Shame game

Sir — The reports in The Telegraph on the Lalgarh killings were shocking. But what was more disturbing was the stoic silence maintained throughout January 7 by the chief minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who also happens to be in charge of home affairs. Surely, the people of the state deserved to hear his immediate reactions to, if not explanation for, the massacre conducted by the armed men. Three years ago, after the Nandigram episode, Bhattacharjee had proudly announced, without batting an eyelid, that the bloodshed had been a case of ‘an eye for an eye’ (iter badale patkel). Today, perhaps he is shy of displaying such arrogance publicly.

There has been enough indication that the law and order situation of the state no longer inspires any confidence in the people. The police cannot get away each time by disowning responsibility for timely and appropriate intervention. The situation now seems to have gone out of control as a sizeable number of people appear to be in possession of life-threatening arms and they feel no qualms about using them whenever they want to. A chief minister with a conscience would have resigned. But that has not happened. The Constitution allows the Union government to step in and impose president’s rule when the state administration collapses. Perhaps it is time to take recourse to such a measure till those in possession of illegal arms, irrespective of their political shade, be disarmed. Let the people of the state get a chance to live in peace.

Yours faithfully,
Suman Sankar Dasgupta, Calcutta

Sir — Unlike several regional vernacular dailies, which squarely blamed the cadre of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for the carnage in Lalgarh, The Telegraph pointed to the involvement of Maoists in the incident, a fact that would have otherwise gone unnoticed (“Seven killed in Lalgarh”, Jan 8). I do not know if the Union home minister, P. Chidambaram, has gone through the report. If he has not, it should be brought to his notice. Sitting far away from West Bengal, Chidambaram might hear the voice of Mamata Banerjee alone. This is unfair. The Telegraph should be thanked for maintaining its high standards of journalism.

Yours faithfully,
Basir Ahmed, Salboni, West Midnapore

Sir — The dastardly killing of harmless villagers in Netai village by an armed gang should be condemned in unequivocal terms. Only by exchanging letters and blaming each other for the use of such terms as harmad, the administrations at the Centre and the state cannot hope to bring relief to the poverty-stricken villagers who are being used by the CPI(M) leaders for their own political gains. If the chief minister of West Bengal cannot ensure the safety of citizens, he has no right to stick to his chair.

Yours faithfully,
R. Sambamurthy, Calcutta

Sir — When will violence end in Bengal? How long will the people of the state continue to suffer because of party games? Perhaps we need another soothsayer, like Paul the Octopus, to correctly predict the future. Singur, Nandigram, Lalgarh, and now Netaigram have come to the limelight, not for some extraordinary reason, but for the excesses committed by the ruling party in these places. Innocents are being slaughtered on trivial issues, and the police are standing by as dumb spectators. For some inexplicable reason, they are never able to reach the spots on time. They never fail to surprise by their casual approach to each incident of killing. Has the entire force been bribed into inaction? If this is how the new year unfolds, imagine what lies in store for the people of this state.

Neither Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee nor Mamata Banerjee seems to be aware of the plight of the people. The colour of human blood is the same, irrespective of political affiliation. None of the leaders seems to realize this simple truth.

Yours faithfully,
Amrita Mallik, Calcutta

Sir — West Bengal has become a battlefield for its politicians and their armed cadre. The state government has the mandate of the people, yet it seems helpless in the face of the escalating violence in Bengal’s districts. Even the Union government does not seem to be too keen to stop the bloodshed. With the elections round the corner, such violence is bound to intensify. Warnings to the state government and urgent summons to Delhi are not the best ways to solve the problem. If the Union home ministry has substantial evidence of the state government’s wrongdoings, it should deploy the army to combat the armed cadre of political parties.

Yours faithfully,
Raj Bagri, Calcutta

Sir — The way Didi, that is Mamata Banerjee, takes care of the “wronged” is truly funny (“Didi balm and prod at SSKM”, Jan 10). She is believed to have expressed concern for the people who were injured in the latest round of political violence in Netaigram, and requested the hospital superintendent of SSKM to shift two of them to the intensive care unit.

The gesture is angelic except for the fact that no one seemed to be bothered about the patients who needed to be shifted out of the ICU in order to accommodate the injured. The SSKM is a busy hospital, and the ICU must be filled to the brim. But Didi’s assessment of the seriousness of the injury, I am sure, was more astute than that of the doctors of the hospital. Perhaps Didi’s use of the word, “serious”, referred more to the impact of the incident than to the injury itself.

Yours faithfully,
Abhishek Ray, Ohio, US