Nor is the TMC’s antipathy restricted to only the BJP because it is ruling the Centre. The Congress and the Left forces fare no better. These days, the TMC is chummy only with the equally unpredictable Aam Aadmi Party.

However, it would be wise not to set too much store by this. Only a few months ago, senior TMC leader and Minister Subrata Mukherjee had stressed that parties like the AAP belong to the “here today, gone tomorrow” category. TMC Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had put it more succinctly: “AAP, baap re baap!” she had said.

Almost daily, the TMC attacks the Centre for its “ruthless exploitation” of West Bengal, its alleged lack of adequate funding for state projects, its “use of the CBI and other investigating agencies to hound political opponents”. A brief examination of these allegations would expose their utter hollowness.

The fact is, the Centre collects no more than its annual interest from Bengal, on huge loans the state had incurred earlier. Delhi has not announced a moratorium on the principle. By the TMC’s logic, nationalised banks that urge upon their borrowers, big or small, to repay their loans taken, can be accused of “exploitation”.

The CBI was entrusted to probe the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam, India’s worst chit fund scandal, in which the involvement of top TMC leaders is an established fact, on an order passed by the Supreme Court. The TMC had tried its best to block the CBI and the ED from coming in, spending over Rs 12 crore of taxpayers’ money in a costly, and unsuccessful, legal wrangle. For a debt-ridden state, many found the state’s financial policies and priorities somewhat odd.

Given this backdrop, it causes no surprise that the TMC finds it hard to get along with institutions like the National Human Rights Commission, the Election Commission, (at Central and state levels) the National Commission for Women, whose autonomy is by the Constitution defined. The TMC, guided solely by its only one and only leader Mamata Banerjee, has been characteristically embroiled in bitter controversies with each of these bodies.

net result: the head of the HR body is Delhi has been forced to resign over an alleged sexual harassment case where the complainant mysteriously refused to come forward. The HR body in the state is currently headed by a former police chief and hardly functions these days. As for the NCW, its chairpersons have repeatedly complained of the non-co-operation of the West Bengal government in reporting/investigating rapes, gang rapes and other gender-related misdemeanours.

In fact the TMC government does not even send regular annual reports on crimes, major incidents and the law and order situation to the National Crime Bureau, unlike other states.

The TMC has frequently clashed with the State Election Commission, usually headed by former officials retired from work, for the sake of maintaining their autonomous status. Until recently, Ms Banerjee’s running battle with former SEC Ms Mira Pandey, over issues like police postings, force deployments, phases of polling etc, usually extended to the Supreme Court, with Ms Pandey mostly winning on points. But Ms Banerjee has a formidable reputation as a bad loser and Ms Pandey’s tenure was not exactly trouble-free.

With Pandey’s successor, Mr Sushantaranjan Upadhyay, a retired former WBCS officer, the TMC was on firmer ground. The new EC went along with the TMC in most cases, (living up to his name, apparently) until recently. This was good for a snigger among opposition parties in Bengal and political analysts.

Yet, over the seemingly minor matter of holding pending civic elections at Bally, Rajarhat, Asansol and Siliguri, even the mild-mannered Upadhyay felt he had to resign in a hurry, even before the police process had been completed! The reason: as he put it, he was put ‘under pressure’ by ruling party politicians, who virtually gheraoed him for over four hours in the name of sending a deputation.

The ‘deputation’ consisted of several senior Ministers, who had brought with them large numbers of slogan shouting youths who surrounded the EC office. EC insiders alleged that not only the Ministers had repeatedly thumped the table while speaking to the EC, they warned him that a larger procession would arrive in the area soon, unless the EC ordered that counting of votes would be held on schedule, on October 7 and the results declared officially.

The EC’s crime was that in view of the worst, widespread, unprecedented violence, intimidation and poll rigging that would have put to shame the worst of excesses seen in Bihar or UP earlier, he had considered a repoll. He had little choice, having seen detailed coverage of unbridled hooliganism in most areas on the TV channels. No fewer that 21 working journalists were bashed up by rampaging TMC goons during 4-5 hours of ‘polling’ (rigging?) — and this, over a minor bout of civic polls!

Even as Upadhyay, much to his credit held out, he had a phone call from a VIP that he could not ignore, while he was briefing the press. When he resumed his briefing, the shaken EC changed his stand by 180 degrees, saying there would be a repoll only at a few booths, no more. Most observers’ reports, he said, claimed a fair, peaceful poll.

This against a backdrop of incidents on electronic media showing how old men and women had not been spared by bomb-throwing, lathi wielding youths who took over entire booths and prevented CCTVs from functioning. The police looked the other way. Long queues of genuine voters waited for hours, without relief, as armed’ outsiders ‘terrorised officials and stamped on ballots’.

The following day, Upadhyay did not report for work and went to the Raj Bhavan in the afternoon to submit his resignation. Was the state government embarrassed? For the TMC, ”embarrassment’ and “apology” are not words to be found in the dictionary. After one or two officials had turned down the offer, the intrepid Transport Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay, a former journalist, accepted the challenge, agreeing to become the acting EC, on the Chief Minister’s request.

“The TMC has reduced the EC to the status of a routine government department,” opposition leaders said in unison. And well they might, for the new appointment had been made avoiding a Cabinet meeting, a standard procedure. The new man had not even resigned from his present post of Transport Ministry, but TMC sources said that of course he would. Apparently, their verbal assurance was enough.

The new appointment has been challenged by political activists at the Kolkata High Court, where the judge asked some sharp questions of government counsel and the Advocate General. However, he did not issue any interim order to suspend the polling process. A ruling would be announced on November 23.

The irony: Given the state of the divided opposition, the TMC would have won this round of elections hands down anyway, most observers were agreed. (IPA Service)