“THREATENING REVENGE ON OPPOSITION HAS NO PLACE IN DEMOCRACY: AMIT MITRA”

Press Note of Session- 9: Kaise Ayenge Bengal Ke Achche Din at Panchayat Aaj Tak on Bengal Elections

 April 28,  10.43 AM IST || Pocket News Alert

KOLKATA, 27 APRIL: TRINAMOOL leader and outgoing Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra today said that threatening revenge on Opposition political workers has no place in a democracy and that he would personally ensure that nothing of that sort happens in his constituency after the Assembly poll results are announced on 19 May.

“THREATENING REVENGE ON OPPOSITION HAS NO PLACE IN DEMOCRACY: AMIT MITRA”


This notwithstanding several of his party colleagues having publicly threatened revenge on the Opposition ~ directly or in allegorical terms ~ for their “smear campaigns” against the Trinamool. In fact, several parts of Bengal are already seeing Trinamool cadres attacking Opposition workers and supporters.

“Threatening revenge on anyone is not a democratic practise and I have told party workers in my constituency Khardah that there should be no violence after the poll results are announced. I will strictly ensure this,” Mitra said speaking at Aaj Tak’s election related show ~ Panchayat Paschim Bangal ~ held in Kolkata today.

He said that Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee had personally ensured that the Left workers were not attacked when the Trinamool came to power in Bengal in 2011. “Instead, she had asked all cadres to keep restrain and thus, violence could be averted. The same thing would happen this time as well as Mamata Banerjee is fond of Rabindra Sangeet and not bloodshed.”


“We also need massive police reforms and augmentation of police infrastructure to put an end to the culture of violence that has been cultivated and nurtured during the 34 years of Left rule. Trinamool government has already taken several steps in this direction such as creation of six new police commissionerates and several new police stations, several of which are dedicated for women. We will carry forward this task,” Mitra said.


Reflecting on the menace of syndicates, another issue that plagues present day Bengal, Mitra said he was in agreement that syndicate businesses must be reined in and should be eliminated.


“I am not sure who coined the name syndicate but this menace had started and flourished during the Left Front rule. But Mamata Banerjee has made it very clear that those who are associated with this would have no place in Trinamool. I am sure, our party and government would root out this menace in the next few months.”


Declining to comment on the Narada sting as the matter is now in court, Mitra said that the long-term solution to end corruption was ensuring more discussion between the bureaucracy and the public as it would bring in transparency.