Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) West Bengal cadre prepares to lay siege to the Kolkata Police headquarters, popularly called Lalbazaar, political analysts are reminded of the violence that ensued on 21 July 1993. It’s when the Indian Youth Congress’ Bengal unit, then led by the mercurial Mamata Banerjee, marched towards the Writers’ Building or the State Secretariat.
The incumbent West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s protest over making photo voter identity cards compulsory to ensure fair elections and her stubbornness to enter Writers’ Building had made the CPI(M) regime’s police intercept the party about a kilometre away from the Secretariat, at Kolkata’s Esplanade area. Police fired at the protesters killing 13 and injuring several others.
One of the most unforgettable memories of that incident is that of Mamata being held by her hair and dragged away by a police officer, who has since retired from service.
21 July 1993 Flashback
A fragment of Bengal's violent politics was on display on 22 May when a CPI(M) march to the state's temporary Secretariat, ‘Nabanna’, turned violent. Police unleashed its might upon the agitators, leaving many injured, among them at least 50 media persons.
Kolkata-based journalist Biswajit Roy told The Quint that it would be interesting to see what unfolds on Thursday, with respect to police action during the BJP’s Lalbazaar agitation.
If Mamata Banerjee’s police are lenient with the BJP, she will be accused of being in cahoots with Prime Minister Modi, and if police are ordered to use a tough stance, then she might be in trouble with the Centre. She will be meeting Modi in Delhi while the BJP stages its protest here. Mamata is in a Catch-22 situation.Kolkata-based journalist Biswajit Roy
Sayantan Basu, State General Secretary of the BJP was quoted by DNA as saying that while the Left Front didn’t have a definite reason for their 22 May protest, the BJP had more than one reason for Thursday’s gherao. Basu went on to say that the BJP believed the Left’s protest to be staged by Mamata Banerjee, “to provide the Left with some oxygen to set off the BJP’s growing popularity here.”
We would do a Lalbazar gherao because we had demanded the arrest of Tipu Sultan Masjid’s Imam, which was not done. We had demanded an end to police atrocities on BJP workers and to restore the democratic setup of the state, which police had failed to meet miserably.Sayantan Basu, State General Secretary, BJP to DNA
After the Left Front’s 22 May agitation, the Kolkata Police faced flak from various quarters for committing atrocities on not only the Left cadres, but also upon journalists covering the event.
With this in mind, it will be interesting to note what plays out at Thursday’s BJP agitation, as Biswajit Roy says, it will be an acid test for the city police.
Bengal’s “Agni Kanya” Brought Left Extremism Into the So-Called Right-Wing
West Bengal has a Communist past with the CPI(M) ruling for nearly 34 years. Since Mamata Banerjee’s entry into politics in the mid ’70s, the chief minister has had her eyes on Bengal, says political analyst Sibaji Pratim Basu. To that end, Banerjee employed typically radical Left-wing tactics to overthrow the state’s Communist rule.
The methods included that of gherao, a method of protest which literally means “encirclement”, marching to the Secretariat and fighting for peasants’ rights, among others. Banerjee is known to have circumvented police cordoning several times at the cost of facing assault.
These forceful, often violent tactics of hers were seen by eminent erstwhile women Communist leaders, such as Ila Mitra and Gita Mukherjee, as Banerjee’s efforts to bring Left-militant tactics into the Right. At the time, Banerjee was part of the Opposition in Bengal’s Left regime.
Banerjee in fact, earned the title of “Agni Kanya”, which loosely means a firebrand woman leader, due to her methods of agitation, which made her a thorn in the CPI(M)‘s way.
Perhaps, the most striking example of her radical means of protest was seen during the 21 July 1993 Kolkata Firing incident, when Banerjee was manhandled on her way to the Writers’ Building and had to eventually be hospitalised.
The incident also highlighted the impunity of police who were responsible for killing 13 Congress activists that day. This brought into question the state’s role in law and order and the need for police neutrality.
Bengal's Opposition Uses CM Mamata Banerjee's Tactics Against Her
Years later, Bengal’s older Opposition party, the CPI(M) and the new Opposition, namely, the BJP are both trying to use old Left-wing strategies to topple the Mamata government, according to writer-journalist Biswajit Roy.
In fact, the BJP is expected to approach the Lalbazaar police station from three undisclosed routes, as reported by DNA, much like Banerjee herself used to when rallying towards the Secretariat. Even on 22 May, the Left Front used means like brick-batting, drawing on Mamata’s ways, to protest.
Bengal’s old Left faction is vulnerable at present, with its power being on the decline for some years now, and the BJP threatening to take its place as Bengal’s main Opposition.
While both parties are cadre-based (meaning that both mobilise movements at the ground level) and ideologically driven, the CPI(M) certainly no longer holds the sway it used to, be it in Bengal or at the Centre.
Mamata Wants the CPI(M) to Be a Loyal Opposition
Biswajit Roy tells us that what Didi really wants is a loyal Opposition – a contradiction of sorts. The West Bengal chief minister is willing to engage in talks with the Left Front as long as they remain loyal. Analysts have speculated that Banerjee keeps a close watch over the CPI(M) to ensure that the BJP cannot take its place.
It has, however, also been observed that despite trying to consciously work in ways different from that of the CPI(M), Banerjee has ultimately employed their tactics in her political dealings – so much so that police, on her watch, have resorted to atrocities similar to that of their counterpart under the Communist rule. The 22 May police atrocities on the agitating Left cadres and journalists corroborate this.
As for Banerjee’s present political stance, political analyst Sibaji Pratim Basu tells The Quint:
The scenario is entirely different because Mamata is no longer in the Opposition. What she is indulging in today is “juggling politics” – she is trying to pacify the CPI(M) whenever the BJP is committing excesses and trying to approach the BJP strategically now, as it is the party in power at the Centre. She is in fact meeting prime Minister Modi on Thursday.
Biswajit Roy echoes the same thoughts:
What we journalists want to see is Mamata’s treatment of the Left and the BJP as far as police action is concerned. The political dynamics of the state of Bengal depend on this. How much will she want to antagonise the BJP – that is the question.
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