Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 20: The tussle between the centre and the newly re-elected Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal is becoming murkier with every passing day.
After the governor Jagdeep Dhankhar claimed of “total lawlessness” in the state since the election results were declared earlier this month, which the chief minister Mamata Banerjee had claimed was part of the centre’s plans to prepare grounds for the imposition of the president’s rule in the state, the arrest by the CBI of four TMC activists, including two ministers of the Banerjee cabinet, while sparing two BJP leaders accused in the same corruption case, further exposed the centre-state rift.
Banerjee put out all her venom against the prime minister, who failed to dislodge her government in the elections, after a meeting Narendra Modi held with 10 chief ministers and some district officials on Thursday to discuss the Covid situation.
Taking strong exception to the participating chief ministers not being allowed to speak at the virtual meeting with the prime minister, Banerjee said, “It was just a casual, super flop meeting. We, the CMs, felt insulted and humiliated,” she told journalists at the State Secretariat after the conclusion of the meeting.
Banerjee said she thought that she would be allowed to speak and raise issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic but was shocked and astonished at not being allowed to speak. She also added that she had listed down several points she wanted to raise with Modi.
“The country is passing through a critical juncture but the Prime Minister’s approach is very casual. They have demolished the federal structure…If the Chief Ministers were not allowed to speak, why were they invited?,” she asked.
Banerjee said all chief ministers were made to sit like “puppets” and claimed a “dictatorship” is prevailing in the country.
“The Prime Minister called a meeting and invited the chief ministers. And all the chief ministers were sitting like puppets. Nobody was allowed to speak. Then how do we speak about the public demands? We are not bonded labourers. We feel insulted and humiliated. A dictatorship is going on. The Prime Minister is feeling so insecure that he did not even listen to the chief ministers. What is this fear about?” Banerjee asked.
The chief minister slammed the PM for taking the Covid 19 situation in the country “lightly” and “evading” queries from various states on vaccines, oxygen and covid 19 medicines.
“Today the federal structure is being bulldozed. The Centre has time to build massive buildings and statues but has no time to listen to the chief ministers. The country is at a critical juncture but the PM is so casual (in his approach). It was a casual and super flop meeting. Delhi’s Shahhenshah is saying sab theek hai (all is well) when everyday people are dying,” said Banerjee.
Banerjee said vaccines, medicines, oxygen, remdesivir were not being provided by the Centre, and the States could not procure these from markets because of non-availability.
Referring to the slow pace of vaccination, Banerjee said, “If States were to accept his [PM’s] formula of vaccination, it will take 10 years to vaccinate people”.
“It was one-way insult, one-way humiliation…No Chief Minister was allowed to speak. Only a few district magistrates from BJP-ruled States were allowed to speak,” she said.
She was furious at the river Ganges, which ultimately flow down through West Bengal before meeting the sea, being polluted with bodies suspected Covid victims thrown into the river in Uttar Pradesh.
In an obvious reference to central teams being rushed to her state to “assess” the post-election violence, Banerjee asked how many Central teams were sent to UP when bodies of suspected COVID patients were found floating in river Ganga.
“The Centre has turned Namami Gange into Mrityupuri Gange. Covid-19 infected bodies are being dumped in the Ganga in UP and those are flowing into Bengal. It is polluting the water and causing damage to the environment. This is also increasing the Covid-19 infection. So many dead bodies are being dumped in Ganga and there is no record. You cannot compromise with nature. Why not central teams or CBI teams are sent there to take stock of the situation? The CBI does not reach their doorstep,” said Banerjee.
She also accused the Centre of indulging in “vendetta politics” during the time of pandemic.
“I will not speak on matters relating to courts, but it is political vendetta. Three to four days have passed, Subrata Mukherjee and Firhad Hakim [State Ministers] are not allowed to deal with the pandemic,” Banerjee said, referring to the arrest of the two Ministers in Narada alleged corruption case.
Speaking on the COVID situation in the State, Banerjee charged that the infection had reached rural areas because of the eight-phase election.
Earlier this month, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had claimed the PM did not listen to him during the conversation over the phone on Covid situation in the state and that “it just a monologue” from Modi.
Her one-time friend and now turned foe, Suvendu Adhikari, who has since joined the BJP and was recently elected the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly, however, lambasted Banerjee over her comments and said she had once again shown “her total disinterest” in administration while pointing out the meeting was convened to discuss grassroots level practices to fight the pandemic. “True to her style, she has politicised a meeting Hon’ble PM @narendramodi held with District Officials, where grassroots level practices to fight Covid-19 were being discussed,” tweeted Adhikari. He claimed that five of the seven district officials, who spoke at the meeting belonged to non-BJP ruled states–Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh.
In his address, Modi said India’s battle against Covid-19 required continuous change and up-gradation of plans and innovations while cautioning it will not be over if the virus remains even in a small area of the country. He said there was more concern now about young people and children.
Modi said the vaccine supplies would be strengthened and emphasised the need to save the villages as he sought more ideas and new practices to tackle the pandemic. He described the virus as “dhurt bahurupiya”, while referring to its mutations. “Every phase of the pandemic has taught us that constant change, up-gradation, and constant innovation were the key to fight the pandemic. This virus is famous for changing itself through mutations. It is like a bahurupiya and it is clever as well. So, our strategies and plans should also be dynamic,” he said.
Modi commended the Union health ministry’s plan of providing vaccine stocks that will last 15 days and called for a need for a vaccination calendar. He added more transparency in the supply of vaccines will make the inoculation campaign easier.
Modi said sensitivity and patience were essential in this battle. He called earning people’s trust the key to success. Modi said the field experience was more valuable than intellectual debate. As infections have been spreading in smaller cities and rural areas, Modi urged the district administrators to reach out to the people and convince them to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour to curb the spread. “Your presence, your speeches can remove fear among people.”
Banerjee separately wrote to Modi demanding more vaccines. “Earlier we had demanded three crore vaccines. Now we are demanding 8.6 crore doses so that we can vaccinate all citizens. If we get the vaccines, we can vaccinate every citizen within three months.
Banerjee expressed doubts over the gap prescribed between two doses of Covid-19 vaccines. She questioned whether the gap was being increased to cover up for the scarcity of vaccines.