Dharna drama

Dharna drama

Bengal-Centre faceoff flows from extreme political partisanship, observe rule of law.

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is needlessly fomenting a constitutional crisis by embarking on a dharna over CBI’s attempt to interrogate Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar in the Saradha chit funds scam case. During the standoff between CBI officers and Kolkata police, Mamata as CM should have restored normalcy. Instead she has upped the stakes. In the politically restive state, such brinkmanship can be an invitation for mob rule and anarchy.

If CBI officers investigating cases with political links face obstructions in state capitals, it presages the breakdown of laws and norms of accountability – as well as deterrence against political corruption – in a climate of extreme political partisanship. Supreme Court turned over the Saradha scam to CBI in May 2014 after recognising how political patronage and defrauded depositers spanning multiple states required a centrally coordinated probe. However, CBI deflates its own cause by gunning for the police commissioner ahead of Lok Sabha elections after dithering for nearly five years.

Critics also point to CBI’s abated Saradha probe against two top leaders in Bengal and Assam after they joined BJP. In short, CBI’s poor track record in investigations and its reputation as a caged parrot is hurting. In similar circumstances, Arvind Kejriwal had alleged that the CM office was raided and sealed when CBI was gunning for his principal secretary Rajender Kumar. Recently, Andhra Pradesh and Bengal had revoked the “general consent” to CBI to undertake probes claiming loss of faith. AP and Bengal’s moves offer impunity to the corrupt. But CBI also has itself to blame.

The old adage about India thinking tomorrow what Bengal thinks today has ironic application now. Mamata has internalised CPM’s repressive methods to enshrine single party rule by barring BJP’s rath yatras and preventing chief minister Yogi Adityanath from addressing rallies. But this politics of polarisation and extreme partisanship, pioneered by the communists in Bengal, has widespread application in India today. It is routine, for example, for BJP to tell its political opponents to ‘go to Pakistan’ and to treat dissent as treason. Even in this instance, deployment of CRPF in Kolkata is legally problematic as it requires the state’s consent. The Kolkata episode should lead to preserving due process of law and rebuilding democracy and its institutions. The matter is in court now, and it is incumbent on both the Centre and Bengal government to observe and implement whatever the courts decide.