Mamata Banerjee seems to be in a tearing hurry to fritter away her mandate. The way she has conducted herself can only revive the fortunes of the Marxists and hasten their return to power. Her latest act defies commonsense.
Ordering the ar
rest of a university don who had forwarded a harmless cartoon poking fun at the abrupt change in the Railway Ministry was a throwback to the dark days of the Emergency.
Before the police slapped charges of eve- teasing, humiliation of a woman, defamation, etc., against the professor and his friend, the two had been thoroughly thrashed by goons belonging to the ruling party. Apparently, the IT Act had come in handy to trace the sender of the impugned cartoon. That was another reason why the above law should be revisited. Otherwise, every humorless ruler would misuse it to clamp down on the fundamental right of all citizens to freedom of expression. This is no way for any chief minister to behave. Worse, Banerjee always remains in denial. Denying that a young woman was raped in Kolkata. Denying that scores of newly- born babies in government hospitals had died due to lack of basic equipment and medicines. Denying that she had banned certain newspapers critical of her Tughlakesque ways from the State- run libraries. Frankly, the list of her inanities is quite long. Because she is surrounded by self- seekers there is nobody in the Trinamool Congress to give her sane advice. We only hope she can change her ways before it is too late. At this rate, we cannot see how she will be able to complete her full five- year term.
