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The drama of the absurd played out in Kolkata on 3 February evening, leaving the city completely stunned. A ‘street fighter’, Mamata Banerjee, who swept the polls in 2011, took to the streets and led police officers in a dharna.
The CBI stormed the residence of the Commissioner of Police, Rajeev Kumar, on 3 Feb evening, on the pretext of interrogating him in the 2013 Saradha chit fund scam. The Kolkata police instead arrested the CBI officials and took them to Shakespeare Sarani police station, a stone’s throw away from the commissioner’s residence. Was the state government well within its rights to obstruct the officials from discharging their duties?
But the CBI’s ambush took many senior government officials by surprise. What could be a plausible explanation? Had some new evidence cropped up? Why had the Centre shown restraint in the Saradha probe for over five years?
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A senior police officer in the city says, “Nothing goes as per the rule book these days. Politics, the police and the administration have merged into a single entity. There are circles within circles. Bengal has become a police state under the present dispensation. Besides Kolkata, six other commissionerates of police have been set up by this government, basically to appease the police.”
While Didi has backed the current commissioner to the hilt, it was the exact opposite in February 2013 when she had summarily transferred the then commissioner R K Panchnanda.
“It is not that the chief minister loves the police; she operates through certain key officers of the police force and she disregards the rank and file. It is a marriage of convenience. Top echelons of the police have surrendered their dignity and will to serve, and have been reduced to puppets,” points out a senior police officer. She relies on a few leaders of the force who have been appointed by her.
The chosen few are being used as Praetorian guards like the Roman emperors, who had these over and above their regular security.
“For the first time we have been asked to submit to the Supreme Court why police posts have been kept vacant. Police is not an independent entity for her but a few men who serve her purpose. There was no one closer to her than Bharati Ghosh, former SP Midnapore, but when the relationship soured she was thrown out and hounded and the entire might of the state was used to put Bharati Ghosh in the doghouse and a number of cases were lodged by CID against her,” adds another senior police officer.
“If police officers want to display solidarity, they should go to the IPS association, and not sit on a protest on the streets with the chief minister,” adds a senior bureaucrat. It is no secret that Rajeev Kumar superseded 30 senior police officials when he became the commissioner of police.
When the Saradha scam broke out, he had been commissioner of Bidhannagar, one of the commissionerates set up by the chief minister. Saradha was headquartered in Bidhannagar. It is alleged that Rajeev Kumar destroyed incriminating evidence against members of the Trinamool Congress, the ruling party in the state.
While Mamata Banerjee has been seen as ‘protecting’ those guilty in the Saradha scam, she continues to stridently protest against the destruction of democratic institutions under the Modi regime. Whether Mamata Banerjee can turn this crisis into a huge political opportunity depends on the stance the Supreme Court takes on Tuesday, 5 February.
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(The writer is a Kolkata-based senior journalist. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses, nor is responsible for them.)
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Published: 04 Feb 2019,05:53 PM IST