Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri Dean Business School IIPM
DR. MALAY CHAUDHURI, Chief Consulting Editor, The Sunday Indian
Looking at the television pictures of Khejuri, a block under the district of east Midnapore, West Bengal (situated next to Nandigram, made famous by the killing of 14 people in 14 March 2007), I can't help asking myself the question: Am I living in India or in some distant part of Africa, where killings happen every now and then, propelled by ex-colonial powers for neo-colonial interests of their own? It has been written in all leading papers of West Bengal that truckloads of people enter villages in Khejuri armed with weapons, primitive as well as modern, backed by ‘harmads’ (CPM goons hired by the party for specific purposes, brought from neighbouring states or districts). They are supported by the local police either actively or by remaining passive allowing them to destroy, burn down houses, kill people who oppose them. It is written in CPM's paper Ganashakti that these people actually lived in Khejuri before the Lok Sabha elections of 09.
In that election, Trinamool candidates won the majority of the seats and a Trinamool party member became the MP of Khejuri. In the post-election scenario, many cadres and active supporters of CPM were evicted from their respective villages as they had participated in various shenanigans organised by the "party" amounting to politico-social tyranny of villagers (for example, not allowing labourers to work in the fields of those boycotted by the party for one reason or the other). Apparently, these displaced persons are now returning to their respective villages, but led by CPM ‘cadres’ and ‘harmads’. Displaced villagers should of course come back to their houses, supported and guided by the local police to protect them from the onslaught of those who drove them away. These displaced people cannot however come back with the support of party cadres or harmads and that too with weapons of all kinds. What happened in the villages of Khejuri is a sort of a civil war. If this happens and continues to happen in different areas of West Bengal villages, then it certainly calls for intervention by the central government, which should consider imposing President's rule, if necessary, and setting up the stage for the upcoming elections, which is the root cause of the rise in the killings. When the local police cannot impose the rule of law, the Centre has the duty to uphold the Constitutional rights of the citizens. It seems various political calculations to perpetuate present administration at the Centre have prevented the Central government from imposing law and order in one or the other part of the country, throwing the citizens of those parts to wolves of various hues – sometimes Stalinists of West Bengal, sometimes semi-communal political forces in Mumbai and elsewhere.
If 60,000 central reserve forces can peacefully organise voting that is free of rigging in a state like Bihar now, and even in Bengal a year and a half back organising elections in five phases, it seems that a maximum of three lakh central reserve force will be required to maintain law and order in a state of the size of West Bengal or Bihar. Assuming an expenditure of Rs 2,50,000 per annum per person on wages and weapons, it will cost only Rs.7,500 crore per annum, which is only a little more than one per cent of central government's annual budget. This expenditure is a must and most necessary if rule of law is to be maintained whenever one part of India goes outside the purview of civilised democratic norms.
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DR. MALAY CHAUDHURI, Chief Consulting Editor, The Sunday IndianLooking at the television pictures of Khejuri, a block under the district of east Midnapore, West Bengal (situated next to Nandigram, made famous by the killing of 14 people in 14 March 2007), I can't help asking myself the question: Am I living in India or in some distant part of Africa, where killings happen every now and then, propelled by ex-colonial powers for neo-colonial interests of their own? It has been written in all leading papers of West Bengal that truckloads of people enter villages in Khejuri armed with weapons, primitive as well as modern, backed by ‘harmads’ (CPM goons hired by the party for specific purposes, brought from neighbouring states or districts). They are supported by the local police either actively or by remaining passive allowing them to destroy, burn down houses, kill people who oppose them. It is written in CPM's paper Ganashakti that these people actually lived in Khejuri before the Lok Sabha elections of 09.
In that election, Trinamool candidates won the majority of the seats and a Trinamool party member became the MP of Khejuri. In the post-election scenario, many cadres and active supporters of CPM were evicted from their respective villages as they had participated in various shenanigans organised by the "party" amounting to politico-social tyranny of villagers (for example, not allowing labourers to work in the fields of those boycotted by the party for one reason or the other). Apparently, these displaced persons are now returning to their respective villages, but led by CPM ‘cadres’ and ‘harmads’. Displaced villagers should of course come back to their houses, supported and guided by the local police to protect them from the onslaught of those who drove them away. These displaced people cannot however come back with the support of party cadres or harmads and that too with weapons of all kinds. What happened in the villages of Khejuri is a sort of a civil war. If this happens and continues to happen in different areas of West Bengal villages, then it certainly calls for intervention by the central government, which should consider imposing President's rule, if necessary, and setting up the stage for the upcoming elections, which is the root cause of the rise in the killings. When the local police cannot impose the rule of law, the Centre has the duty to uphold the Constitutional rights of the citizens. It seems various political calculations to perpetuate present administration at the Centre have prevented the Central government from imposing law and order in one or the other part of the country, throwing the citizens of those parts to wolves of various hues – sometimes Stalinists of West Bengal, sometimes semi-communal political forces in Mumbai and elsewhere.
If 60,000 central reserve forces can peacefully organise voting that is free of rigging in a state like Bihar now, and even in Bengal a year and a half back organising elections in five phases, it seems that a maximum of three lakh central reserve force will be required to maintain law and order in a state of the size of West Bengal or Bihar. Assuming an expenditure of Rs 2,50,000 per annum per person on wages and weapons, it will cost only Rs.7,500 crore per annum, which is only a little more than one per cent of central government's annual budget. This expenditure is a must and most necessary if rule of law is to be maintained whenever one part of India goes outside the purview of civilised democratic norms.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM ranks No 1 in International Exposure in the 'Third Mail Today B-School Survey'
IIPM Excom Prof Rajita Chaudhuri
Kapil Sibal’s voters want Jan Lokpal, not Government-proposed Lokpal Bill
IIPM: What is E-PAT?
"Thorns to Competition" amongst the top 10 best sellers of the week.
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS
'Thorns to Competition' - You can order your copy online from here
IIPM Mumbai Campus
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