By Tirthankar Mitra
Confusion is setting in among a section of Trinamool Congress activists at the double face of the leadership towards scam tainted leaders even as party supremo Mamata Banerjee have asked them not to despair. They should walk along puffing up their chests, she further advised.
The barrage of criticism can be sourced to the cash for teaching jobs scam coupled charges of cattle, coal and sand smuggling by some senior leaders. Several of them are in custody but the party leadership have suspended one, expelled two but is yet to initiate any action against another duo.
Sections of the lower echelons of TMC are unable to make a head or tail at the suspension of party secretary general and education minister Partha Chatterjee and expulsions of party leaders from Hooghly Kuntal Ghosh and Santanu Banerjee accused in similar .scams while no action have been taken against Birbhum district chief Anubrata Mondal and School Service Commission chief Manik Bhattacharya though all the four are now behind the bars. No explanations of this pick and choose policy have been forthcoming from the party leadership which went into a brainstorming session at party chief Banerjee’s Kalighat residence recently to chalk out a game plan for the forthcoming rural polls.
After Enforcement Directorate had arrested Chatterjee last July for his alleged involvement in the cash for teaching jobs scam, the TMC leadership had lost no time in distancing itself from him. He was relieved of his ministerial responsibility and later suspended.
A worse fate awaited Kuntal Ghosh and Santanu Banerjee who were expelled from the party following their arrest by CBI in the cash for teaching jobs scam. Even as the trio cools their heels behind the bars, instead of disciplinary action TMC leadership made no secret of its support towards Birbhum unit chief Anubrata Mondal arrested by CBI last August on charges of cattle smuggling.
None other than party supremo Banerjee accused the central probe agency for their *selective targetting of BJP’s political rivals”. The party rank and file have been called upon to give him a “hero’s welcome” on his release.
The questions at the top of the activists mind is that what sets Mondal apart from Chatterjee. The latter is far more senior in the party hierarchy while the former is a mere district chief.
After all, there is no discernible reason to welcome back Mondal while maintaining a studied silence in the case of the former secretary general. The rank and file are puzzled as being accused in different scams is the only common point between the two.
The leadership is not welcoming any questions on this issue. But the fact remains that long before Mondal was hauled up for his involvement in cattle smuggling the party supremo had expressed her concern about the health of the Birbhum district chief aka Keshto.
Sometimes oxygen does not flow to Keshto’s head, Banerjee had diagnosed. Obviously, Mondal has qualities which has made him closer to his leader than Chatterjee.
As if on cue, a senior TMC leader requesting anonymity said that Mondal is one of our seniormost organisers of the party. He does not seek nomination to contest an election nor does he crave for a .ministerial berth and these traits have endeared him to the party supremo, he added
The chief minister thought that Mondal would be released soon, the TMC leader said. She has started distancing herself from him but will not take disciplinary action lest there is a fallout in the forthcoming rural polls, he said. Mondal happens to be the Birbhum strongman. Post brainstorming session, Banerjee that responsibility of rural polls for Birbhum including candidate selection would be looked after by her is a pointer to Mondal’s clout.
But the leadership and rank and file are clueless about the reason of no action being taken against SSC chairman Manik Bhattacharya. The Palashilpara legislator has been arrested in the cash for teaching jobs scam.
Large quantities of currency notes have been recovered from Bhattacharya. As the sight of such unaccounted cash recovered by central probe agencies have a negative effect on the people, the party distances itself from that person, a senior leader said
But Bhattacharya stands out as an exception while it is the rank and file who have to turn a deaf ear at the preferential treatment of Bhattacharya. Seeking to take the battle to the camp of her political opponents, Banerjee has asked education minister .Bratya Basu to make a list of those whose names were written on chits and given jobs in his department from 1990 till 2011, the Left Front regime.
A sound tactic on paper though it remains to be seen whether it washes. The Opposition has labelled the chief minister’s stand as “deceitful”.
Even as the campaign for the rural polls gets rolling, the TMC leadership seems to have handed over ammunition to be used against the ruling party candidates. Campaigners would find it hard to explain to the voters the reason behind the plain and simple double standard in a scam involving crores found in the home some of the leaders of the ruling dispensation.
The rural polls are a litmus test if popularity of the TMC which finds itself facing fresh embarrassment almost on a daily basis. As one leader confessed that the optics are bad read sight of the piles of currency notes which augurs ill for the morale of the TMC rank and file and the party’s political fortunes. (IPA Service)
