The two-sided sword of ‘free speech’ that is hurting Bengal politics

With Bengal heading towards one more election, instances of remarks being interpreted as provocative have usurped what should be healthy discussions of state welfare

From taunts and personal attacks to threats and use of derogatory language, West Bengal’s politics saw it all—all in the name of gaining an upper hand—in the past campaigning. Provocative phrases in political speeches during the 2021 Assembly elections campaigning was, perhaps, more harmful to the users rather than availing them political advantage of more votes in the ballots.

With West Bengal heading towards one more election—panchayat polls in 2023—instances of remarks that could be interpreted as provocative have usurped what should be a healthy, competition discussion of the welfare of the state.

However, All India Trinamool Congress members were more prone to making incendiary comments.

The most recent incident was the manner in which Abhishek Banerjee sympathised with the police force. While visiting a police officer in a hospital, who was injured in an attack during Bharatiya Janata Party’s rally in Kolkata, the Trinamool MP said that had it been him in place of the (injured) officer, he would have shot dead the culprits who attacked the police vehicle and other police personnel. He was talking about the vandalism of a police vehicle and assault on policemen during the anti-corruption march.

Banerjee’s comment gave the BJP an opportunity to equate Trinamool rule with that of a “dictatorship” which has a “fascist” mindset.

On August 29, Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee, while addressing students affiliated to her party, said the party was being negatively projected. She said that the Trinamool was being called a “thief” and had she not been into politics, and not been on the chief minister’s chair, would have asked her “sisters” (women supporters) to pull out the tongues of those who were spreading lies.

Veteran Trinamool leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, seen as soft-spoken and gentle in approach, in August, said that it hurt him when someone called out “thief, thief”; he felt like breaking their face with a punch.

Another Trinamool MP, Mahua Moitra, used aggressive language to criticise the BJP. Moitra, who often made news for her bold and critical speeches in Parliament, on Wednesday, reacting to the destruction of property, allegedly by BJP supporters, during the Kolkata rally, said: “What if Bengal used Bhogiji Ajay Bisht’s model & sent bulldozers to homes of BJP workers who destroyed public property yesterday?...”

Former BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, while attending a media conclave in July, made a derogatory remark against the Trinamool chief, offending the Trinamool, who demanded strict action against him.

In the run-up to the 2021 state elections, the “didi-o-didi” remark aimed at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee—a satirical iteration of a movie dialogue—at a public meeting and “marbo ekhane, laash porbe shoshaney (Will hit you here, body will fall at crematorium),” by a veteran actor-turned-politician left common voters divided about the vitriol in the name of campaigning.

The most recent slogan “khela hobe” was also open for interpretation in the political space as it could be misconstrued in any manner.

While the intent behind the choice of words was almost always clear—to be rabble-rousing—yet the execution always left something wanting.

Politicians and political parties, while looking at getting a leg up, fall more often by getting ahead of themselves and almost always getting personal, and cross over to malignant instead of just critical.