I have been born and raised in Kolkata, West Bengal and hence Bengal’s date with political violence as well as state sponsored atrocities on voices of dissent is nothing new to me. Such atrocities and arson gain momentum whenever there is political transition of power. But what I find this time around what we witnessed in Kolkata and in it’s vicinity today is beyond comprehension – can be comparable with Nazi Germany or the reign of Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot- world’s most brutal rulers.
TMC, a political party which delivers hollow speeches on democracy, tolerance, freedom of speech and end of fascism, were seen resorting to the most brutal methods of punishing the voices of dissent in the state. While the party supremo, the hon’ble CM of West Bengal decided to keep the state Secretariat, the ‘Nabanno’ shut for two days for sanitization purpose, knowing fully well that the ‘Nabanno Gherao’ Abhiyan was scheduled for the day, the state and city police went on the rampage today in acts never seen before. Most of the roads including the main thoroughfares were blocked to traffic, which included the second Hooghly Bridge, the connecting link between Kolkata and it’s twin city across the Ganga, Howrah and all primary roads in Central Kolkata thus disrupting traffic and inconveniencing the normal public. This was done with the intent of directing the public wrath towards the BJP, which had no intention of blocking roads or disrupting traffic.
The police were seen behaving like goons smashing vehicles carrying the BJP Karyakartas, mercilessly lathi charging them- the unthinkable being a male police beating up female karyakartas, as was narrated by one of the participants in the rMorcha Chemical filled liquid was sprayed on the karyakartas which is extremely harmful for their skin and eyes. Many started feeling nauseated and uncomfortable and had to be rushed to the hospital. Their clothes were torn, they were beaten up, tortured. And all for what ? A peaceful protest? Isn’t it the democratic right of every citizen, group or political party to protest peacefully ? Doesn’t the ruling dispensation here do it? Or do they feel that only they have the right to protest by virtue of their hold on the administration. Such anarchy and arson by the police at the behest of the ruling party wasn’t seen even during the tumultuous communist era laced by such myriad bloody movements and demonstrations. But this time around the valiant karyakartas didnot give in without a fight. They fought along and held the rally, putting forth their point – that of providing employment to the youth of Bengal here, the most pressing issue in Bengal.
What puts the BJP Karyakartas ahead from the other political parties is their sanskar – protecting the honour of their women. While the leftwingers, both the Left and the TMC put their women in front during protests to take advantage of their gender, the BJP Yuva Morcha stood guard in front of the Mahila Morcha Karyakartas in trying to protect them, while these brave ladies fought and chased away the policemen trying to beat them up. The Yuva Morcha men were thus arrested. My little brother Arunava Mullick, a very spirited karyakarta has been arrested too. Respects to MP from Hooghly, Locket Chatterjee for bravely leading the rally from the south of the city, facing the police atrocities and giving it back to them. She led from the front, was quite an inspiration. Hats off to BJP leader, Sayantan Basu for exhibiting courage, conviction and leadership skills in this movement. He along with Raju Banerjee were hit by those chemicals.
Tejaswi Surya was quite an inspiration in leading this entire movement, egging everyone along, motivating them. The fact that the ruling dispensation here have been jilted by this gutsy 29 year old, is evident from the fact that a bomb was hurled at him. Police hurling bombs! Unimaginable!
Hats off to Saumitra Khan, the Bengal Yuva Morcha Chief for being the driving force behind today’s movement and executing it so well amidst all odds. Kudos to Tarunjyoti Tewari, BJYM State VP, Rakhi Mitra di and all the BJP leaders and Karyakartas for being the voice of the downtrodden of Bengal on this day. But of course today should go down in history as being witness to the unnecessary police brutality on a planned and peaceful political demonstration for the people of Bengal.
At the end I would say that it is the educated elites of Bengal who can be covertly held responsible for such mayhem by the public servants, supposed to protect the people because it is they who patronize these kind of fascist leftwing political outfits for pieces of bread crumbs thrown at them. They are the ones responsible for the sorry state of affairs in West Bengal.
