Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Monday, advised the bureaucrats and police officers in the state not to succumb to pressure and disciplinary threats from the Election Commission of India (ECI) or the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
However, the Chief Minister did not name Kumar directly.
“Those who are threatening the officers, I will tell them that they are living in a fool’s paradise. The people here will not bow their heads. He (Election Chief Commissioner) is threatening that even after May, he will be able to exert coercive actions. The officers will handle matters tactfully for the time being. It is not clear where he will be after that. How will he take action even after May? Is he a ‘Super God’ or a Superman? With people like him in the administration, the country’s economy will be destroyed,” Chief Minister Banerjee said while addressing a gathering at her indefinite anti-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Kolkata that started last week.
Incidentally, the Chief Minister made these comments soon after information surfaced that representatives of different state and central agencies faced the ire of the CEC, at a crucial meeting between the ECI’s bench and the nodal officers of different state and central agencies on the forthcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal scheduled later this year.
Information also surfaced that in the meeting, CEC Kumar also cautioned that if anyone thought they would somehow manage the brief period when the state administration would be under the authority of the ECI and thus escape disciplinary action in the long term, they were mistaken, since digital footprints will remain.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that that all central agencies, including the armed forces, had been acting in a biased manner during the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government at the Centre.
“But when the BJP is out of power tomorrow, what will they be doing? Then he (CEC) will be the first one to be transferred,” she added without directly naming CEC Kumar.
Speaking on the occasion, she also said that her indefinite sit-in protest against the SIR issue will continue.
“If they think that they (BJP) will grab power in West Bengal by deleting the names of genuine voters, they are mistaken. I will fight it out till the end,” the Chief Minister added.
