Mamata’s Action Against Partha Chatterjee: Moral Gesture Or Act Of Compulsion?

Kolkata, July 31: Ever since the Trinamool Congress came to power in West Bengal ending the 34-year Left Front rule in May 2011, there have been several instances of senior party leaders being embroiled in financial scams and getting arrested.

In the Saradha chit fund scam those who had to spend time in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) custody included current Trinamool Congress chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay, the then state transport minister and current party MLA, Madan Mitra and former Trinamool Congress parliamentarians, late Tapas Paul and Srinjoy Basu, among others.

In the Narada video tape scam, the CBI took into custody transport minister and Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim and former panchayat minister, late Subrata Mukherjee and also Madan Mitra.

In all these cases, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee stood like a rock in support of her cabinet and party colleagues and vehemently criticized the BJP and the Union government for allegedly resorting to vendetta politics.

However, things have taken the reverse direction in the recent West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) multi-crore scam involving former education minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general, Partha Chatterjee and his close aide, Arpita Mukherjee. Since the arrest of Chatterjee and Arpita Mukherjee on July 23, an all-out effort is being made to distance the Trinamool Congress from Chatterjee.

The initiative was taken by senior Trinamool Congress leaders who said that the onus is on Partha Chatterjee and not on the party or the state government. But understanding that the attempts of these leaders were not cutting much ice, Mamata Banerjee at a government programme took the same stand and also assured that disciplinary action will be taken against Partha Chatterjee if he is proved guilty. However, within 48 hours Chatterjee was stripped of all his ministerial and party portfolios.

This action was taken within six days of his arrest in the WBSSC scam, something which was unheard of before in the Trinamool Congress. Now the question is whether this is just an attempt to give the party leadership a clean image? Or is it out of the fear that its impact will reach the doorsteps of the chief minister?

IANS spoke to a number of political leaders and analysts on this issue. Barring the Trinamool Congress leaders, all believed that the drastic action was a fallout of the fear factor and absolutely no morality was behind the action.

According to Trinamool Congress’ national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, after certain circumstantial evidence came to light, the decision was taken to strip Chatterjee of his ministerial and party portfolios. “No other party has ever taken such prompt action. It is the Trinamool Congress which gave the benefit of doubt to the people instead of the party’s secretary general,” he claimed.

CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that had the moral ground been so high then the chief minister would have taken these steps after the first seizure of cash from Arpita Mukherjee’s south Kolkata residence. “The chief minister understood that the heat of the WBSSC scam had started reaching her doorstep and hence she took the drastic decision. What she is trying to do now is to just get rid of Partha Chatterjee, once her second-in-command in the party, to save her own skin,” Chakraborty added.

According to the BJP’s national vice-president and party MP, Dilip Ghosh, the fear factor was evident in the body language of the chief minister, when for the first time she spoke on the issue at a state government event. “In that programme she clearly said that she will not tolerate any attempt to drag her into the scam and if such attempts continue, she will retaliate. Her clear message to the media was that they can write anything against Partha Chatterjee but don’t try to drag her into the scandal. Is this not a clear indication of her fear factor?” Ghosh asked.

Political analyst Amal Kumar Mukherjee said that when Calcutta High Court’s single judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay ordered a CBI enquiry into the WBSSC scam, he made an observation as well as a suggestion that for the sake of fairness Mamata Banerjee should remove Partha Chatterjee from his ministerial portfolios. “Had that been done than Trinamool Congress’ tall claims of morality would have been justified. But now it is evident it was not morality but an attempt to shrug off Partha Chatterjee that prompted his removal from his ministerial and party portfolios,” he said.

Former ADGP of the West Bengal police, Nazrul Islam said that the chief minister cannot duck her responsibility in the entire issue by saying that Arpita Mukherjee is unknown to her. “There is a viral video clip, where at the inauguration of Puja, the chief minister was not only spotted with Arpita Mukherjee but was also heartily praising her. The chief minister praised her knowledge of the Oriya language and said that Mukherjee also frequents another member of her cabinet, Firhad Hakim,” Islam pointed out.