The Constitution describes our country as the “Union of states” and not a federation of states, but follows a federal structure of government. This means while important matters are relegated to the jurisdiction of centre, at the same time many matters are managed by the states. Since the inception of this country, states have repeatedly accused centre of overstating its authority and getting in the way of functioning of the state governments. The current Narendra Modi led government is also facing the same scenario. A particularly strong allegation has emerged from West Bengal, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has alleged that Modi is trying to "stage a coup" and usurp power in her administrative area through indirect means. The Chief Minister sat on strike in Kolkata, the state capital, and claimed that her agitation aims to "save democracy, the constitution and the country." The latest controversy was triggered after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which investigates high-profile crimes involving finances, corruption and communal harmony, was charged with recovering documents from Kolkata related to a financial scam concerning the Saradha Group, which operated a consortium of 200 private companies and robbed nearly 20 lakh people of around Rs. 17,000 crore. The company used the so-called Ponzi scheme and later used money taken from investors to pay people who had invested early on in the project. Millions of people from India's lower-middle class paid small sums of money into the scheme. After the scandal was exposed, two officials of the group were arrested and the state government offered some financial relief to low-income investors. An official investigation was launched in 2013 and the case was handed out to the CBI in 2014. On February 3, the CBI said it wanted to question the chief of Kolkata's state police, Rajeev Kumar, about the progress in investigations concerning the scam. However, Kumar's guards prevented CBI officials from entering the building, causing scuffles that eventually lead to the arrest of the CBI investigators. Kolkata has meanwhile accused the CBI of trying to invade the police commissioner's office without any warrants or documentation justifying their actions. The CBI, in turn, says it did have the necessary papers and accuses the police commissioner of destroying crucial evidence related to the case. The Supreme Court under whose tutelage this investigation was being done, has finally defused the situation by sending Rajiv Kumar to Shillong for questioning and have stopped CBI from arresting him. Politicisation of Police The one question which comes to mind after viewing all the drama that unfolded on 3rd February is, did the Kolkata police and the state government go overboard in their conduct? The picture here is even murkier. It is a sad commentary on the state police if the CBI has to issue summons repeatedly without getting a satisfactory response from the concerned police officers. What is worse, the Kolkata Police had no business using their manpower to drag the CBI team to the police station on the ostensible plea of checking their documents. The reported siege of the CBI office by the local police was a crude show of strength. Events took a dramatic turn with Mamata coming in support of the police and sitting on dharna in solidarity with them. It is distressing to see chief ministers indulging in such theatrical gestures, forgetting the dignity of their office. The conduct of senior police officers of the state, who are also said to have sat on dharna, was also reprehensible. Politicians will remain politicians, but the All India Service officers are supposed to know the conduct rules and abide by them. The conduct of the Kolkata Police and the government of West Bengal during the whole drama, provides an insight into how they are trying to stonewall investigation into a ponzi scheme in which lakhs of poor people are said to have been defrauded of their hard earned money. The state police are expected to cooperate with the central investigating agency and not intimidate and humiliate its representatives. Banerjee’s gimmickry was regrettable, and so was the conduct of the senior police officers of the state. Corruption or the fraud with innocent and poor people of three states is not an issue with the Opposition parties, it seems. The way they immediately ganged up in support of Mamata’s gimmickry can be termed as political opportunism of the worst kind. However, if one delves deeper into the issue, it is a matter of fact that the police across the country is, today, generally acting as agents of the ruling class, and not as upholders of the rule of law. The central police organisations are not immune to politicisation, though they are comparatively better off. In the Kolkata confrontation, such misuse of police could have been prevented if it is insulated from extraneous pressures, but then, who wants to give up their most powerful tool for general good. The SC issued directions as far back as 2006, but the legislatures have a remarkable genius for frustrating judicial directions.
Growing Anarchy in Indian Politics
By Prof. NK Singh
(The author is International Management adviser)
Islamisation of the state
Dr. Peter Hammond in his book Slavvery, Terrorism and Islam reveals that takeover of politics and governance, riots and restrictions on speech and religion are just a few of the unwelcome changes that can be expected in non-Muslim societies as Muslim immigrants increase in number. This is what exactly happening in West Bengal. With a 27 per cent Muslim population, enough pressure exists to tip the scales for elected officials precariously toward advancement of an Islamist agenda and make Muslims the most privileged class in West Bengal. In some areas, such as the border district of Murshidabad, where the population is around 63 per cent, de facto shariah is imposed on all residents. Mamata Banerjee right from the start has favoured her Muslim constituents and capitulates to their many demands and entices them with special benefits and privileges. In her effort to appease her vote bank, she has stooped to such low that she recited the Kalma Shahdat, the conversion prayer of the Muslims in an audience of mullahs.
Confirming the texture of her politics of appeasement, she said in a press conference in 2017 that since 30 per cent of her electorate were Muslims, she had to cater to them; had to appease them; had to manage them and ensure that they received preference over the remaining 70 per cent of her electorate. As Anirban Ganguly, Director, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, New Delhi rightly points out in the pioneer “The ongoing episodes of Nabi Dibas and no Saraswati Puja, the enforced shift from ramdhonu to rongdhonu, from jal to pani, the hurdles being created against the immersion of idols, the defilement of Hindu temples in rural West Bengal, the patronage that the ruling Trinamool Congress extends to rioters, are symbolic of how West Bengal is gradually metamorphosing and back cycling to becoming the Bengal of the 1940s, a Bengal in which the Bengali Hindu lived as a third class citizen, forever in the grip of fear, instability and discrimination.”
Unless they happen to be part of the ruling dispensation at the centre, political parties in India mostly express only a token commitment to the concept of federalism. Once in opposition at the central or state level, most parties change their tune. In West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is a good example of how parties can change beyond recognition as they transit from opposition to ruling status.
In the time-tested style of most petty tyrants, Banerjee cannot brook questions from the people. She equates all questions with criticism. These days, the norm is for her to ask questions at public meetings and then supply the answer herself. Readers will recall the fate of one Shiladitya Choudhury of East Midnapore, who prayed for relief from price rise at a meeting. He was first heckled as a Maoist, then arrested, kept in jail for 14 days, then released without evidence. But the case against him has not been officially withdrawn. His harassment continues.
The question arises, how much of erosion has occurred in the overall credibility of the Chief Minister and her Government. Banerjee, ever economical with truth, has been effective at playing the political bluff game. But the present trends are alarming. Her unidirectional extremism puts her at odds with the basic tenets of the Constitution and the federal polity. It introduces new undesirable strains in the political system, threatening the very principles of democracy. Times have changed otherwise her recent remarks against the judiciary, the Election Commission and other Constitutional entities would have been adequate to ensure an instant dismissal for her government if someone like Indira Gandhi had been the Prime Minister today.
By Nilabh Krishna
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