Politics of Death

It is not without reason that people have lost faith over politics. Politicians are here to serve their own purpose and serving the nation can take a back seat. Ever day the common man struggles hard to make his ends meet, these politicians keep on fooling us to stay in power! Even in death we become a weapon to gain brownie points over the opponents!

On 28 May 2010 a fateful rail accident took 148 civilian lives. It is assumed that the accident was caused due to possible sabotage by the naxalites (although no proof whatsoever has emerged as of now). The union minister of railways, in her statement, accused(without taking names) CPI(M) of causing the rail mishap as a part of political conspiracy. West Bengal government retaliated by trashing the driver’s claim of a blast and accused the railways of not spending enough for passenger security.

All those who follow my tweets know my take on this incident. I have my doubts whether Maoists are really involved in the incident. Specially the timing of the incident (just two days before crucial civic polls with every possibility of the ruling party losing power) is significant. The attack too had no signature to classify it Maoist. And we all have seen what CPI(M) can do to retain power (if you are ignorant about it i suggest google Keshpur-gorbeta, Dalgaon tea estate).

But my opinion is not important here. The administration instead of helping the victims and their families, was busy bickering with the railways! There was evident lack of unity between the state and the railways. (What a contrasting image to the Mangalore air crash tragedy). The state administration passed the buck on the railways while Mamata skirted the issue saying law and order is state subject! And hapless relatives kept waiting for the victims still trapped under the debris.

Polls in West Bengal have had the history of violence. Although less, the civic polls this year witnessed a bloody hunger for power, not only in the ruling party but the opposition too. Reports of clashes between factions, images lathi charging rioters, voters being scared away from the booths dominated the TV screen whole day. But the news that came in at around 3pm in the afternoon was a shock! In ward no. 101 of Kolkata Tripura police opened fire on a voter without any provocation! It sent me back by light years! What the hell is the news presenter saying?

In the follow up reports it was shown that the person who was injured police bullets was not a voter of that booth (STATE ELECTION COMMISSION issued a statement to this effect) and it was later accepted by CPI(M) that he was their party worker. Newspaper reports say he was a polling agent for the CPI(M). Initially both the left and trinamool condemned the firing. But politics takes its own course! The supporters of left in the area put up posters claiming the tripura police fired at TMC’s behest. To retaliate the Union Minister in press meet yesterday called the slain CPI(M) cadre “notorious criminal” and drew flak from all quarters.

The leader of opposition of Bengal Assembly Partha Chatterjee, in a press meet today claimed Bapi Dhar had died on Sunday itself and the news was kept under wraps till today. He also alleged that it is CPI(M)’s internal feud that led to his death. Significant amongst all this is Tripura Police’s statement saying that conditions were such that they were forced to retaliate(thus trashing the unprovoked attack theory). the CPI(M) has fielded its mouthpieces among the city’s intelligentsia(why call them intelligentsia when they have no opinion of their own) to discredit Mamata.

In all this hullabaloo the bigger question remains unanswered. Who is responsible for the firing? Why did police fire on “peaceful” voters? What was Bapi Dhar doing in a booth which was not his own?

In this politics of death these questions will never be answered.
In politics the dead are never buried, rather corpses are dug out of graves to serve one’s purpose!

One thing is certain, West Bengal is destined for doom!