The use of killer bombs and other incendiaries to settle political scores had begun during the three decade-old Marxist rule in West Bengal. Instead of ending this pernicious intrusion of violence in the conduct of party politics, the successor Mamata Banerjee regime co-opted the same miscreants into her party who now target the Marxists and others opposed to the TMC government. In the last couple of days, the blind eye to the illegal bomb-manufacturing cottage industries has resulted in at least five accidental deaths. The chief minister has sought to dismiss them as illegal firecracker factories, knowing full well that these are crude-bomb making units meant for use against her political rivals.
West Bengal was never known to be a manufacturing hub for Diwali firecrackers. Tamil Nadu is. Clearly, the Trinamool Congress leader seeks to make light of the criminal activities that go on unchecked and unpunished as the criminals tend to support the ruling party. Mamata Banerjee while in Opposition used to complain how the ruling Marxists patronized the criminal mafia to stay in power. Now, she is guilty on the same count. Unless the higher judiciary intervenes and orders a crackdown on the so-called factories making firecrackers, more violence in the state politics will blight its future, making it harder for it to return to the path of socio-economic revival.
(To receive our E-paper on WhatsApp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
