General elections in West Bengal are yet to begin. But already, Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee is working as hard as is humanly possible, to win her declared crusade against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A few observers are convinced that she is pushing herself to the limits of endurance in fighting her most difficult political battle.
Not easy at her estimated age of 66 — Mamata admits that there could be some confusion over her date of birth, with two versions doing the rounds — even though she is a fitness freak.
Also, this is a seven-phase election and will stretch up to May 23. Therefore, she will have little time to recover physically.
However, the physical side of the battle is the least of her concerns.
Trinamool has been caught at its weakest going into the 2019 polls. The major reason: old allegations of rampant corruption, financial irregularities, misuse of legal authority and administrative power, against leaders, including her family members.
For some time now, TMC leaders and senior state officials have been facing prolonged legal battles over grave charges in the Supreme Court and the High Court of Kolkata in ongoing litigation.
And now time seems to be running out. The tenor of court proceedings which are reported widely, the hearings could end soon and the verdicts announced, within the new few weeks. There’s a distinct possibility that many TMC heads could roll.
Forget for now the televised, scandalous Narada scam which showed over a dozen TMC ministers and leaders taking bribes openly from someone whom many of them did not know.
The Sarada Chit Fund scam, the biggest of its type in India, hit the headlines since 2013, when its chief sponsor Sudipta Sen was arrested as his company went bust.
At least two million people, including the low-income group, lost their savings— exceeding Rs 20,000 crore— in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.
Many could not recover from the blow and at least 120 mostly poor people killed themselves, the majority in Bengal. From the chief minister downwards, many top TMC leaders were known for their direct involvement in the running and the business conducted by the Sarada Group.
As a national outcry arose against the wrongdoers, who had invested elaborately in phony media start ups, real estate deals and other sectors only to report massive losses later, the TMC government sat on the allegations.
Its efforts in ordering the state police to ‘investigate and arrest’ the culprits were not convincing. The State, while threatening fire and brimstone against Sudipta Sen and company, actually spent Rs 12 crore in appointing lawyers who tried to stall a fair probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Soon, nearly a dozen TMC leaders, including state ministers and parliamentarians, were arrested. They were held for varying periods, for up to over three years in one case. Then they were released on bail as the probe went on.
But the CBI probe could not progress as senior State and Kolkata city police officials, led by Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, allegedly did not co-operate with it.
Despite repeated requests they did not hand over even basic evidence relating to the massive scam as directed by the Supreme Court.
There seemed to be a deliberate effort to destroy evidence linking the TMC leaders with the chit fund company. There were long delays in handing over routine papers, hard drives, mobile call records, etc. Most shockingly, even when they were, they were found to have been tampered with!
When the CBI asked state officials about this, the latter did not respond or explain how such tampering of evidence had occurred, how documents were lost, while the materials were in the custody of the state police.
Worse, not only state police officials misbehaved and ignored the CBI men working in Kolkata, when they went to question Kumar at his residence after many efforts to run him down had failed, they were arrested by Kolkata policemen!
Chief Minister Mamata went on a ‘dharna’ (sit-in protest) alleging that New Delhi was carrying out a coup against an elected government.
Such moves by the state government and the chief minister herself could only strengthen general suspicions that there was a direct connect between the TMC leadership and the loot of money.
In short, there was a physical effort on part of state officials and the administration to prevent the CBI from establishing any kind of link between the ruling party leaders and the defunct Sarada group, which the top court had specifically ordered to be ascertained.
Later Kumar was ordered by the Supreme Court to meet the CBI men at Shillong and answer their questions, offering his full co-operation.
Kumar again did not co-operate which was duly reported to the court, which has now allowed Kumar a week’s time to answer to explain his behaviour and role in the suppression of evidence against the ruling political establishment, Trinamool. Other officers assisting Kumar in Bengal could well be arrested soon, according to reports.
Ironically three TMC leaders — Arpita Ghosh, Satabdi Roy and Sudip Bandopadhyay — have been given Lok Sabha election tickets. All have been beneficiaries from the Sarada group’s activities, drawing huge salaries in one capacity or another.
The first two were officially questioned in connexion with the probe by CBI and other officials. Sudip was arrested and sent to jail for a spell before being admitted to hospital.
The question naturally arises, what will happen if any of these people are found guilty at the end of the probe? There is no question that the TMC will lose much of its political standing and credibility. However, going by the behaviour of Chief Minister Mamata, that is the least of her concerns.
A source close to Mamata maintains that given the era of coalition politics that may prevail at the centre again, the polls’ results may well ensure that the TMC will get a chance again to resume a centre-stage role in Delhi, particularly if the BJP weakens or loses out to the Congress and regional parties.
As with Mayabati, Akhilesh Yadav, Laloo Prasad Yadav and other major Indian leaders, Mamata and her Trinamool may still count as a strong political entity — corrupt in public perception, but effective!
However, there could be a major impact of the court proceedings elsewhere to the detriment of the TMC’s interests. There is no doubt that the Bengal police and administration is in for a major shake-up and introspection as the court cases proceed.
The unfortunate notion that officials and bureaucrats can cross the line in favour of this or that political party, defying their service rules in Bengal and enjoy immunity/plum postings from the state government, has taken a beating.
There is little doubt that in the coming days of Lok Shabha elections, TMC strong-arm tactics may not be carried out as openly and daringly as seen during the scandalously conducted polls to the local government unit of Panchayat a few months ago.
The fear of official retribution may ironically ensure more fair election for the Lok Sabha in Bengal, and embolden people to cast their votes in greater numbers — a major gain by any reckoning!
Among Bengal official circles there is much sotto voce talk and speculation these days about what may eventually happen to Kumar and the officers he had led, during the handling of the Sarada chit fund scam. No wonder!