Wide of the mark

Mamata Banerjee’s allegations about a ‘coup’ drags the Indian Army into politics and undermines its reputation

There is a disturbing tendency which is increasing of late on the part of some politicians to involve non-political entities or institutions in political diatribes and mud-slinging, or cast aspersions on them. And it is unfortunate that Mamata Banerjee, even in her second term as West Bengal chief minister, has proved no exception to this. Ms Banerjee has all along been known to be impetuous in her ways, even when she was a Union minister. And now the way she has accused the army of staging a ‘coup’ in her state — over a relatively unimportant issue of army troopers collecting data at toll plazas — was an entirely unnecessary attempt at creating a controversy. There has been no “coup” against any state government in Indian history, and so far, looking at the army’s conduct, there is no possibility of there being one.

While Ms Banerjee has claimed that the army had done this exercise without her permission, the army on its part has said that the state government was apprised of the matter, and the dates had been changed on the request of the Kolkata Police. This still leaves open the question of whether the state government had given its approval. What is certain is that such exercises are conducted in other states also. If Ms Banerjee is peeved, it can only be over the manner in which this has been done. So, at this stage, the right thing for her would have been to talk to the defence minister, who would have cleared the air on this. The matter is being discussed at the police, army and bureaucratic levels, and it should be ensured no such misunderstanding takes place in future.

Ms Banerjee is now at the forefront of leading the charge against the Centre on demonetisation and her speech in Delhi did create a re-think on the part of many on this move. She showed a good grasp of the measure and the hardship that it might entail. But her stance on the army issue looked like not just an assault on the army but also opening a second flank against the Centre. This can not only affect her personal stature but also dilute to some extent the issues of demonetisation she has raised. The army is often called out to control internal disturbances and also natural calamities such as floods and cyclones in states. No one should drag it into a political slugfest and make unsubstantiated allegations about its intentions.