In a U-turn, Press Council of India Chairman Markandey Katju on Sunday denounced West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as “totally dictatorial, intolerant, and whimsical” after the arrest of a man who questioned her policy on farmers at a rally. He warned that officials carrying out her “illegal orders” could face the fate of Nazi war criminals.
The incident that provoked Justice Katju’s wrath was the arrest of Shiladitya Choudhury, who, at a meeting in Midnapore district last week, complained about the steep rise in fertilizer prices and his inability to get his entitled portion of rice at Rs.2 a kg.
Saying that empty promises were not enough, he asked what steps the government was taking to ease the plight of dying farmers.
“At this, the Chief Minister declared him a Maoist and got him arrested. In my opinion this amounts to blatant misuse of State machinery and flagrant violation of constitutional and human rights,” said Justice Katju in his statement. “Her action is most undemocratic to say the least.”
The former Supreme Court judge noted that this was not the first time that Ms. Banerjee had shown signs of intolerance and high-handedness, highlighting the cases of Taniya Bharadwaj, who was branded a Maoist after asking “an innocuous question” on a TV channel, and Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra, who was arrested for circulating anti-Mamata cartoons on the Internet.
“I have changed my opinion [about Ms. Banerjee] and believe that she is totally undeserving to be a political leader in a democratic country like India since she has no respect for constitutional and civil rights of citizens,” said Justice Katju.
Keywords: Mamata Banerjee, Siladitya Chowdhury, farmer arrest, Markandey Katju
This lady has become the CM by mere fluke. It is the negative votes against the dormant Communists that helped her to become the CM. It is a sheer chance not by choice she became the CM of the sleepy WB. She is totally inexperienced, ignorant about many things she is supposed to know as CM and intolerant, that is essential if you want to be a leader in a democracy. Every citizen has the right to ask you questions. If you cannot tolerate, quit the post and be at home. No one will ask you any questions. The pity is she is not able to answer many questions because of her ignorance, so she gets wild as it happened in CNN-IBN interview. The way she pushed the hand of the journalist was ridiculous and Mamata was behaving like a immature school girl. I was wondering with shock how she became the CM of a State. It is our misfortune that we have not been able to get good leaders for the last few years after the tenure of Vajpayee, Dr.Abdul Kalam etc. Perhaps that was the end of good period with decent people as leaders. The present leaders and politicians ruling India are all sheer corrupt and inefficient TRASH.
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