| Tuesday , December 2 , 2014 |
They are back, the rally vultures | ||||
| OUR BUREAU | ||||
Calcutta, Dec. 1: Even God rested on the seventh day but the rallyists of Calcutta won’t. The rally virus that hit the city last Friday will course through the city at least until next Saturday — with no guarantee that it will be satiated on the ninth day. (See chart below) The official causes are many but an underlying thread binds most of them: Mamata Banerjee is perturbed enough to unsheathe her time-tested when-in-doubt weapon and the Opposition has been emboldened enough to match her, rally for rally. The jury will be out on the rally race at least till May, when the Calcutta Municipal Corporation elections are due. Once that winner is settled, there will be another, longer phase of rallies — till the 2016 Assembly polls are over.
Such a long-drawn timetable should make Calcuttans groan, if not shudder, although they will be told to grin and bear it in the name of “democratic process”. Beginning last Friday, the celebrated “democratic process” has been holding countless commuters hostage. Children on their way back from school are spending hours stuck on the road, those running errands have no idea when they will be able to meet commitments and passengers bound for the airport and railway stations are relearning the art of factoring in unexpected delays. Even the best-laid plans are useless when police themselves concede that they have no idea how many rallies can hit the city till the eleventh hour. Some parties — usually the ruling party — have the habit of informing the police headquarters of rallies a day before the programme. From what goes on at some rallies, it is difficult to figure out how democracy is being served. Take, for instance, the so-called “counter-rally” of the Trinamul youth brigade organised today on the Shahid Minar ground in response to the BJP rally near Victoria House yesterday. Little other than name-calling and question-dodging took place there. A sample: “Had Lal Bahadur Shastri been able to foresee that such a grandson would be born into his family, he would not have married.” That was Abhishek Banerjee, the MP and nephew of Mamata, striking back at Sidharth Nath Singh, the BJP’s minder for Bengal and the grandson of the former Prime Minister. The chief minister did not take part in the rally that was deemed a flop show. ( ) Tomorrow, “apolitical” people aligned with the BJP will hold a march. State BJP president Rahul Sinha said: “We know that rallies cause inconvenience to people, but we tried to minimise the hardship for people and so we held it on a Sunday.” Asked specifically about tomorrow’s rally, Sinha said: “As an Opposition party, we have to protest…. The main agenda of the rally last Friday was to support the thieves in the Saradha case. Shouldn’t we protest this?” “If the chief minister of a state hits the street on any pretext, why blame the Opposition parties?” asked Sinha. The Left, once addicted to street protests, said the current government’s policies and performance forced its hand. “We regret the inconvenience to people but we are helpless,” said CPM leader Rabin Deb. In the Trinamul camp, the leaders said they were preparing to hold more rallies to counter the BJP. In January 2011, Calcutta High Court had admitted an application seeking a ban on rallies on weekdays and sought the views of political parties. Only the PDS had filed an affidavit supporting the application while several others asserted their “democratic right” to hold rallies. “Trinamul was the only party that did not send any response…. The case hasn’t been heard since then,” said a lawyer. But the discourse in the high court did act as a deterrent, prompting many parties to schedule rallies on weekends. When Mamata was within sniffing distance of power, she disowned bandhs and other disruptive forms of protests. However, once the going got tough sometime in 2012, Mamata started hitting the streets despite being the chief minister. The grievances ranged from the Centre’s perceived apathy to the Opposition’s alleged slander campaign. The spate of rallies, said an industrialist, reminded him of the land-related state of flux in 2007-08. “It is a clear indication that all is not well in the state,” said the president of a city-based business chamber, pointing out that the government has lined up an industry summit between January 7 and 9. “There is an inverse relationship between heightened political activism and investments. Bengal had suffered after the land protests of 2007-08. No one wants to put in money during a phase of uncertainty,” said a consultant. The state is already facing an uphill task in attracting investments because of the hands-off land policy, and the insistence on retaining land ceiling and skirmishes among the ruling party’s unions in workplaces. “If political uncertainty is added to that, the chance of fresh investments will vanish… That’s real bad news for the state,” said the consultant. WHAT YOU WENT THROUGH Friday, Nov. 28 Pro-Trinamul culture clan marches from Nandan to protest the Centre’s attack on Bengal’s “culture” Saturday, Nov. 29 Jamait Ulama-i-Hind and a clutch of other outfits hold a rally on the Shahid Minar ground to protest “aspersions cast on madarsas” Sunday, Nov. 30 BJP rally at Victoria House Monday, Dec. 1 Retaliatory rally by Trinamul youth and student wings on the Shahid Minar ground coming up Tuesday, Dec. 2 Left rally from Victoria House to College Square against the Saradha scam. Apolitical rally by people “aligned” with the BJP from College Square to Esplanade to protest Trinamul’s “thieves rally” on Friday. Rally by an NGO on RR Avenue on social issues Wednesday, Dec. 3 A rally by the physically challenged at Esplanade Thursday, Dec. 4 Rally by rights bodies against the murder of Kurban Shah in the hostel of NRS Medical College Friday, Dec. 5 Trinamul- supported rally to protest the slander campaign against the party Saturday, Dec. 6 Left rally on communal harmony, from Mahajati Sadan to Rabindra Sadan. Trinamul communal harmony event on Mayo Road, coinciding with the Babri demolition anniversary |
