Bengal post-poll violence is a disservice to mandate

Nearly a month after the BJP’s electoral triumph in West Bengal, two contrasting stories are emerging from the state. Neither is a new conversation in the saga that has, for decades, seen the subversion of institutional mechanisms by a political culture which has inhibited the state from realising the potential of its demography and geography. The Suvendu Adhikari government’s cabinet expansion on Monday is part of the first story. The priority given to sub-regional representation and the induction of figures like Kalita Maji — the MLA from Aushgram, till recently a domestic worker — indicate that aspiration and opportunity hold a prominent place in the new government’s scheme of things. But the second story speaks of more entrenched sordid tendencies: The attack on TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee speaks of an unfortunate culture of violence and an almost systemic lack of respect for civic democracy.

On Saturday, Banerjee was heckled, and projectiles were allegedly thrown at him by a crowd in Sonarpur in the South 24 Parganas district. He was visiting the family of a party colleague allegedly killed in post-poll violence last month. A day later, another TMC MP, Kalyan Banerjee, was also attacked. Even as it denies allegations of orchestrating these attacks, it is incumbent on the government to send out a stronger message. There may be anger among some sections of the people against the party that held office in West Bengal for the last 15 years. That political disaffection has found its expression in high voter turnout in the polls and the ouster of Mamata Banerjee. But vendetta and violence have no place in a democracy. The prosecution must follow through on the five arrests in the Abhishek Banerjee case. The Suvendu Adhikari government must underline the rule of law.

In 2011, when the TMC was first voted to office in West Bengal after 34 years of Left rule, it counted among its ministers and supporters academics, cultural personalities and several other people who believed that the new government would change the state’s economic and political fortunes. Unfortunately, the structures that had sustained political violence during the Left rule became stronger over the next 15 years, and the party and the “syndicate” became a rent-seeking extension of the government. The mandate last month was a message for bringing governance back to centre stage. The new government has work to do. It must stanch all acts of violence against Opposition leaders — and be seen to do so. It should not go down the route of its predecessors.