Kolkata: The event of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself arguing at the Supreme Court on her petition against the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state evoked mixed reactions from political circles in the state.
Trinamool Congress West Bengal general secretary and party spokesman Kunal Ghosh said the Chief Minister’s decision to argue the matter herself was a cent per cent right decision, which is evident from the fact that the Apex Court had accepted her arguments.
“The other opposition parties in the country should learn from her. That was the historic moment, when she finished his argument before the bench of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), requesting the latter to save West Bengal and Democracy. The manner in which she explained the new points with full respect to the court really created ripples,” Ghosh said.
However, the other “anti-Trinamool Congress” forces in the state ridiculed her arguments as an effort to divert attention from the main point and said that the move was a reflection of the political dichotomy typical of her.
Union Minister of State and former BJP’s West Bengal chief Sukanta Majumdar said that the situation at the Supreme Court was evident from the fact that the CJI had to interrupt the Chief Minister during her arguments and allow her counsel to argue instead.
“It was astonishing that within the Apex Court she described the ECI as a ‘WhatsApp Commission’. In her five minutes of argument, the Chief Minister only made a political speech. Since she is the Chief Minister, the Apex Court could not directly ask her to stop speaking. That is why the CJI politely requested her to allow her counsels to argue,” Majumdar said.
The leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, said the manner in which the Chief Minister presented a political speech and certain terms that she used during her “so-called argument” were a “matter of shame” for the people of West Bengal.
“The only aim of the Chief Minister and her party is to disturb the SIR process in West Bengal. That is why the Chief Minister has become so desperate. Her actions today were the reflection of her desperation,” Adhikari said.
Congress state spokesman in West Bengal, Soumya Aich Roy, said that the Chief Minister’s argument at the Supreme Court was a “reflection of the political dichotomy typical of her”.
“When our leader Rahul Gandhi was leading a nationwide protest programme against ECI over the unplanned SIR exercise, the Chief Minister chose to remain silent. She was trying to assess the situation. Now she is trying to divert attention by personally arguing at the Apex Court,” he said.
CPI(M)’s central committee member, Sujan Chakraborty, said that the Chief Minister and her party would have reacted much earlier had she been really serious about preventing the harassment of the common people through this unplanned SIR.
“Instead of doing that, she is now arguing at the Apex Court to draw public attention,” he said.
(IANS)
