Another 5 years for Mamata despite 'little focus' on economy, development?

By NS Venkataraman*
I am not in politics. However, I am a close political observer for the last several years. I try to objectively analyse the movement of politics and politicians to the best of my ability, without having any prejudice or love or hate for any political outfit or political philosophy.
In my capacity as chemical engineer, I was working in a factory in West Bengal several years back, when Jyoti Basu was the Chief Minister of the state. Before moving to West Bengal, I worked in a factory in Kerala in a chemical plant. When I was working in Kerala too, I have seen Marxist government in the state.
I was gheroed in West Bengal for second time, after being gheroed in Kerala for the first time. Nevertheless, I have not allowed this bitter experience to influence my overall impression about both these states, which have unique and laudable features.
During my working in West Bengal, I became a sincere admirer of Bengalis for variety of positive reasons.
I always felt that if Bengal were to get a progressive government with national outlook with a knowledgeable and earnest Chief Minister, West Bengal could become one of the most prosperous states in the country. It has no reason not to be so. Though Jyoti Basu was a highly cultured and civilized person, he could not stop violent and hate politics in West Bengal for whatever reasons, though he could successfully maintain his image as a decent and respectable person.
Now that Mamata Banerjee has been the Chief Minister of West Bengal for 10 years as unquestioned founder leader of Trinamul Congress, I feel she has not utilized the opportunity to benefit the state to the extent needed, given the massive mandate she has had.
During her 10 years rule, violent incidents have remained unabated in West Bengal and her image and claim that she was a street fighter has not helped the matter.
I observed how Mamata Banerjee entered a police station in the state and forced the police to release a worker belonging to her party, who was arrested by the police for some offence. My immediate feeling was: How could a Chief Minister do such a thing. I started wondering as to whether any other Chief Minister has done similar act in any state in India. I could not find another example.

I am not particularly impressed by several of the criticisms made against her such as appeasing minority community

Since this happened during the beginning of her first term, I thought she would improve her public conduct and refrain from similar acts in future. Though she did not repeat such a tantrum, the language that she has been using frequently, even as Chief Minister of the state, to criticise the leaders of the opposition parties has not helped create a conducive atmosphere to end the violent atmosphere in the state.
At the same time, I am not particularly impressed by several of the criticisms made against her such as appeasing minority community, allowing her nephew to interfere in government and party affairs etc. However, I cannot but note that she has not been able to inculcate a climate of economic and industrial growth in the state to any significant level.
The ground reality and the fact is that Mamata Banerjee was focusing more in political acts rather than acts relating to economy and development and her Chief ministership has been weighing more towards political aspects rather than on development and economic aspects. This scenario would become clear to any observer with regard to economic development registered in West Bengal during the last ten years.
In short, it has been noisy West Bengal that she is leading rather than a dignified and progressive West Bengal that Bengalis richly deserve and need.
So has West Bengal experimented enough with Mamata Banerjee’s Chief Ministership, and should the state give way to another leader as Chief Minister, who may have possibly a different approach? Can West Bengal afford another five years of the type of leadership that Mamata Banerjee could provide?
Perhaps, West Bengal needs a Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of the neighbouring state Odisha. He should be the bench mark for dignified governance. Of course, I do not suggest which should be other political party that should come to power in West Bengal after the election.
Can any one reasonably hope that Mamata Banerjee would give a different type of more positive leadership in the next five years than what she has done in the last ten years? If somebody would entertain such hope, wouldn’t it end up as Utopian expectation and as calculated risk?
---
*Trustee, Nandini Voice for The Deprived, Chennai

Comments

Mudit Jain said…

All governments in India both at the state and central level have kept India backward compared to its poorer Asian neighbours in the past but who are now far ahead of India economically. So the logical answer would be to outsource governments as it is only about power without responsibility towards their people.

March 20, 2021

Vaccine nationalism? Covaxin isn't safe either, perhaps it's worse: Experts

By Rajiv Shah I was a little awestruck: The news had already spread that Astrazeneca – whose Indian variant Covishield was delivered to nearly 80% of Indian vaccine recipients during the Covid-19 era – has been withdrawn by the manufacturers following the admission by its UK pharma giant that its Covid-19 vector-based vaccine in “rare” instances cause TTS, or “thrombocytopenia thrombosis syndrome”, which lead to the blood to clump and form clots. The vaccine reportedly led to at least 81 deaths in the UK.

'Scientifically flawed': 22 examples of the failure of vaccine passports

By Vratesh Srivastava* Vaccine passports were introduced in late 2021 in a number of places across the world, with the primary objective of curtailing community spread and inducing "vaccine hesitant" people to get vaccinated, ostensibly to ensure herd immunity. The case for vaccine passports was scientifically flawed and ethically questionable.

'Misleading' ads: Are our celebrities and public figures acting responsibly?

By Deepika* It is imperative for celebrities and public figures to act responsibly while endorsing a consumer product, the Supreme Court said as it recently clamped down on misleading advertisements.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Magnetic, stunning, Protima Bedi 'exposed' malice of sexual repression in society

By Harsh Thakor* Protima Bedi was born to a baniya businessman and a Bengali mother as Protima Gupta in Delhi in 1949. Her father was a small-time trader, who was thrown out of his family for marrying a dark Bengali women. The theme of her early life was to rebel against traditional bondage. It was extraordinary how Protima underwent a metamorphosis from a conventional convent-educated girl into a freak. On October 12th was her 75th birthday; earlier this year, on August 18th it was her 25th death anniversary.

Palm oil industry deceptively using geenwashing to market products

By Athena* Corporate hypocrisy is a masterclass in manipulation that mostly remains undetected by consumers and citizens. Companies often boast about their environmental and social responsibilities. Yet their actions betray these promises, creating a chasm between their public image and the grim on-the-ground reality. This duplicity and severely erodes public trust and undermines the strong foundations of our society.

'Fake encounter': 12 Adivasis killed being dubbed Maoists, says FACAM

Counterview Desk The civil rights network* Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM), even as condemn what it has called "fake encounter" of 12 Adivasi villagers in Gangaloor, has taken strong exception to they being presented by the authorities as Maoists.

No compensation to family, reluctance to file FIR: Manual scavengers' death

By Arun Khote, Sanjeev Kumar* Recently, there have been four instances of horrifying deaths of sewer/septic tank workers in Uttar Pradesh. On 2 May, 2024, Shobran Yadav, 56, and his son Sushil Yadav, 28, died from suffocation while cleaning a sewer line in Lucknow’s Wazirganj area. In another incident on 3 May 2024, two workers Nooni Mandal, 36 and Kokan Mandal aka Tapan Mandal, 40 were killed while cleaning the septic tank in a house in Noida, Sector 26. The two workers were residents of Malda district of West Bengal and lived in the slum area of Noida Sector 9.

India 'not keen' on legally binding global treaty to reduce plastic production

By Rajiv Shah Even as offering lip-service to the United Nations Environment Agency (UNEA) for the need to curb plastic production, the Government of India appears reluctant in reducing the production of plastic. A senior participant at the UNEP’s fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4), which took place in Ottawa in April last week, told a plastics pollution seminar that India, along with China and Russia, did not want any legally binding agreement for curbing plastic pollution.

Mired in controversy, India's polio jab programme 'led to suffering, misery'

By Vratesh Srivastava* Following the 1988 World Health Assembly declaration to eradicate polio by the year 2000, to which India was a signatory, India ran intensive pulse polio immunization campaigns since 1995. After 19 years, in 2014, polio was declared officially eradicated in India. India was formally acknowledged by WHO as being free of polio.

Counterview

Search This Blog