‘Mamata wants to silence us’
Comparing the situation under the Mamata Banerjee government’s rule in West Bengal with the one which prevailed in the country during the Emergency rule in 1975, CPI(M) politburo member Surjya Kanta Mishra on Thursday said that democracy was being trampled and freedom of the citizens was facing serious threat.
“Just as during the Emergency, black laws like Misa and Preventive Detention Act were misused to punish people who criticised the Centre’s policy, this government is implicating innocent people in false cases to silence them,” he added. Mr Mishra was addressing a rally of All-Bengal Teachers Association at Rani Rashmoni Road crossing. He said that the state government did not give the Opposition its right to organise meetings. “Former chief minister and leader of Left movement Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been denied permission to address a meeting — not an open rally but inside a hall — in Hooghly. This reminds of the dark days of 1970s,” he added.
The CPI(M) Hooghly district unit had planned a workers conference inside an auditorium in Arambagh to be addressed by Mr Bhattacharjee. However, the SDO refused to give permission on the ground that the meeting may adversely affect the law and order situation.
Tearing into Ms Banerjee for advising the Opposition to keep its mouth shut for at least 10 years, Mr Mishra said it smacked of authoritarianism. “She wants to silence us because she is scared,” he claimed.
He claimed that it would be wrong to believe that the attack on democratic rights would be confined to the Left parties only. “Common people who dare to voice their opinion would also meet the same fate. The chief minister branded a poor farmer a Maoist and then ordered his arrest only because he had dared to question her during a rally,” Mr Mishra added.
The CPI(M) politburo member said that in the past 15 months violence in college campuses has increased alarmingly and even the teachers were being attacked.
Post new comment