Pooja festival time in Bengal. Mamatha Banerjee is already on an inauguration spree and she is inaugurating 8-10 poojas per day. According to reliable sources, she is already in receipt of 110-120 invitations for inaugural functions and she intends to continue inaugurating 8-10 functions per day throughout the pooja season. As a result of her busy schedule inaugurating pooja functions, she hardly finds any time to attend to the problems of the people. Understandably, this has drawn flak from CPM and other opposition parties in the state.
If Mamatha Banerjee thinks that by resorting to such gimmicks to cover up the failures of her government she can regain the confidence of the people of the state, she is living in a fool’s paradise.
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