When Ruler Fails People Protect Public Interest

When Ruler Fails People Protect Public Interest

Nidhu Bhushan Das

"The Myth and Aura Will Pass Away" is the title of my blog post published here seven years from now on 4 February 2012. I wrote: "The Mamata myth appears to be waning rapidly after Ms Banerjee has become the Chief Minister of West Bengal. The Chief Minister tends more to play to the gallery than to be serious about steering the state clear of the mess she inherited from the left rule of about 35 years. She deserves credit for the ouster of the Left Front from power. It was she who pulled down the left edifice which once was thought to be impregnable. Her sustained movement against what was seen as left misrule earned her the credibility which ultimately catapulted her to power in the state. Once in power, she is in a hurry to project herself as the Santa Claus to the people, and heaps promise upon promise to keep the people in good humour.Even she squanders money in the form of donations to the clubs of the state and her government organizes gala festivals while roads and highways remain degraded."

In the seven years her policies, political moves and manoeuvres have led to many developments which appear to be the cause of her undoing,nay hubris is the cause.

Her idioms suggest she fails to distinguish between democracy and autocracy, between the power of the people and that of an individual.When the will and the rights of the people are sought to be subordinated to the will and caprices of the individual on whom the people repose their trust for a fixed period,people feel being betrayed and teach the individual a lesson.The hubris of the individual activates the autocrat in him/her and accelerate the undoing of the ruler.

The West Bengal Chief Minister has ,of late,developed an allergy towards the slogan "Joy Shri Ram". Whenever she hears the slogan, she loses her cool, disembark from her car to chase away the sloganeers who appear to be persistent.The problem is personal and once it is found in someone, fun loving people may find it an opportunity to exploit the supersensitivity of the person just for fun.The Hindustan Times reported on 31 May: "West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee lost her temper on Thursday when protesters shouted ‘Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Modi” slogans while she was on her way to a sit-in venue.

She got out of her car twice when she heard the slogans. Banerjee shouted back at the crowd and asked policemen to identify the slogan shouters and conduct an house-to-house search."

This reaction of the Chief Minister (twice in a month) is the talking point and issue of satiric comments at street corners,markets and other public places.It appears the proactive Chief Minister has turned reactive to her perils.

This change in her suggests she has the dearth of ideas to face the political development thrown up by the Lok Sabha polls in which BJP decimated her party TMC.The need of the hour is statesmanship,not being temperamental.Democracy demands reasonable space for debate and discussion,respect for the views and opinions of the opposition.Stifling the opposition does not augur well for democracy.We may buy support or force opposition into submission but the vox populi cannot be silenced,public conscience cannot be bought.Rulers who tried so brought about their own doom across the globe.After all, "the voice of the people is the voice of God."(Vox Populi, Vox Dei).Voice of the ruler is subordinate to the voice of the people.When the ruler fails to be just,people act wisely to protect public interest.

Mamata is not Invincible

Mamata is not Invincible

Nidhu Bhusan Das

"In an autocracy,one person has his way".

-Celia Green

Should it be seen as a simple downturn soon to turn into an upswing,or the beginning of a  countdown to the final collapse? The sharp decline of Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) in the recent Lok Sabha polls from 34 seats won in 2014 to 22 in 2019 is an evidence of the erosion of popular support for the party and it's omnipotent leader.The redoubtable Chief Minister of West Bengal Ms Banerjee is identified as the supremo of the party which in 2011 dethroned the apparently invincible Left Front which ruled West Bengal for 34 years with iron grip as typical of the communist dispensation.While in the Left Front,constituents like the CPI(M) has the Stalinist dictatorship in the name of democratic centralism in place,AITC is blessed with the supremo who has the iron grip in the party and the Government. Such iron grip has the inherent weakness and faultline which cannot ultimately hold together the organisational structure and edifice of power.Once the grip begins to loosen, the structure exposes it's cracks and cleavages hidden so long meticulously by the ring of sycophants.Autocracy thrives under sycophancy.

The syndrome of inferiority complex is,perhaps, the hallmark of an autocrat.This syndrome finds expression in the desire to occupy every space  to show the person's grandeur in omnipresence. Mamata Banerjee has presented herself as a polymath-poet,essayist,painter,song writer and a prolific author,besides being a politician.She claims she runs her party with funds received as royalty from her books and huge proceeds from the sales of her paintings.

Arrogance and stubbornness are the twin attributes of autocracy.Ms Banerjee shows her dogged determination to pursue her policy of minority appeasement to the chagrin of the majority and the enlightened section of the minority.An autocrat breaks but does not bend.The breakdown of Ms Banerjee is likely to be the natural consequence if she fails to reason why her party had to yield a huge space to BJP in the parliamentary polls.

The decline,it is obvious, set in for the following reasons:

01.The explicit minority appeasement .

02. The alleged rampant corruption in the form of syndicate raj and extortion by party workers, and  bribery at different levels of party and administration.

03.The alleged inaction in respect of enforcing law against crime and criminals.

04.The resultant disenchantment of the people.

05.The deprivation of a large number of  rural people in many areas from exercising their right to vote in the Panchayat polls accelerated the disenchantment.

06. An inevitable  huge Hindu backlash against the overt and assertive minority appeasement.

06.The over-assertiveness of Muslims in many places,especially in the border areas.

07.The perceived infiltration of  NRC affected Muslims from Assam and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar via Bangladesh and their settlement in the state went against the ruling party.

07.The impudent and vituperative language of the ruling party supremo against Prime Minister Modi

offended many in the electorate.

08. Intra-party clash and squabble weakened the party.

If a judicious policy and well thought out strategy are not put in place, the decline may lead to the collapse of the party in the next democratic exercises like the municipal elections and the Assembly elections of 2021.BJP's win of 18 Lok Sabha seats is equivalent to  126 assembly seats in the Assembly of 294 seats.Trinamool Congress is no longer on a strong wicket and invincible.It is already decimated.

China Against Global War on Terror

China Against Global

War on Terror

Nidhu Bhusan Das

China has again,naturally,done it - blocked the listing of Jaish-e- Mohammad Chief Masood Azhar as a “global terrorist” at the UNSC Resolution 1267 sanctions committee.China Wednesday did it at Pakistan’s behest.This is consistent with Chinese policy to support genocide,terrorism  for expansionist gains.Beijing supported genocide of Pakistan in Bangladesh way back in 1971.They have shielded Azhar the fourth time in ten years.

For Beijing,Pakistan can never do any wrong insofar as Islamabad serves their geo-political interests and further their expansionist designs.China stands to gain in respect of their territorial expansion, preventing Islamic fundamentalist uprising in their Xinjiang province with this unflinching support to Pakistan and Ajhar.So,Beijing does not hesitate to go against the global war against terrorism.

Jaish-e-Mohammad owned up the February 14 Pulwama terror attack that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.New Delhi launched diplomatic offensive against Islamabad which harbours,trains terrorists and sends them to India to kill and terrorise Indians.

All the veto-wielding powers except China  were active to get Azhar designated as a global terrorist.Not only this,the proposal this time had the impressive number of co-sponsors — 13 in all. Besides the US, UK, France and Germany, other co-sponsors were Poland, Belgium, Italy, Bangladesh, Maldives, Bhutan, Equatorial Guinea, Japan and Australia. While some of them were at the UNSC as non-permanent members, others came as UN members. This reflected the support India had this time.