Now the Congress(I) at the centre , too, largely under pressure from the TMC, has joined the unsavoury political fray. By writing to State Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee about the deteriorating law and order situation, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has not exactly covered himself in glory. It is akin to someone from neutral corner in a boxing ring suddenly land his own rabbit punch on one of the battling pugilists!

All three parties are to blame. The prime responsibility for engineering this totally unnecessary confrontation between West Bengal and the Centre is that of Ms Mamata Banerjee of the TMC.

Even her admirers admit that when she seeks to achieve an objective, patience is not one of her virtues. Now that the TMC sniffs a possible victory in the state assembly elections, yet to be announced, TMC hardliners have taken the bit between their teeth, their supreme leader leading the hungry pack.

Central Congress leaders privately admit that in some ways, it was preferable to have the Left parties supporting them from outside, as was the case with the first UPA Ministry, rather than sharing house with an ally like the TMC. For a young regional party, the TMC has picked up and perfected the art of political blackmail remarkably quickly.

Consider its tactics. Its only leader always takes care to avoid important cabinet meetings where unpleasant decisions have to be taken for the sake of governance — decisions that may contribute to price rise, for instance. To screaming hordes of supporters in Kolkata, she says,”We were not there when the centre decided that, we did not support it.”

Back in Delhi, she does not raise the issue with the centre, letting the decision stand, even assuring the Prime Minister of her “total support”! A classic case of riding with the hares and hunting with the hounds. She has also held up the passage of the proposed Land Acquisition Bill for months, aware that after Nandigram and Singur, her support would shatter her own credibility. When the Railways increase the freight charges, as happened recently, it does so silently. In some ways, she has proved to be a greater bugbear for the second UPA than other allies of the Congress(I).

It has always been a passion with the indefatigable Ms Banerjee to demand President’s rule in West Bengal, depending on the fluctuation in Bengal’s weather, or the changing phases of the moon. Now that the TMC has failed to inflame passions over the Rajarhat land acquisition, the CPI(M) defending itself admirably, the party is desperately short on issues. So back it goes to the demand for central intervention, again in a typical blackmailing fashion.

The supreme leader, protesting against the law and order, announces on a TV channel that unless the centre” listens”, her party will resign from the UPA and go it alone in the Assembly polls. She has complained “at least 20 times “to New Delhi and sent 10 volumes of reports on the situation in West Bengal.

When media persons and central Congress(I) leaders besiege her for clarification, she demurely denies the resignation threat and says (on a different channel),”It seems I’ll have to speak more carefully during TV interviews!” Of such stuff are political “leaders” made these days!

Still, the centre did take her seriously this time. Else, Mr Chidambaram would never have written his letter dated December 21 to Bhattacharjee, which the latter received only on December 27, thanks to the efficiency of the Postal department, which is not run by West Bengal.

And long before it reached Bhattacharjee, the local print and electronic media had reported and analysed its contents thoroughly, even as Chief Minister and officials kept saying, they had not got it!

Mr. Chidambaram quoted recent figures on the pre-poll violence in the state and made the telling point that it seemed there was no law and order in some parts of the state. He was certainly right there, especially if one takes into account the law and order situation in parts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts, where the centre and state have jointly been fighting the Maoist menace. Even elsewhere, with violence costing human lives in colleges and daily demos and rallies which led to violence in Kolkata and other towns, the situation is hardly peaceful. The ruling Left front had certainly much to answer on that score. Left parties and its administration, the police etc have totally failed to maintain law and order.

There is an interesting answer again, to the question, why has this happened? If it is true that the CPI(M) in the past has been accused of unleashing and encouraging violence against its opponents, now the TMC is also hitting back with equal intensity. The CPI(M) is only hoist on its own petard, and the partisan police, confused, is in a quandary. It has become an eye for an eye situation, as against one party domination that prevailed earlier. Truly a situation where the common man may say, a plague on both your houses.

The most objectionable part in the letter from the centre, from the Left point of view was that (a) it had been leaked to the media before it reached the addressee and (b) the offending observation in it, that left-supported “Harmad (anti-social)” groups were maintaining armed camps in Midnapore. What was the point of a “joint operation” against the Maoists, then?

Predictably attacking the centre on the first point, the CPI(M) leaders admitted that left supporters displaced from their homes by the aggression of TMC supporters were living in camps, but they were not armed.

Now this reply, even if true, would not have sounded very convincing. CPI(M) supporters have never been renowned for their adherence to Gandhian methods , in Midnapore or elsewhere. The possibility that they would now embrace non violence after having been displaced by their opponents, is exceedingly hard to imagine.

In one sense then, the situation is unique: the TMC is certainly provoking violence in some areas in with tandem with Maoists and then complaining to the centre that it must impose President’s rule. The CPI(M) rightly complains of low level politicking by both the TMC and the Congress. And the Congress, reeling under the impact of massive corruption and runaway price rise, can scarcely afford to lose its mercurial, unpredictable ally at the Centre. Truly, these are interesting times. (IPA Service)