Subir Bhaumik Former BBC Correspondent
PHOTO : PM Modi visiting Assam during Lok Sabha Poll Campaigning
From Mamata Banerji in West Bengal to Manik Sarkar in tiny Tripura, not to speak of Assam’s hatrick chief minister Tarun Gogoi, a host of regional chieftains are under fire in the East . This could make the BJP’s task of penetrating the region much easier than what many would imagine. The saffrons don’t have a a strong organization in most of the Eastern and northeastern states but the fact that they are only party who people have not seen in power in these states . So they can well swing the electorate their way by playing on the simple argument – ‘you have seen all the rest and see how miserable they are, so please give us a chance’.
Back in West Bengal, a beleaguered Mamata Banerji is mobilizing all her big guns to fight the BJP challenge in the Bowbazar assembly bypolls , even as BJP president Amit Shah launched a no-holds barred attack on the Bengal tigress . And this on a day after Mamata’s one-time blue-eyed boy and suspended Trinamul MP Kunal Ghosh had directly implicated her Didi in the Saradha Scam. Ghosh shouted to waiting reporters on Saturday that the biggest beneficiary on the scam was Mamata herself and CBI should interrogate him and Saradha chief Sudipta Sen in presence of Mamata Banerji. And Kunal’s tirade comes a day after businessman Asif Khan attacked ‘quick rich’Trinamul leaders in the strongest terms, saying that many of them who could not afford two square meals a day are now worth a few hundred crores each. Asif has been close to Trinamul general secretary Mukul Roy – so his fusillade cannot be wished away, if for the sheer damage to the party’s image it has caused.
In far off Tripura, within a few weeks of many projecting Manik Sarkar as a future general secretary of the CPI(M), the Chief minister’s spotless image stands sullied . Local media has extensively reported a scam involving diversion of RMSA central funds meant for improving school education infrastructure to bulk purchase Sarkar’s recollections ‘Atit Diner Smriti’ and a compilation by his former chief secretary Sanjoy Kumar Panda. Questions have been raised about royalty gains and use of influence to promote a personality cult. On Friday, Sept 5, 2014 a FIR was lodged by joint director Manabendra Chakraborty against the RMSA cashier Arnab Chakraborty. The complaint accused the cashier of withdrawing Rs 11.72 lakh from Tripura State Cooperative Bank using forged signatures. The Opposition is up in arms , seeking a CBI enquiry into a much larger scam involving diversion of central funds in Tripura’s school education department. Attempts to suppress the scam by a hasty suspension of a mid-ranking official has further complicated issues . The former Chief Secretary has further complicated matters by writing to a local website www.tripurainfoway.com , which first broke the story because his long letter does not answer the key question – how could Central funds be used for purchasing books written by the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary, as it was clearly beyond the purview of the guidelines for use of such funds from the Centre. The website management allege they have received messages to stop coverage of Tripura politics , pointing to a possible strong arm response from the Marxists even as they blame Mamata for using such tactics.
Up in Assam, which goes to state polls like Bengal in 2016, the ruling Congress is in real bad shape. Hatrick chief minister Tarun Gogoi, who has brought the Congress to power a record third successive time in 2011, faces a powerful dissident movement led by his one time lieutenant Himanta Biswa Sarma. Though Sarma has largely failed to convince the High Command that he is capable of garnering enough legislative support -- and more importantly provide a credible alternative to Gogoi in the rundown to the 2016 polls – his efforts to discredit Gogoi has damaged the party substantially. The recent flare=up on the Assam-Nagaland border only proved Gogoi is losing his grip and the Home Ministry added fuel to fire alleging that Congress dissidents out to discredit Gogoi had fanned the public angst on the border.
(Mr. Subir Bhaumik is a veteran journalist, former BBC correspondant and author of two well acclaimed books ‘Insurgent Crossfire’ and ‘Troubled Periphery’)
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