Calcutta Corner

The shoe that didn't fly

No one has really seen the shoe. In fact, some say it was a sandal. Othersdismiss it as a mere slipper. Unlike Advani, Bush or Chidambaram (is there analphabetical-design to all this shoe-throwing?) there exists no material orphysical evidence of the one that was allegedly aimed at Didi (TMC chief MamataBanerjee) during her road show in Calcutta last week. No television camera hascaptured it being flung across the horizon to narrowly miss the target. Therewere no photographs in the newspapers the next morning of Didi ducking orrecoiling in horror. But TMC supporters insist that a passenger on a passing bushad taken off his shoe/sandal/slipper and brandished it at Didi. They were aboutto make a huge ruckus over it but Didi reportedly told them to forget it andmarched off wearing her trademark chappals. Bengalis are divided over what tomake of the incident. Here are some of the comments from various people. 

"He should have chucked the shoe/sandal/slipper at her. Maybe he was toocheap to do it. Couldn’t part with half a pair of slipper! Typical Bengalimiserliness." 

"Smart guy. He achieved what he wanted to without having to lose a shoe.Typical Bengali ingenuity." 

"If you’re going to do it, do it with panache like the rest of them.Typical Bengali cowardice…want to do bad things, but don’t’ want to getcaught doing it."

North or South?

On the topic of shoes, politicians in Bengal - as most everywhere else -often find their feet in their mouths. Whether that’s what happened or whetherthe West Bengal Chief Minister was deliberately taking a dig at his TMC rival isbeing hotly debated in the city right now. When Buddhadeb Bhattacharya reignitedan ancient war of neighbourhoods (North Calcutta versus South Calcutta) whilecampaigning in North Calcutta for a party comrade, the media and oppositionpounced on him for this insensitivity. Allegedly in an emotional outburst, theCM blurted out (in Bengali) that he found North Calcutta to be a place of richheritage and its people to be warmer than denizens of South Calcutta. He saidthat he found South Calcutta (where, incidentally, he lives) to be "too modern"and its people "more aloof". Some observers claim that it was not so much afaux pas a an oblique reference to Mamata Banerjee who is contesting the LokSabha elections from the South Calcutta constituency. Ms Banerjee of course,didn’t miss the opportunity to condemn the comment.

Contest but can't vote?

In India ‘criminals’ can contest elections from their prison cells. Theycan become Members of Parliament and they can become Members of LegislativeAssemblies while still in jail. But get this: they can’t vote. TheRepresentation of People Act, 1951 forbids it. Section 62 (5) says, "No personshall vote at any election if he is confined in a prison." Pointing out theirony, Additional Director General of Prisons, West Bengal, B.D. Sharma, has setout to seek amendments to the existing law so that prisoners can be granted theright to exercise their franchise. He argues that denying them the right to voteis tantamount to violating their constitutional right to equality.

This is especially true of those who are still under trial (UTPs) andtherefore, in the eyes of the law, innocent until proven guilty. Seventy percentof the prison population in India belongs to this category. At the moment, thereare approximately 22,000 prisoners - including UTPs and convicted prisoners - inthe 54 jails across West Bengal. At any given point there are approximately500,000 prisoners detained in jails across the country. Some of them arepolitically-inclined and have been incarcerated because of "political"crimes. One of them, a student accused of the murder of a political opponent isan inmate in Calcutta’s Alipore Central Jail. "For me, it’s sheer torturethat I can’t cast my vote as the country goes to the polls next month tochoose the next government," he says.

Sharma has written to both the central as well as the state governments andto the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, Dr Debashis Sen. The issue hasrecently been debated at a workshop organized by the National Human RightsCommission, which has agreed to make a recommendation to the central governmentfor an amendment of the law. If it comes through, we will no doubt see morepoliticians in jail!

Ballots over bullets

The bloodshed in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa on the first dayof the polls is reportedly sending shivers down the spine of the West Bengaladministration. The so-called Red Terror, which has been attributed to Maoists -who had apparently struck with the sole purpose of disrupting the country’selectoral process - is making security officials in West Bengal rethink itsoriginal force deployment plans - increasing it manifold - in the state’s ownMaoist strongholds. These include the South Bengal areas of Bankura, Purulia andWest Midnapore. Residents of these areas go to the polls on April 30.

Public abuse?

Calcutta’s streets are lined on either side with fluttering flags ofpolitical parties. Numerous banners and posters have been put up, some attachedto lamp posts with wires, others tied to trees or nailed to overhead billboards.There are two posters, belonging to two different parties which depict images ofbloodied, charred and mutilated bodies of people burned, killed, maimed andraped supposedly by supporters of the rival party. There is no censoring here.Children see these images. Is this freedom of political expression or publicabuse?

Straws in the wind

Conversation between Calcutta homemaker and her domestic helper:

Homemaker: "So, who are you going to vote for?"

Helper: "My man told me always to find the hand and put the stamp on it.This year he says there will be no hand. Only two flowers and some grass."