Kolkata, June 02: “Her greatest enemy is her own tongue,” a veteran Congress politician once said of Mamata Banerjee. He was right.
At a time when her political career in West Bengal is at its brightest point, an untimely derogatory remark about a dead social worker, who was a CPI(M) member, has again left the Trinamool Congress chief and railway minister at the receiving end of criticism.
Aurobindo Dhar alias Bapi was hit in “unprovoked” firing by a Tripura State Rifles constable when he was standing in queue to cast his vote during Sunday’s civic polls in Kolkata.
He was rushed to a local hospital where he died after a 36-hour struggle on Tuesday morning.
Immediately after Bapi was shifted to hospital, Banerjee called him an ill-reputed antisocial with a criminal record. “If police had not fired, he would have killed the cop,” she said.
This angered Bapi’s neighbours, who adored him as a social worker and a man who was always willing to help those in distress. They demanded an immediate apology from Banerjee.
While criticism from the CPI(M) was expected, intellectuals and writers not known to be close to the party and even Trinamool leaders rejected Banerjee’s comment as “baseless, irresponsible, and motivated by dirty politics”.
At many places, Banerjee’s effigies were burnt, forcing her to quickly change tack and call the killing a CPI(M) conspiracy to gain political mileage.
“Yes, Bapi was a CPI(M) member from a very young age. But in the locality, he was regarded highly for his helpful nature,” a Trinamool Congress member staying in the same locality as Bapi told DNA. “Be it organising blood donation camps or shiftingan ailing person to hospital or arranging funds for marriages, he was always at the forefront. I do not understand why our leader made such a comment.”
Two noted Bengali writers, who knew the social worker personally, described him as a “lover of literature”. Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay said Bapi had no criminal record and was very fond of literature, while Sunil Gangopadhyay said, “Mamata is making such irresponsible and nasty allegations just because Bapi belonged to her opposition.”
LN Meena, superintendent of police, South 24 Parganas, confirmed that Bapi did not have a criminal record. He also confirmed that the firing by the Tripura Police constable was “unprovoked” and said the constable had been suspended and a probe ordered against him.
–Agencies–