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Centre will not act in a hurry in Bengal

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani's annoyance at West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu's response on the continuing violence in the state has revealed the Centre's hard-line stance on the issue, but not indicated what specific action it will initiate.

Advani underscored in Hyderabad on Thursday that he did not appreciate Basu's explanation that the violence in the state by Communist Party of India, Marxist, cadres was in retaliation to violence by the Trinamul Congress.

Trinamul Congress president Mamata Banerjee spoke to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani on telephone on Thursday. Both of them appreciated her concern about the continuing violence in the state and said the Centre would not remain an idle spectator.

"But given the legal and constitutional intricacies, the prime minister has not yet made up his mind what ought to be done in the state," a senior government official attached to the home ministry said.

The official said the government is consulting legal luminaries on what the best course of action would be. He said the Trinamul chief had been persuaded to refrain from acting hastily on the issue, whose political fallout is vital for the welfare of the ruling National Democratic Alliance.

But Banerjee has reiterated that while she is watching the developments both at the Centre and in her state, she is free to act for her party whenever she feels it necessary.

"Mamataji is fully aware that there is no laxity on the Vajpayee government's part in monitoring and acting on the situation in West Bengal. The Centre has already dispatched a central team to study and report on the law-and-order situation in the state. Defence Minister George Fernandes has also visited the state and given his report. It shows our concern, so nobody can accuse us of not acting," BJP vice-president K Jana Krishnamurthy told rediff.com

Krishnamurthy, seniormost of the party's many vice-presidents, said that since the central government is "fully alive to the situation in West Bengal", he did not give much credence to media reports that Banerjee was desperate and would part ways with the NDA if her demands were not met.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesman M Venkaiah Naidu announced that party chief Bangaru Laxman would be visiting the violence-affected areas of Midnapore district where he would address a workers' rally. He said Chief Minister Basu's response to Advani showed that "all is not well in West Bengal".

Sudip Bandopadhyay, leader of the Trinamul Congress in the Lok Sabha, ridiculed reports that Banerjee had backtracked on her demand for the imposition of President's rule in Bengal.

"She did not say anything of that sort and it is the interpretation of the media. What we are saying is that law-and-order in West Bengal just does not exist because the Left Front government has unleashed a reign of terror," he said.

Contending that the Trinamul Congress was sincere in its aims in West Bengal, Bandopadhyay pointed out that every party member is "willing to make the supreme sacrifice if the situation warrants it".

The home ministry official said discussions in the government continued till late in the night and no decision would be made in a hurry.

Meanwhile, the Congress party's stance on the issue has triggered talk in the BJP that West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee chief Pranab Mukherjee had been specifically appointed to drive a wedge between the Trinamul and the NDA so that Banerjee's party goes in for an electoral alliance with the Congress.

Mukherjee has frequently stated that the law-and-order situation in the state is "very bad", but adds that imposing central rule is exclusively the Centre's decision. His statement reveals that his party wants to run with the hare and hunt with the hound on the crucial issue.

While pointing out the intricacies of the Disturbed Areas Act, Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi on Thursday ducked questions what his party's stand was on the subject. He merely repeated Mukherjee's line.

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