Is Mamata Banerjee Paranoid?

Media, opposition conspiring to malign my government: Mamata

Kolkata, June 21 (IANS) Facing a severe public backlash over recent incidents of crime against women, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday accused the opposition of conspiring with the media to malign her government.

The Trinamool Congress supremo, campaigning for the upcoming panchayat polls, said at a party rally in in Burdwan district's Ondal that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have colluded with a section of media to mislead the people.

"Trinamool Congress has not committed rapes nor has police done so to unleash political terror. The media has joined hands with them and maligning our government which has been doing good work," said Banerjee as she named the media houses and channels that have been "conspiring" against her.

With a large section of the intelligentsia and the civil society Friday hitting the streets in protest against the rising crime graph, Banerjee criticised those who have been questioning the "political "change" that was ushered by the Trinamool.

"Only a few people had joined us towards the very end of our movement and participated in one or two rallies. Whereas about 55,000 Trinamool Congress workers were killed and we had to struggle for 34 years," she said.

Her remarks were directed at sections of the civil society who had campaigned for a political change in the state during the previous Left Front government but have recently been criticising her for failing to prevent crimes against women.

Though she admitted that a few incidents of rape have occurred in the state, Banerjee dubbed as a "complete lie", the latest report by the National Crime Records Bureau putting Bengal atop the country in crimes against women.

"They are saying that we are atop the country when it comes to atrocities committed against women. They are liars and are trying to belittle the pride of the mothers and sisters of the state. Do not believe them," she said.

Later speaking at another party rally in Purulia district's Manbazar, Banerjee reiterated her claim of the Marxists conniving with the Maoists to eliminate her to revive left-wing extremism in Junglemahal - the rebel affected areas of the state.

"Our greatest achievement has been bringing back smiles on the faces of people of Junglemahal - which a few years back was synonymous to terror and bloodshed.

"But the CPI-M has been conspiring with the Maoists to kill me and bring back the reign of terror in Junglemahal. I dare them to kill me in public in front of you all instead of conniving in the background," added Banerjee.

People's 'fatwa' to Mamata regime to mend its ways: Mrinal Sen

Kolkata, June 21 (IANS) Welcoming the huge rally brought out on the streets of Kolkata Friday against atrocities on women, veteran film maker Mrinal Sen said the people of West Bengal have given a "fatwa" to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her government to mend their ways "I bow my head to the huge number of people who came out on the streets. They have stood up against the dirt in the society which seems to have spread everywhere. On top of this, the filthy abuses used by those in power and their misdeeds, it (the huge procession) was needed.

"They have overcome fears. They have made a bold statement that they are not afraid. This is only the beginning. These (protests) will continue. If this forces the ruling party (the Banerjee led Trinamool Congress) to be mindful of their words and deeds, well and good. This is people's fatwa.

"If the government does not accept this, that will be bad," said the nonagenarian Sen, the last surviving genius of one of the most productive period in Indian films that also saw the flourishing of two other celluloid greats Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak.

Lashing out at Banerjee, who alleged that the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a media group have come together to murder her, Sen said: "She is talking rubbish. It is not the voice of a normal individual".

Thespian Soumitra Chatterjee, another convenor of the rally, said the Kamduni incident was not an isolated one. "The various atrocities perpetrated on the people recently have reached all levels of society. And now everybody is standing up against this".

The rally, that saw poets, painters, authors, film and theatre personalities, singers, and social activists walk alongside thousands of common people decrying the incidents of sexual violence and the "insensitive" reactions of the Banerjee regime, was triggered by the gangrape-murder of a college girl in Kamduni village of North 24 Parganas district June 7.

Banerjee visited the village Monday, but ended up shouting at women protesting against the incident and seeking to talk to her. An enraged Banerjee screamed "shut up" at the women and called them Maoists and CPI-M activists, drawing flak from the civil society, media and the opposition.

Later, she came down heavily on the opposition and a section of the media, alleging they had hatched a conspiracy to kill her at Kamduni.

Mamata Banerjee has become paranoid.

She sees ghosts everywhere.

If when she was in the opposition, the CPM did no kill her when they were in power, why should they kill her now.

But she has the habit of crying with this slogan whenever she wants the people's sympathies.

Unfortunately, the people's patience has worn thin and if there was an election immediately her party would have been thrown out.

She forgets that her party had come to power because of the negative votes of the CPM.

Nobody voted for her as we were all aware of her madness.

People voted against the CPM as they were all fed-up of their arrogance.

The CPM took about 20 yeas to develop that arrogance.

She has developed that trait in just two years.

If the latest announcements of Biman Bose and his friends are any indication, the CPM has not improved much in two years in spite of the drubbing it received from the people.

I don't count Buddhadev as Biman's friends.

Buddhadev is just in wrong company.

So what do we have now.

On one side is the Devil called CPM.

On the other is the Deep sea - known as TMC.

Does Bengal have any hope.

Yes, and that is the Aam Aadmi Party.