Mamata Banerjee & Kolkata Police: A Marriage of Convenience?

Mamata Banerjee operates through certain police officers who are reduced to puppets, says a senior police officer.

Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: Erum Gour / The Quint)

The drama of the absurd played out in Kolkata on 3 February evening, leaving the city completely stunned. A ‘street fighter’, Mamata Banerjee, who swept the polls in 2011, took to the streets and led police officers in a dharna.

While some hold that this act undermines the dignity of the chief minister’s office, there is a section that believes it will give CM Mamata Banerjee’s prime ministerial ambitions a further boost, as members of the Opposition have shown support.

The CBI stormed the residence of the Commissioner of Police, Rajeev Kumar, on 3 Feb evening, on the pretext of interrogating him in the 2013 Saradha chit fund scam. The Kolkata police instead arrested the CBI officials and took them to Shakespeare Sarani police station, a stone’s throw away from the commissioner’s residence. Was the state government well within its rights to obstruct the officials from discharging their duties?

“Nothing Goes As Per Rule Book”: Senior Kolkata Police Officer

But the CBI’s ambush took many senior government officials by surprise. What could be a plausible explanation? Had some new evidence cropped up? Why had the Centre shown restraint in the Saradha probe for over five years?

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With the general elections inching closer, the Modi government has now decided to tighten the screws on the chief minister who is leaving no stone unturned to mobilise the Opposition in their battle against the BJP.

A senior police officer in the city says, “Nothing goes as per the rule book these days. Politics, the police and the administration have merged into a single entity. There are circles within circles. Bengal has become a police state under the present dispensation. Besides Kolkata, six other commissionerates of police have been set up by this government, basically to appease the police.”

Mamata Banerjee’s blow hot-blow cold relationship with commissioners of police has now moved to centre stage.

While Didi has backed the current commissioner to the hilt, it was the exact opposite in February 2013 when she had summarily transferred the then commissioner R K Panchnanda.

“Mamata Operates Through Specific Officers”

“It is not that the chief minister loves the police; she operates through certain key officers of the police force and she disregards the rank and file. It is a marriage of convenience. Top echelons of the police have surrendered their dignity and will to serve, and have been reduced to puppets,” points out a senior police officer. She relies on a few leaders of the force who have been appointed by her.

In fact, the state government has kept nearly 50, 000 regular posts in the police vacant, and instead, arbitrarily recruited 1,50,000 civic police volunteers (who are essentially their own cadres), to do routine jobs, which indicates that the police are being used to serve certain particular ends. 

The chosen few are being used as Praetorian guards like the Roman emperors, who had these over and above their regular security.

Two Bunglers in One Mess

“For the first time we have been asked to submit to the Supreme Court why police posts have been kept vacant. Police is not an independent entity for her but a few men who serve her purpose. There was no one closer to her than Bharati Ghosh, former SP Midnapore, but when the relationship soured she was thrown out and hounded and the entire might of the state was used to put Bharati Ghosh in the doghouse and a number of cases were lodged  by CID against her,” adds another senior police officer.

Regarding the drama that unfurled on Sunday, both sides seem to have bungled. Rather than swoop down on a Sunday evening on the Commissioner’s residence, as per protocol, the CBI could have gone to Court, obtained a warrant of arrest for non-cooperation, and proceeded with custodial interrogation.

“If police officers want to display solidarity, they should go to the IPS association, and not sit on a protest on the streets with the chief minister,” adds a senior bureaucrat. It is no secret that Rajeev Kumar superseded 30 senior police officials when he became the commissioner of police.

Why Is Mamata Throwing Her Weight Behind Rajeev Kumar Again?

When the Saradha scam broke out,  he had been commissioner of Bidhannagar, one of the commissionerates set up by the chief minister. Saradha was headquartered in Bidhannagar. It is alleged that Rajeev Kumar destroyed incriminating evidence against  members of the Trinamool Congress, the ruling party in the state.

His ‘efforts’ seem to have been amply rewarded when he took over as the city’s police commissioner.  Mamata Banerjee once again brazenly threw her weight behind him on Sunday evening as she sat in on a street protest with him.

While Mamata Banerjee has been seen as ‘protecting’ those guilty in the Saradha scam, she continues to stridently protest against the destruction of democratic institutions under the Modi regime. Whether Mamata Banerjee can turn this crisis into a huge political opportunity depends on the stance the Supreme Court takes on Tuesday, 5 February.

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(The writer is a Kolkata-based senior journalist. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses, nor is responsible for them.)