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Correspondent

21 August 2024 at 10:20:16 am

Grim Reckoning

The heckling of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee during the latter’s visit to Sonarpur is a stark reminder that fear has an expiry date. For years, West Bengal’s politics has been defined by intimidation. First the Communist, and later during Mamata Banerjee’s TMC regimes, the state’s political discourse has been overwhelmingly accompanied by violence, cadre dominance, partisan policing and a culture in which dissenters were expected to keep their heads down and their opinions to...

Grim Reckoning

The heckling of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee during the latter’s visit to Sonarpur is a stark reminder that fear has an expiry date. For years, West Bengal’s politics has been defined by intimidation. First the Communist, and later during Mamata Banerjee’s TMC regimes, the state’s political discourse has been overwhelmingly accompanied by violence, cadre dominance, partisan policing and a culture in which dissenters were expected to keep their heads down and their opinions to themselves. Whether in villages, municipalities or university campuses, countless Bengalis, especially the Hindu community, have complained that political power was exercised not only through the ballot box but through fear during the TMC rule. Against this backdrop, the scenes that unfolded during Abhishek Banerjee’s Sonarpur visit was a symbolic moment. The TMC political class that once inspired fear suddenly found itself confronting fearlessness and the ire of ordinary citizens. Trinamool leaders accustomed to hectoring and threatening the public were forced to face its ire as Abhishek was heckled and pelted with eggs. The Trinamool Congress would be mistaken if it dismisses the episode as an isolated incident. Across West Bengal after the polls, there is a palpable anger against TMC leaders and their henchmen. That simmering rage appears increasingly difficult to contain. For years, Abhishek Banerjee had projected himself as the heir apparent to Bengal’s ruling establishment, speaking haughtily with the confidence of a man convinced that power was permanently on his side. Now that the TMC is out of power, Sonarpur offered a starkly different picture. It showed what happens when politicians who are accustomed to commanding the public are suddenly confronted by it. From the horrors of Sandeshkhali to the public fury unleashed after the R.G. Kar outrage, West Bengal witnessed episode after episode that laid bare the TMC’s intimidation and moral corruption. The crowd that confronted Abhishek Banerjee at Sonarpur was venting years of accumulated resentment against a political culture many Bengalis had come to associate with arrogance, patronage and strong-arm tactics. They reflected what a significant section of the public has increasingly come to see as the moral bankruptcy of a political order that believed it could rule indefinitely through fear and organisational muscle. Abhishek Banerjee, more than any other TMC leader, had became the face of that system. The hostility he encountered in Sonarpur was political payback delivered by a public no longer willing to whisper its anger. While no civilised society should endorse mob violence, no politician can expect public sympathy after years of bullying and intimidating citizens. He or she must realize that political arrogance has consequences and that public anger, when it finally erupts, grinds even the most powerful dynasties to dust. Abhishek Banerjee’s reception in Sonarpur may therefore prove to be more than an embarrassing political episode. It may become the defining image of Trinamool’s final decline and fall.

BJP to continue opposing Kamra’s “Fake Narrative”

Mumbai: Though the Shiv Sena appears to have soften its stand against comedian Kunal Kamra, the BJP has not softened its tone against him. Moreover, the party leaders say that Kamra is part of a larger network that has been spreading fake narrative and the party's fight against it shall continue.


Shiv Sena workers vandalised the hotel where comedian Kunal Kamra’s show was organized, yet the party’s approach against the artist has turned sober. The BJP, that rushed to help Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on the first day, on the contrary, isn't backing off. This has led to questions about the intentions of the party.


Shinde, on Tuesday said that while he doesn’t support the vandalism by his party workers he knows that some of the party workers are very sensitive and cannot be controlled every time. The Deputy CM also pointed at the fact that Kamra had been targeting individuals under the pretext of cracking jokes which is why he is always seen embroiled in some or the other controversy. While underlining that even airlines have imposed a ban on him, Shinde also stressed that freedom of expression doesn’t mean levelling baseless allegations and arbitrariness.


The BJP, however, isn't deviating CM Fadnavis' statement that spreading lies and defaming others for personal gains shall face action. BJP MLA Ram Kadam reiterated the argument against Kamra that he has crossed all limits and hence is being targeted.


“It is the arrogance of a foolish person who makes controversial statements only for publicity for which the studio where he made these remarks has been bulldozed,” Kadam added while justifying the state government’s action in the case and added, “If any other studio in Maharashtra allows him to perform and illegal construction is found there, it will also be demolished.”


Calling Kamra “anti-Constitutional”, Kadam added, “This kind of person speaks against the prime minister, the home minister and even the judiciary. These are anti-constitutional elements. Legal action will be taken against him. If he performs in any studio in Maharashtra, its illegal construction will be bulldozed.”


While justifying the party’s tough stand against the comedian, Kadam also accused Kamra of building his career on anti-BJP rhetoric. “He is not alone. There are many like him,” he added.


Another senior BJP leader, Vishwas Pathak too said that the party shall not bow down to anyone who is seen spreading fake narrative.  According to party’s internal analysis of things, the 2014 victory is attributed to young population that had grown up with the social media and party’s machinery that cleverly used the new media to expose the fake narrative spread by the nexus of politicians, media and urban Naxals. The trio, however, took over the social media during the demonetization in 2016 since when several likes of Kamra have popped up. The party is not opposed to entertainment, parody or comedy. But, it shall certainly oppose any attempt to spread fake narrative, remains the BJP's stand which makes it clear that the issue will pull on.

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