Ms Banerjee now sees the judiciary, rather the Calcutta High Court, as her main challenger in governance. The opposition parties it seems, have been decimated already. ‘It seems that the courts are running the government these days,’ she said at a function the other day.

Her displeasure is understandable. The State’s recent appointment of ‘ Parliamentary Secretaries’ from among MLAs to improve official efficiency, was struck down as unconstitutional and illegal by the High Court. Worse, the court order did not allow the state any time to file an appeal to the Supreme Court. This meant that until the Apex court upheld the state’s stand and reversed the verdict, 23 Parliamentary Secretaries had lost their jobs.

This was an embarrassing setback to the Trinamool Congress-run (TMC) Government. Although only “Secretaries’ by definition, the new appointees since 2013 were enjoying the status of Ministers of state, with the same financial benefits and perks. Their basic salary was modest Rs 8000 or so. But this was bolstered by a daily allowance of Rs 1000, a car, driver, two secretaries, and unlimited allowances for medical, telephone , power and sundry other needs..

Surprisingly, neither the Chief Minister nor anyone else in the state government ever deigned to explain how exactly has the functioning of the state administration has improved by such a measure. The real story, according to some insiders is that Ms Banerjee wanted to keep her large flock of MLAs happy somehow, since all could not be made Ministers! ‘Surely this is an unforeseen downside to parties that win an uncomfortably large majority,’ says an observer.

Ms Banerjee shrugged off the latest legal snub as of little consequence, calling it a ‘small matter’. This is a description she patented. She uses it while referring to group clashes, to murders, or the increasing number of rape cases in West Bengal. She also met Minister for Law Chandrima Bhattacharjee, MP Kalyan Banerjee and others to discuss a possible appeal in the Apex court.

The High court followed this up with another directive to the state government that was even more embarrassing politically. It ordered District authorities and the police officials of Midnapore to make sure that 10 Congress councilors could vote in peace and full security to elect the new civic board at Kharagpur. The ruling TMC failed to achieve a majority on its own. Having been threatened by local TMC leaders AND the police from the SP Bharati Ghosh to lower ranked officers, who strongly advised them not to vote ‘for their own safety and that of their families’ for days, Congressmen had little choice but to approach the judiciary for relief!

To give just one example of how alarming the law and order situation is, recent incidents in Birbhum district can be cited. In this district, from September 2014 to the present, no fewer than five police officers have been appointed and removed as the officer-in-charge of a particular thana, Parui. During the last nine months, the predominantly agricultural Parui and nearby villages have seen nothing but group clashes between armed goons supporting the TMC and the BJP (sometimes rival TMC groups have also clashed!). There have been endless burning and repeated looting of houses, a few murders and rapes.

Villagers are mostly Muslims. ‘It is as if a never-ending civil war has been in progress in the area, without the least semblance of any administration,’ says Abdul Mannan, senior Congress leader.

‘The worst outcome of the situation at Parui and nearby areas is not just the prolonged violence and hooliganism. Daily, hundreds of crude bombs and pipe guns are used in these clashes. More arrive illegally from other areas, as the explosives industries in the state continues to thrive. Not only their present lives, but even the future of the local people are being destroyed,’ says a media analyst. ‘In the recently held secondary and HS exams, over a hundred students appeared from these villages ---and not one passed! No one from the state administration the Chief Minister, her Ministerial colleagues, the Chief Secretary or others, seem to be the least concerned. Do they want all these boys and girls to become gun runners and hooligans? An entire society has been left to the mercy of anti-socials! says Mannan.’

The takeover of the Kharagpur Municipal Board by crook on Thursday carries its own ominous message. As Congress leader Manas Bhuyan says,’ Thanks to its massive terror campaign and rigging while the state administration remained inactive during the civic polls, the TMC has now won nearly 96% of the elected bodies. Initially it looked as though it had won 75% of these . But then the TMC began a fresh post-poll terror campaign in which the state police played a blatantly partisan role. If the Chief Minister wants an opposition-free West Bengal she should declare it openly ‘ .

Significantly, whenever the state Congress, the CPI(M)-led Left parties and the BJP asked for a comprehensive debate in the Assembly, Speaker Biman Banerjee always rejected their demand. This forced the Congress going on an indefinite boycott of the house, protesting the ‘murder of democracy’. Several times, all three opposition parties and formations have had to stage walk-outs on various issues. Not that all these have made any difference to the running of the house.

Strictly going by the TMC”s own record, there seems to be much substance in Bhuyan’s complaint. Since its tenure began in May 2011, not only has the TMC rendered the state police powerless to deal with party-backed criminals. It has also used a section of pro-TMC officials to crack down on all opposition-sponsored political programmes, not sparing students and women. In the process it has bypassed all autonomous bodies recognized by the Constitution and has been fighting a losing battle against the judiciary.

Not unexpectedly, even during the civic polls, the TMC has been plagued by armed clashes and violence between its own warring factions in Birbhum, North 24 Parganas, North Kolkata, North Bengal and other areas. Some local leaders have been killed and wounded in these intra fights, which have been increasing despite repeated warnings from the Chief Minister.

‘The truth is, having engineered and encouraged political violence to decimate the opposition, Ms Banerjee now cannot control the forces of terror she has unleashed. During the days ahead, the situation will worsen. (IPA Service)