A week ahead of her completion of a year in office, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee won accolades from Press Council of India Chairman and former Supreme Court Judge Justice Markandey Katju on Saturday.
“You must see the good in a person,” he said, emerging from his meeting Ms. Banerjee at the State Secretariat.
Justice Katju described Ms. Banerjee as a unique personality who had come from a modest background and who still maintained a simple lifestyle.
“Her integrity is beyond doubt. There is no allegation of a scandal against her. She doesn't have an account in any foreign bank,” Mr. Katju said adding that it was unfair to criticise her.
“It isn't fair to criticise her. Her critics should see her outstanding quality, instead of her defects. Nobody is 100 per cent perfect. You must see her viewpoint,” Justice Katju said.
“I want to say to the people of Bengal, and the people of India, that they have a great leader in Mamata Banerjee. She is a leader of great qualities and impeccable integrity. She has the integrity of the highest order,” he said.
Justice Katju was in the city to attend a programme of the Kalidas Ghalib foundation.
Perhaps Justice Katju forgot that corruption can take many forms such as corruption of money or corruption of power. Some leaders are obsessed with amassing fortune by looting the public money while some are busy abusing power of the office. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Left govt of West Bengal paid a price for it and now it is someone else's turn. As for the people of a state it matters little whether a leader is honest in money matters if the governance or economy suffers or lack of job or business under that leader's rule.
The headline of this news piece is highly misleading as it gives the
impression that Justice Katju was being sycophantic. What Justice
Katju has said is probably what many other people might say (though I
agree that many people will disagree - including me - given Didi's
recent dramas). And he has made fairly general observations about her
rising from a modest background etc etc.
What might have been more interesting would have been his views on the
sly censorship adopted by Ms Banerjee.
I am disappointed by the way this newspaper has covered this. I
understand that "The Hindu" is inclined towards the ideology of CPI
and its ilk, but it should not twist things in a sly manner to affect
the reputations of the people who praise CPI's opponents. Otherwise
what will the difference between this paper and ToI et al. ?
Mr Katju has the habit of loose talks and as a supreme court judge he has made certain loose judgments which was not even understood by subordinate courts.The example is the judgement regarding Waqf cases which he made just before his retirement.Some of my friends had lost two years of their time due to his arbitrary judgements.
Almost all Indians including Dr. Singh came up from rather impoverished backgrounds. However, performance as leaders also depend upon other such values like understanding, competence, leadership and so on. There is always a performance to cost ration to be undertaken when we are selecting leaders. A slight corrupt but effective minister is preferable to a honest but useless leader. Ms. Banerjee was incharge of the railways. How is it any better than it was in the 1970's? What did she do to make it world class? Keeping prices artificially down to the detriment of the organization is poor leadership. And to say that she should not be criticized for her performance just because he thinks her to be honest and to find out that such a person is somehow related to arbitrate on the press! Well, I suppose, this too shall pass.
The photograph is very illustrative. who can find 'didi' to be good leader leave alone being 'normal' .
Before making this comment Mr Katju should consider Didi's style of functioning. It is just like that of dictator's.She is not a matured political leader. She don't like to be criticised and isist that all her party colleagues should dance to her tune. I don't think she can lead the state to progress.
The author of the write up, Hon'ble Justice Katju ,seemingly has over-showered with rose-petals the 'DIDI' praising to the hilt ! The rose plant gives lot of fragrance along with thorn-pricks too ! Yes,she is an honest person to the core, always calling a spade a spade, leading a very simple life ,listens to the Aam Aadami,a helping hand & so many appreciable qualities.As agreed to by the Justice Katju himself ,nobody is 100% perfect ! Perfection is another name of God ! And human happens to be not ! After having gone through the article in full, comprehended well & made my up my mind to pen a few lines The opinions so gathered after having browsed the comment/opinion of all the commenters. I am sorry to say that not many a pen-pusher has agreed to the contents here in so inked by writer ! I too am inclined to nod with the majority writers . The author seems to have kept aside her faults ,in his matured thinking :Her honesty,simple living & a few insignificant faults ! No doubt she has been able to achieve number of things to her credit. Leader,Minister,Chief Minster ,& uproot the Communist rule from W Bengal ! During her political career she did ditch her commune a number of times . Kept the alliances on tenterhook,losing temper frequently,even getting foul-mouthed at times! All the same she remains an honest person through & through . God bless her ,her state, the country & the populace !
Katju's flattery of Mamata is exactly like the one sided infatuation of the media about Cricket he is furious about and blames.Is this the balanced view of a great judge? A chairman of the Press Council? My admiration simply plummeted. Very sorry!
It's a pAean, not a pean.
Katju seems to be seeking some favours from some of our political leaders. Of late he has always sided with anti democratic leaders like Mamata or called for media regulation. Granted that Mamata does not have a foreign bank account and is clean. So what? Neither do many other chief ministers including Narendra Modi.
Whoever captured that moment to shoot this picture at the top of this article has done a good job. A good photographer of The Hindu indeed. It brought smile to many faces. Nobody can complain that it is a cartoon drawn to insult "great" people.
Financial integrity alone is not the touchstone for evaluating a
leader in a democracy.Even tyrants like Hitler may not have amassed
personal riches illegally, but that does not was them off their sins committed on humanity.Though the comparison may be a bit superfluous,A
leader in a democratic framework should not base their strength on
populism,running the party as if it were a personal
fiefdom,intolerance towards criticism,punishing the real working bureaucracy because it not buy their version of the argument do a great leader make.
Mamata should never step in to traps of Media goons plots. She is best
at her own steps for the sake of people. Look at how South American
leaders's have come out of media's influence and how they are
flourishing!
How does Justice Katju know for sure that Ms Banerjee is not having a foreign bank account? Even if she is squeaky clean should she be exempt from criticism? Criticism is a healthy thing to make democracy flourish; people should have the self-confidence to listen to criticism and should be democratic enough to protect dissenters. Ms Banerjee is behaving like a budding tyrant. One wonders if Justice Katju is the is the right person to head the Press Council of India.
mamta is simple poor lady,who have come from lower middle class fighting for poor, she is totally honest,practical,she is not crafty,dramatist like our so called harvard intellectual looter with oily talk,no one is 100 % perfect but she is command more respect with their masses,than socalled foreign origin lady,,lot of english media redicule her for not knowing english which is understood by 1% indian,,she is right to challenge congresi govt on different issues
Do we prefer a leader with outstanding integrity but who prefers populist measures instead of supporting reforms
OR
do we prefer a leader who supports reforms even though his/her personal integrity is not of the highest order?
That she has impeccable integrity and that she lives simply is no
excuse for her bigotry and lack of tolerance. Mr. Katju has himself
said that he wants Indians to have a , "a rational mind, a logical
mind, a questioning mind, a scientific mind". Her paranoia permits
none of these. Even Anna Hazare seems to have impeccable integrity but
we cant surely agree with him on a lot of issues. Mamata Bannerjee may
be a good leader but she needs to hear what people are saying and
respond responsibly. As Mark Anthony said," The evil that men do lives
after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."
I dont think Katju is singing anything for anyone. He was highlightening media obsession of depicting every political leader in black-and-white. This headline is most unfortunate from Hindu. The wording implies that Katju is in the business of sychophancy. Is it so bad to give credit to someone when credit is due? If Manmohan can be showered praise of being Mr. Clean while his government is faltering, why Mamta should be denied any praise?
Most of the electronic media channels and some newspapers will not like this. One suspects gender bias has something to do with the media's general antipathy for almost all leading women political leaders with Sonia Gandhi (!) as an exception.
Mr. Katju would do well to limit his public statements to his area of knowledge and resposibility (media). He should stop being a loose cannon, calling India a nation of immigrants (totally false according to genetic analysis) and categorizing 95 percent of Indians as stupid (presumably excluding himself).
If he likes to be in the public view he should talk about things public likes to know about-- not obvious things about Smt Mamata Bannerjee or outlandish statements like those cited above.
I am disappointed with Justice Markandey Katju's statement. Mamta Banerjee is a
dictator. No sense of humour, no progressive ideas, a regular rabble rouser and a
great disappointment. Because she has a simple lifestyle one cannot excuse these
qualities. She does not seem to understand the word democracy. Unique personality?
Every individual has one!
I wholeheartedly endorse the opinion of Justice Katju about Mamta Banerjee. She is
a person endowed with highest qualities of integrity, honesty and sincerity, one
totally devoted to serve the people of West Bengal. The people of West Bengal
should consider themselves lucky to have a leader of her stature after many years of
misrule by the Communist Party. The nation needs many such leaders to guide its
destiny.
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