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By:

C.S. Krishnamurthy

21 June 2025 at 7:45:51 pm

When Politics Becomes Its Own Evidence

Tamil Nadu’s Assembly has recently offered something more revealing than a television shouting match. It has shown us what happens when allegations, evidence, history and political memory all enter the same room and nobody quite agrees on who should speak first. The latest TVK-DMK confrontation over corruption allegations is therefore about much more than corruption. Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay used the Assembly to accuse the previous DMK regime of corruption, referring to material from...

When Politics Becomes Its Own Evidence

Tamil Nadu’s Assembly has recently offered something more revealing than a television shouting match. It has shown us what happens when allegations, evidence, history and political memory all enter the same room and nobody quite agrees on who should speak first. The latest TVK-DMK confrontation over corruption allegations is therefore about much more than corruption. Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay used the Assembly to accuse the previous DMK regime of corruption, referring to material from the Enforcement Directorate and the Sarkaria Commission. He alleged that contractors were made to part with percentages of contract values as “party funds”. DMK members strongly objected, sought an opportunity to respond and later stormed the Well, resulting in their removal from the House. There is a deeper question beneath the noise. What exactly should an allegation in a legislature accomplish? If Vijay is merely repeating an accusation for political effect, then it is little more than electoral gains. But if he is placing documentary material before the public and the appropriate investigative agencies, then the matter deserves something more serious than a political counterattack. Equally, if the DMK says the allegations are false, or politically motivated, it has every democratic right to challenge them. But the strongest rebuttal is not simply, “You have no right to say this.” It is, “Here is why the evidence does not establish what you claim.” Political Shortcuts A politician can make an allegation. An investigator can investigate it. A court can adjudicate it. A citizen can question it. But none of these roles should be confused. The current Assembly drama appears to be suffering from this confusion. Vijay may have scored a political point by bringing old corruption allegations back into the spotlight, but it’s not a judicial verdict. Similarly, DMK’s denial or outrage does not, by itself, erase the possibility that wrongdoing may have occurred. Politics, alas, loves shortcuts. If a rival is accused, supporters immediately become prosecutors. If their own leader is accused, those same supporters suddenly become constitutional lawyers. The same document becomes “damning evidence” when it hurts the opponent, and “political garbage” when it does not. Our political spectacles have acquired an interesting grammar: my allegation is evidence, your evidence is allegation. Vijay’s government is now in the unusual position of being able to investigate allegations concerning a previous ruling establishment. That creates both an opportunity and a responsibility. If there is credible material, investigate it properly. If wrongdoing is established, prosecute it according to law. And if the allegations do not survive scrutiny, say so equally clearly. There is also a warning for the DMK. The instinctive political response to an accusation is often to attack the accuser. Sometimes that may be justified. But the public ultimately wants answers, not merely counter-accusations. Paper Trail If the allegation concerns contracts, party funds, tender procedures or unexplained financial transactions, the most convincing response would be documentary. Politics may thrive on rhetoric, but accountability thrives on paperwork. The Speaker’s handling of the recent confrontation also matters. The Assembly must remain a place where governments are questioned and opposition parties are heard. At the same time, legislators cannot convert every disagreement into a licence to disrupt proceedings. The reported eviction of DMK members shows how quickly substantive questions can disappear beneath procedural confrontation. That is perhaps the biggest casualty in the current episode. The public begins with a question about corruption and ends up watching a quarrel about who was allowed to speak. The original question gets lost in the noise. Tamil Nadu deserves better. The ultimate test, therefore, is not whether TVK can shout louder than DMK or vice versa but whether truth can survive politics. Otherwise, we may end up with a strange democratic situation where everyone produces evidence of something, except evidence of the thing actually being debated. Vijay has opened a legitimate political question, but he must now allow evidence to do the heavy lifting. DMK has every right to challenge the allegations, but it too must answer them with facts. And the Assembly must rise above the theatre of accusation and counter-accusation. Because corruption should not be defeated by the loudest speech, but by the strongest evidence. And if Tamil Nadu’s new political chapter is genuinely going to be different, perhaps that is the first test both sides should be willing to take. (The writer is a retired banker and author. He can be reached at krs1957@hotmail.com. Views personal.)

Why is Mamata Seeing Ghost of Bangladesh?

Writer: Romita Datta
Romita Datta
Aug 27, 2024
4 min read

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Why is Mamata Seeing Ghost of Bangladesh?

Mamata is seeing a ghost of Bangladesh behind the massive outrage and waves of protest over rape and murder of the trainee doctor. And the reasons are many.

It’s been over a fortnight. Yet with each passing day the voice of protest is getting louder and stronger. From the streets of Kolkata it’s pouring into roads of hinterland. The cry for justice for a rape victim has consolidated into a wail of demands to set a lot of wrongdoings right. Here in lies the fear and trepidation. Wasn’t the issue that brought the youth of Bangladesh out on the thoroughfares a simple, innocent one of quota reform?

The chief minister of Bengal, known for understanding the pulse of people better than many, was quick to read the signages floating in the political horizon.

The most obvious reason for her to be tensed is that both the regime change in Bangladesh and the mass protest in Bengal, were student-driven to begin with. The two incidents---end of 15 year old Sheikh Hasina government and turbulence in West Bengal, over the heinous crime, falling back to back, the first on August 5th and the latter from August 9th onwards, give natural scope for comparisons. More so, because in both the cases the movement strayed beyond an affected constituency to include aggrieved people at large, cutting across socio-economic demography. If the quota reform protest started by students in Bangladesh became a mass uprising against an autocratic regime, the campaign demanding justice for the rape victim and overall safety and security of women in Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal soon snowballed into a movement of no-confidence against the government. Slogans--”Mamata must resign” also got floated in social media much in line with the call for ouster of Sheikh Hasina. In fact “Resignation of Hasina” became the single point agenda into which all other fringe demands coalesced.

Incidentally, even before people started drawing parallels, that there could be a thread of commonality in the way the upheaval in Bangladesh and Bengal played out, Mamata was quick to point out that the Opposition were trying to pull off a Bangladesh by politicizing the tragic incident: “A coordinated approach has been executed by the BJP and the CPIM with support from the Centre to defame Bengal and exploit the situation....They want to make a Bangladesh here. They are taking cues from student unrest in Bangladesh and are attempting to capture similarly. I have no longing for the chair. I came here to serve people.”

Not only Mamata, her political lieutenants are consistently equating the turmoil in Bengal with the mayhem in Bangladesh. Cabinet minister for North Bengal development Udayan Guha threatened to take stern action against those, who would be trying to exploit the situation by emulating a Bangladesh like movement. “ Even after the hospital was vandalised, the police did not open fire on anyone. The police will not allow a Bangladesh type situation. We will not allow Bengal to turn into Bangladesh, Guha thundered.

Is the government’s fear unfounded?

Apart from the similarities on ground zero, as to how and where the future course of events are heading to, there are ample reasons for Bengal to mull on-- as to what led to a Bangladesh like boiling point. To begin with, it’ll be appropriate to talk of Bangladesh and the prevailing situation, that made the students’ protest become big in magnitude. The students were out on the streets because of a high reservation in public jobs. Unemployment and stagnant job market in private sector coupled with a high rate of inflation drove the educated youth to rebel against the government.

But soon the students found enormous number of sympathisers, who were equally at the receiving end. According to Bangladesh citizens, the last two terms of the Sheikh Hasina government were a mockery of democracy. Even elections would be compromised. As Hasina grew from strength to strength, she politicized institutions. The rank and file of police owed allegiance to the ruling dispensation. Extortion, harrassment and raids by police and people in power became rampant. An atmosphere of fear and repression reigned and people got restless to overthrow the government.

Politicization of institutions has been happening in Mamata government too. Allegations are quite strong that police in Bengal functions at the beck and call of political bosses. The lapses and alleged loopholes on the part of police in handling the rape and murder of the young doctor have yet again revealed a sense of confused or misplaced loyalty.

But above everything else both Hasina and Mamata governments allegedly seem to have twined in accepting corruption as a way of life. In Bangladesh jobs of primary and secondary teachers got sold at premium, Rs 10-12 lakh in the Hasina regime. Even police had to pay up for prized postings and transfers. In Bengal busting of the teacher’s recruitment scam has revealed how unsuccessful and ineligible candidates got government jobs in schools in exchange of bribes.

Similarities are multiple and inescapable. Mamata has good reasons to be apprehensive. It’s not only she, who can see and connect the dots. People, out on the streets, clamoring for justice, can see a providential pattern somewhere in the unfolding of future events in these two places-- Bangladesh and Bengal. True, they share more than 2,217 odd km of border. They share the same umbilical cord, other than language, culture, ethos, icons. Even emotions are the same. So she cannot take any risk.

(The writer is a senior jounalist based in Kolkata. Views personal)

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