ELECTION:-- WEST BENGAL
STYLE
SARASIJ MAJUMDER
- West
Bengal has developed , and introduced
an election process, which can be
called "Scientifically Engineered Rigging in Election"
- Booths
are captured, party cadres impersonate genuine voters, polling agents, and
opposition voters are beaten up, and driven out of the BOOTH.
- Voters
are threatened not to vote for the opposition; women fear rape.
- The
all the ballots are stamped on mass scale in favour of the ruling
candidate, and put in Ballot Box. POLLING, AND PRESIDING OFFICERS keep quiet, police protects
the large scale rigging process .
- CM,
and some leaders from Ruling Party have announced before that opposition
will have to face consequences later—a veiled threat.
A CENTURYAGO, GOPAL
KRISHNA GOKHALE HAD SAID: "What
Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow." In those days of Bengal
Renaissance, Bengal led the way in literature, science, education, social
reforms and patriotism.
Alas, those concepts
have long, long been banished by Marxist
Culture from West Bengal.
If today there is anything the rest of India can learn from
West Bengal is how to RIG elections,
develop and feed a CADRE system by TOLABAJI, SUPPORTED BY DONATION IN
LOCAL CLUBS.. Rigging elections - from panchayat to Parliament – IS A
COMBINATION OF ARTS, SCIENCE AND
ENGINEERING. A knowledge, and understanding of social realities, economics and plain human
psychology are essential.
THIS RIGGING
DOCTRINE WAS DEVELOPED BY LATE MR. BASU, AND HIS ESTEEMED COMRADES.
Bengal has finessed the phenomenon called "scientific
rigging". Rigging is not new. Congress under Siddhartha Shankar Ray used
rigging to win the 1972 assembly election in West Bengal. CPM was the VICTIM.
I WITNESSED IT MYSELF
AS I WAS THEN STAYED IN DUM,DUM, CALCUTTA, AND WAS PRESENT IN A BOOTH AS AN
OBSERVER CUM POLLING AGENT ON BEHALF OF AN INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE.
Later, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front
learned from the past, and perfected the art of winning elections by MASS SCALE
RIGGING. The philosophy was simple: THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS. AND IF IT MEANT TO USE BULLETS TO WIN
BALLOTS, SO BE IT.
The Left Front ruled West Bengal from 1977 to 2011. In its
30-year-plus rule the Left infiltrated every aspect of Bengali society. And
that made it easier for the communists to manipulate elections like an well
oiled machine.
Right from nomination
to the actual voting, every step was monitored by the apparatchik.
Slightly creaky in the beginning, by the time of the 10th assembly polls in 1887
the CPI (M)'s election machinery was an extremely efficient, well-oiled one.
Blood flows
cheap.
Ruthless Violence, and the threat of it, remains an
important element in West Bengal's political laboratory.
Fundamentals
of Rigging
Let's start at the very beginning-- the electoral rolls.
Names of opposition supporters are deleted from the VOTERS LIST. Bogus names
are added.
Opposition candidates who want to contest are told not to. First politely, then it becomes blunt
and physical. Mobs spread across the country side to keep opposition candidates
away from filing nominations.
There's a touch of symbolism also. Wives of opposition
candidates are sent pieces of white cloth (white being a symbol of widowhood
among Bengali Hindus) so that they prevent their husbands from standing in
elections.
And of course the threat of rape hangs heavy. Stand as an
opposition candidate and face the consequences.
Just after it came to power in 1977 the Left Front, and
especially the CPI (M), hastened the process of unionisation of the police
force, teachers and state government employees.
All these people play an important role in the election
process either as enforcers of law or as booth officers. It makes sense to have
BRAINWASHED people in and around polling booths.
Then comes fielding people with the same name as that of the
main opposition candidate. This was in the pre-EVM era where the ballot paper
did not carry the candidates' pictures. A subtle way to confuse the voter.
Cadres day out
In the run up to polling day, thousands of cadres spread out
to various constituencies reminding voters of the pitfalls of voting for the
opposition. Usually the arm-twisting is gentle but the hint that things may
turn disastrous, is always there.
A variation of this tactic is to tell voters not to turn up
at all, their votes would be taken care of. Why stand in queue under the
blazing sun when "the Party" can take care of minor issues such as
choosing an MLA or MP? After all aren't Marxists a party of the people?
But then there are stubborn voters who prefer to exercise
their right to franchise. When they reach the polling booth they find a long
queue, usually made of bogus voters. These bogus voters help in wasting time of
the polling officers arguing with them.
Voting enclosures are placed near windows so that voters can
be "helped" from outside to choose the right candidate or to find out
who has voted against the party.
A more innovative method has evolved in the EVM era to
detect opposition voters. The opposition key on the EVM machine is smeared with
something strong such as Ittar. Party cadres smell the fingers of voters to
find out if they've voted for the opposition.
Coy, and
Decoy
And then there is the use of bombs -- first to scare away
voters and also to divert the attention of the security forces.
There is always an air of utmost fear hanging around
elections in West Bengal. And this is largely because of the prevalence of
terror. Polling agents of rivals are beaten up as well as known opposition
voters.
This violence has become more overt and rampant in the
Trinamool Congress regime.
TMC copied the entire process adding more ruthlessness and violence .
It continues even after election.
The worrying thing is the institutionalization of violence,
especially in the past 10 years.
Surely this is not what Gopal Krishna Gokhale meant?
Comments
Post a Comment