Mamata-PM meet is a mutual understanding, says Somnath Chatterjee

Kolkata: Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Wednesday described the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Mamata Banerjee in New Delhi as “their mutual understanding”.

Hours before the meeting he said, “It is their mutual understanding. They are talking to sort out their issues among themselves in the interests of both.”

Bantering the meeting between Mr Modi and Ms Banerjee CPI(M) MLA Sujan Chakraborty claimed, “It is not a meeting but a setting.”

State BJP president Dilip Ghosh however said, “It is good that Ms Banerjee has understood that there is no point in complaining deprivation by the Centre by sitting in Kolkata instead of meeting the PM. Good sense has prevailed upon her.”

Mr Chatterjee also lashed out at the West Bengal State Election Commission which has been in the eye of storm of the Calcutta High Court for its role in preparing for the panchayat elections.

On the one-phase poll Mr Chatterjee alleged, “The elections seems to have turned into a kids’ game which is done deliberately so that the all seats would be won by using muscle-power. Already job has been done in four districts.”

He continued, “Rest is being done through the state election commissioner who is a stooge. It is not only the failure of the state government and the state poll panel. An epitaph of democracy has been created.”

According to him, the pre-poll violence is a shame to a civilised society. Expressing his wonder about Mr Singh’s performance Mr Chatterjee claimed, “He does not have any sense.”

He complained, “He failed to decide the schedules ahead of of the polling on May 14. No one knows how many polling personnel will be deployed at the which booth and where they will come from. The commissioner should know about the arrival and deployment of the forces. Does he know how many forces will come from which state and their places of deployment, if at all they come?”

The former Lok Sabha Speaker added, “The commission is for the people to cast their ballots. The commissioner is appointed for the special task. But he does not know it. I am sorry to say he is not involved in the job. He is infact worthless. If indeed he has any democratic sense in view of West Bengal’s prestige as a civilised state, he should step down immediately.”

He underlined that uncontested win by ruling party is the norm of the autocracy. Mr Chatterjee noted, “Many say that the environment is now suited for Article 356. A panchayat election can not be conducted in a state? Can it be referred as a sign of democracy? The rural people are not getting the scope to exercise their democratic rights. Those who want to participate in the polls are subjected to atrocities in a planned way.”

Asked about the Left Front’s failure to field candidates in the Panchayat polls the former CPI(M) leader observed, “They have been isolated from the mass due to some policies and the way an erstwhile general secretary was acting. That is why the mass have deserted them.”