THE ART. 356 DARE

Three attacks in three days, two of them fatal. BJP president J.P. Nadda’s convoy is attacked by stone pelters in South 24 Parganas; a BJP booth president is beaten to death in North 24 Parganas; another party activist is murdered in East Burdwan—all in a span of three days (December 10-12). If the news stories were playing up the possible imposition of President’s rule in Bengal, invoking Article 356 of the Constitution, it was by no means beyond the pale.

- Romita Datta

But what beggars the imagination is a popular hypothesis that it’s not just BJP leaders clamouring for Art. 356; the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) may even be willing such an eventuality in the hope of garnering sympathy. A clutch of ruling party MLAs, unwilling to be identified for reasons all too obvious, confided that the lumpen elements in the party were out of control and that the imposition of President’s rule may be inevitable. “There’s a certain laxity among a section of the police, which is why the hooligans are running amok. Even the chief minister has no control over them…we are playing into the BJP’s hands,” says a minister in the state cabinet.

Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s been zealous in flagging the “violence against BJP workers”, but the party itself appears divided on the wisdom of demanding President’s rule. Nadda maintained, even after the attack on his convoy, that “the central leadership does not want President’s rule”, but Bengal unit leaders Kailash Vijayvargiya, Mukul Roy, Babul Supriyo and others were crying themselves hoarse demanding central action. “We have lost 136 people since 2015. I personally feel Art. 356 must be imposed immediately if we have to restore democracy in the state,” says Roy. Vijayvargiya feels the “immediate deployment of central forces” is the only way election canvassing can continue without fear. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, December 15, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too upped the ante daring the Centre to impose President’s rule, even suggesting that the attack on Nadda’s convoy was the handiwork of the “criminals accompanying him”.