Hari Ram Pandey
4 sept.2011
For decades, the political culture of West Bengal remained different from the rest of India. Money power, big-league corruption and dynastic politics were conspicuously absent. No longer.
Terror and violence have become endemic in the state. At least ten skeletons of Trinamool Congress workers murdered by CPI-M henchmen have been recovered from West Midnapore district, and more bodies may be discovered soon. Money power is growing.
But the new and most disturbing trend is the upsurge in dynastic politics. Mamata Bannerjee is projecting her nephew, Pranab Mukherjee has positioned his son, and they are setting the wrong sort of example for others to follow.
Political families were not absent earlier. But they were different. Ajoy and Bishwanath Mukherjee lived in the same house, but scarcely assisted one another.
Ajoybabu twice became chief minister for short periods in the late '60s after quitting the Congress. Bishwanath Mukherjee, on the other hand, topped as state CPI chief, revered by younger leaders like Gurudas Dasgupta and Nandogopal Bhattacharya. His wife, Geeta Mukherjee, was a prominent MP, but in her own right.
Sarat and Subhash Chandra Bose were brothers as well. Sarat Bose could have risen in the Congress after Independence but resigned from the AICC protesting the attempt to partition Bengal on sectarian lines.
Sarat and Shaheed Suhrawardy worked for a united but independent Bengal and received no support from the Congress or Muslim League. After Independence, Bose lead his brother's Forward Bloc, formed the Socialist Republican Party, and advocated a socialist system for Bengal and India.
There are others from the Subhash Bose family that have come into politics. Sisir Bose, son of Sarat, is in the Congress. Another son of Sarat, Subrata, is in the Forward Bloc. And Sisir's wife, Krishna, joined the Trinamool. But they are not heavyweight leaders, although they have been chosen for their powerful family name.
Somnath Chatterjee, the speaker of the last Lok Sabha, had a redoubtable political father, N.C.Chatterjee. But while the father was from Hindu Mahasabha, the son was a prominent CPI-M leader till his expulsion. Somnath did not get any political advantage because of his father.
That has changed since the '90s. The late A.B.A.Ghani Khan Chowdhury did more than anyone to propagate dynastic politics. Entering the Lok Sabha in 1980, he remained undefeated till his death.
Ghani Khan brought his brother, Abu Hashem Khan Chowdhury, and sister, the late Rubi Noor, into politics. Succeeding his brother, Hashem Khan won from Maldah Lok Sabha constituency.
And after her demise, Rabi Noor's daughter, Mousam Noor, entered the Bengal assembly and won the Maldah Uttar Lok Sabha constituency after bifurcation. A second brother of Ghani Khan, Abu Naser, has become minister in the Mamata Bannerjee-led government.
Ghani Khan Chowdury's support base was largely Muslim. But his reach extended to non-Muslim voters. His family has cashed in on his success.
Shishir Adhikari in East Midnapore district has followed in Ghani Khan's footsteps. He broke from the Congress and joined Trinamool Congress at inception, and is now a Central minister.
Shishir led the Nandigram movement benefiting his son, Suvendu, who joined the Lok Sabha from Tamluk. His brother, Dibyendu, is the Kanthi Dakshin MLA. The Adhikaris have overcome the CPI-M's East Midnapore muscleman, Lakshman Seth, whose wife, Tamalika, was an MLA from 2006-11.
Another Trinamool leader and Union minister, Mukul Roy, got his son, Subhrangshu, elected in the last assembly polls. Subhrangshu has a chequered history of assaulting an election commission officer.
Then there is the rise of couples in politics. Ill and absent, Priya Ranjan Dashmunshi has seen his wife, Deepa, step in for him, win from his Lok Sabha constituency, and become an important state Congress leader.
Sudip Bandopadhyay, a Trinamool minister in the Centre, also brought in his wife, but she has not clicked. Bengal's high-profile communist leader, Subhash Chakrabarty, was always ably assisted by his wife, Ramala. But after his death, she failed to win his assembly constituency.
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, an MP from Trinamool Congress, has, however, succeeded to send her husband, Sudarshan, to the assembly. The late Ajit Panja's daughter-in-law, Sashi Panja, a doctor by profession, has also entered the assembly,
Family politics has not spared the communist parties either. The firebrand Forward Bloc leader from Cooch Behar, Kamal Guha's son, Udayan, has become numero uno in the party and its MLA from Dinhata. The trend has not left Pranab Mukherjee immune, who brought his son, Abhijit, into politics, having him resign his SAIL job.
Twenty years ago, Geeta Mukherjee or Binoy Konar did not owe their prominence to their husband or elder brother. The famous physician, Ranjit Panja, did not become an MP courtesy his brother, Ajit. And Amit Mitra is the finance minister since he is a first rate economist, not because he is related to the Netaji family.
But his boss, Mamata, is propping up her nephew, Abhishek, and the chief-ministership could be his in some years. Bengal has finally accepted dynastic politics, and it cannot give happy results. The CPI-M is not wholly tainted in that respect. But its murderous reign should keep Mamata Bannerjee comfortably going for this term and beyond.
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