Bengal civil society members write to Didi on law & order

 

Kolkata: A group of civil society members from Bengal that had once backed Mamata Banerjee during her Singur and Nandigram movements --- which finally catapulted her to power --- have now shot off a letter to the Chief Minister drawing her attention to the deteriorating law and order situation of the State.

Civil society members including film personalities --- like Aparna Sen, Parambrata Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Kaushik Sen, Riddhi Sen, Santilal Mukhopadhyay, Suman Mukhopadhyay, singers like Rupam Islam and poets like Srijata have endorsed the letter to the Chief Minister in which they have urged the Chief Minister to ensure peace and democracy in the State.

The letter, comes days after nine people were hacked and then burnt alive --- at Bagtui village in Rampurhat sub-division of Birbhumdistrict --- by rival gangs of the ruling Trinamool Congress in a retaliatory attack in the wake of the murder of a TMC deputy pradhan of a local panchayat.

Under pressure from the media to raise their voices as they did after the Nandigram police firing the members of the civil society wrote in an open letter: “As representatives of civil society, which desires democracy and a healthy political atmosphere, we hope —you may as well call it our demand — that the long and nasty history of Bengal’s political violence stops.”

Wondering why the police could not act on time despite the fact that the situation demanded timely action at Rampuhrat, the letter questioned “why were the police and administration not active and prompt before the incident occurred?” They also expressed their concerns at the murder of two municipal councilors --- one from the Congress and the other from the Trinamool Congress. Bengal had between March 15 and 21 witnessed 26 murders.The writers further appealed to the Chief Minister to instill democracy and peace in the State. “Please ensure this under your leadership and through your administration. We hope that this letter will be received in the context of the well-being of the state and of the people of this state.” (Agencies)