W Bengal fears 2018 violence repeat as panchayat poll process takes off

As the newly appointed West Bengal State Election Commissioner Rajiva Sinha announced the dates for polls for the three-tier panchayat system and the nomination process started from Friday, early indications have made public apprehensions more acute about a repeat show of massive bloodbath this time as well as it happened in the rural civic body polls in the state in 2018.

A total of 13 persons died in poll-related violence in 2018. The question doing rounds in the political circles in the state is whether the death figure this year will be lower than what it was in 2018 or surpass the record.

This year the polls will be in a single-phase on July 8 and the counting will be on July 11.

The apprehension of a much bigger death count this time is surfacing more with the reluctance on part of the state government to allow central armed forces deployment for the polls. A crucial hearing in the matter will be on Monday, where it will be clear whether ultimately there will be deployment of central forces or not.

Since the nomination process started on Friday, there have been indications on how worse the situation could be in the coming days unless strong actions are taken by the state and police administration is bringing the situation under control.

On Friday night, Congress activist Fulchand Sheikh in Murshidabad district was shot dead in the street by a group of miscreants allegedly having links with Trinamool Congress, a charge which the state's ruling party has already denied. Two persons have been arrested so far in connection with the assassination.

Both West Bengal state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and the leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari have claimed that the murder on the very first day of nomination proves how gory the situation will be in the coming days.

On Saturday, a state government employee at the block development office at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district was severely beaten up by the ruling party activists allegedly for allowing All India Secular Front (AISF) activists to collect nomination papers from that office. Throughout Friday and Saturday, clashes and violence over the nomination process were reported from different districts like Murshidabad and Birbhum.

Retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and former Additional Director General of West Bengal Police, Nazrul Islam is of the opinion that the situation evolving currently was inevitable in a situation when there had series of blasts in different pockets of West Bengal for the last few months, much before the even the polling dates were announced.

According to him, had the state police been more serious in recovering arms and explosives much in advance and nab the accused, the situation could have been better.

"The ruling party is blaming the opposition while the opposition is blaming the ruling party. Assuming that both are right in their allegations and both are responsible for bringing in explosives, my question is what is stopping the top brass of police in acting as per police manuals and taking corrective measures," he said.

A significant comment from Trinamool Congress's state spokesman in West Bengal Kunal Ghosh on Saturday evening has posed serious questions about the seriousness of the state's ruling party in accepting the space of opposition politics in the state.

"As it is the majority of the people of West Bengal are in favour of Trinamool Congress. Even if the opposition manages to get their candidates elected from a couple of seats, those winning candidates will, in due course, join Trinamool Congress to be part of the developmental activities. So why will people vote in favour of other parties when ultimately all winning candidates will join Trinamool Congress," said Ghosh.

Veteran political observer and analyst Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay feels that Ghosh's comments reflect the intention of Trinamool Congress to ensure zero opposition space in West Bengal which is just the theory of the Lotus camp nationally. "Having a total opposition free political arena is the most dangerous trend in a democratic set up," he said.

--IANS

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