Didi needs new ideas
True to type, on Friday West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee stormed off the set of a television programme on the occasion of her government’s first anniversary. In a rant she denounced as “CPI(M)” or “Maoist” young members of the studio audience who had dared to ask uncomfortable questions on various examples of the high-handedness that have characterised her tenure. It appears that the police has also been given instructions to get photographs of those who had dared question her. All of this confirms the reputation of a leader who is intolerant rather than impatient, who brooks no criticism, and who remains inexplicably insecure in spite of her mind-boggling triumph over the CPI(M)-led Left Front just one year ago. But it is too early to write off the anti-Marxist stormy petrel of whom most other politicians remain wary, and whose adherence to a set of coherent ideas seems to many a matter of speculation.
A year after taking office, Ms Banerjee claims to have fulfilled nearly all the promises she made. This is open to question. Indeed, she has barely begun work on any. But two things stand out in her favour. The less noticed one is that she has ended the culture of bandhs, strikes and “rasta-rokos”, which had become a regrettable characteristic of Marxist Bengal. The other is the relative calm in Maoist-infested Junglemahal. To capitalise on these gains, the chief minister needs ideas and positive action. That is what she has to prove she is capable of.
Comments
Didi needs to have her head
Kamath
22 May 2012 - 00:03
Didi needs to have her head examined.
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