WITHIN hours of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s stupendous victory in the legislative elections, West Bengal finds itself perched on the edge of post-poll violence -- symbolised most starkly by the killing of Mr. Chandranath Rath, a close aide of BJP leader and giant-killer Mr. Suvendu Adhikari, late evening in Madhyamgram in North 24 Pargana district. Multiple incidents of violence were being already reported across the State when the killing of Mr. Chandranath Rath took place. His car was intercepted by mobike-borne assailants who opened fire at him and the driver. This ghastly incident has rocked the whole of West Bengal that was already experiencing unnecessary political drama by defeated Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee (who has been refusing to resign). The situation offers enough reasons to suspect that the killing of Mr. Chandranath Rath was an act of vendetta after his boss, Mr. Suvendu Adhikari, defeated Ms. Banerjee in the Bhabanipur legislative constituency.

 

Many political observers has feared that West Bengal may get drowned in post-poll violence when Trinamool Congress (TMC) cadres may be incited to indulge in expressing their ire through violence in which they are past masters. The killing of Mr. Chandranath Rath -- from almost point blank range -- restoke those fears. The BJP was quick to insist that the killing represented a complete collapse of law and order machinery of the State -- which it will now rule for the next five years. A few political observers suspected that by refusing to resign (because she has “not lost” the elections), Ms. Mamata Banerjee was giving a strong message of open defiance to the cadres of TMC. Of course, her refusal was meaningless since her position as Chief Minister was co-terminus with the Legislative Assembly (whose term has already expired). Yet, by insisting that she had won a so-called moral victory, Ms. Banerjee was trying to ask her cadres to get into a defiant mood and possibly take the law into their own hands. Of course, for record, the TMC has condemned the killing of Mr. Chandranath Rath. It also condemned the killing of three TMC workers in post-poll violence over the last three days.

 

It has insisted upon a CBI enquiry into the killing of Mr. Rath so that culprits were brought to justice without delay. ‘Killings have no place in democracy’, the TMC has also said. Such cosmetic assertions were, of course, expected from the TMC -- whose own record of political violence is all too well known to the country. In the past two legislative elections, despite the TMC’s victory, West Bengal had seen much post-poll violence -- of course in addition to violence during election campaign and voting. The killing of Mr. Chandranath Rath, thus, poses before the incoming BJP Government a very serious law-and-order issue that would need an urgent and sustained handling. The State had seen rise and fall of political regimes riding on the shoulders of violence. One party lost power because its rival party superseded it in violent methods to establish its regime.

 

Elections, too, were held under the threat of violence -- which the common voters had no means to fight off. A similar approach may be adopted by some elements after the victory of the BJP in West Bengal. Fortunately, the election campaign and the polling did not see major incidents of violence and deaths. But here is one blow to that sense of relief that polls happened without violence -- the dastardly killing of Mr. Chandranath Rath, a close associate of Mr. Suvendu Adhikari (who may take over as Chief Minister in the next couple of days). This is a very serious and big blow to the system -- which would now need a very careful and iron-hand handling so as to extinguish even small sparks of political violence. The challenge may seem tough for a while, all right. But later on, there is no doubt that the BJP will succeed in taking a fuller and firmer control of the law-and-order situation in the State -- that needs to be taken to safety and peace and harmony from the edge of violence.