Message of mutual cooperation sent to CPI(M), party organ gets Bengal govt ad after 15 years

Kolkata, May 9
As the first BJP-ruled government in West Bengal since Independence, led by Suvendu Adhikari, began its journey in the state on Saturday with the oath-taking ceremony of the new Cabinet, the new dispensation had already sent a message of mutual cooperation between the ruling and Opposition parties.

'Ganashakti', the CPI(M)'s party organ in Bengali, on Saturday received a full-page state government-released advertisement on the oath ceremony that took place this morning. The advertisement carried the pictures of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Suvendu Adhikari.

The most interesting aspect is that 'Ganashakti' that translates to people power, received a state government advertisement for the first time in the last 15-years since 2011, which marked the end of the 34-year-long Left Front regime and the beginning of the 15-year-long Trinamool Congress regime led by Adhikari’s predecessor, Mamata Banerjee.

Immediately after the Trinamool Congress regime in West Bengal came to power, release of state government advertisements for 'Ganashakti' was totally stopped, reportedly following strict instructions from Mamata Banerjee.

'Ganashakti' approached the court in the matter, questioning how an elected state government could take such a biased approach as regards to releasing of state government advertisements.

However, nothing fruitful surfaced and 'Ganashakti' continued to remain deprived of state government advertisements for 15 years.

Welcoming the move, the CPI(M) politburo member and the party’s state secretary in West Bengal, Mohd Salim said it is a good signal that the autocratic approach of the previous Mamata Banerjee-led regime might end now.

“The previous government started showing tyranny by stopping advertisements as soon as it came to power. Mamata Banerjee also gave a verdict on which newspapers would be kept in state-run libraries. She made that a rule in the last 15 years. Today's advertisements at ‘Ganashakti’ should not be viewed as an exceptional case. This is what should happen. We have to see what happens in the future," said Salim.

In fact, senior state BJP leaders including Suvendu Adhikari, the party’s current state president in West Bengal, Samik Bhattacharya and the Union Minister of state, Sukanta Majumdar, had time and again showered praises while talking about senior CPI(M) leaders, especially the former Chief Minister, late Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and the Left Front chairman in West Bengal, Biman Bose.

Adhikari, had, time and again, described Bhattacharjee as a person with a “beautiful heart.” Majumdar had described Bhattacharjee as a man of “impeccable honesty and integrity.”

Samik Bhattacharya’s general observation about veteran CPI(M) leaders was that despite ideological differences, it was undeniable that black spots of corruption were never there on the white clothes of CPI(M) leaders like Bhattacharjee and Bose, which had been rampant among Trinamool Congress leaders.