West Bengal: TMC-led govt has always been over-sensitive to criticisms, often faced court wrath

Ever since TMC came to power in 2011, there has been several instances where the high court has pulled up the state police for its over-enthusiasm in acting against people criticising the ruling party leaders. The party has also been under the Opposition fire for its over sensitivity towards criticisms.

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal administration has often come under the fire of Opposition parties for its alleged over-enthusiasm to act against anyone who makes comments against the ruling party or posts anything "derogatory" against the ruling party leaders.

Also, there are ample examples reflecting the administration's intolerance towards the slightest criticisms against the state government. One of which is denying permission to the Opposition parties for holding rallies. Even apolitical parties are not given the nod if the issue pertains to question the government. Again, if the rally is planned near the office or house of a top leader or officer then permission is denied directly. The only solution is to move the high court which gives permission most of the times.

The administration has also faced the court's wrath on many occasions on this matter. In October, a single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta of the Calcutta High Court criticised police for arresting a man for creating a meme of party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee from Murshidabad's Lalgola. The court asked as to why a team from Baranagar in North 24 Parganas went so far as Lalgola to arrest the youth without serving any notice. The court also asked police to return the youth's laptop that it had seized.

Earlier, Congress leader and Calcutta High Court counsel Kaustav Bagchi was arrested for instigation violence, hours after he referred to a book penned by a former bureaucrat on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's life. After being released on bail, Bagchi moved High Court accusing the police of being overzealous. The court criticised police for arresting Bagchi without serving any notice and stated that such actions were against the Supreme Court guidelines The city police commissioner was ordered to scrutinise the role of the officer-in-charge of the concerned police station.

Last year in September a content creator was arrested from Kalyani for making "abusive" memes by editing parts of the chief minister's speeches to defame her. In June 2022, a YouTuber was arrested for allegedly abusing the chief minister in a Facebook live session.

Notably, the first act of intolerance was shown by the administration a year after TMC came to power in 2011 when it arrested Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra of Jadavour University for allegedly forwarding a cartoon of Banerjee through email to some members of the housing society. Apart from Mahapatra, the-then secretary of the housing complex was booked under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.