Mamata Magic; ‘Foreign Hand’; Taming ED

Opinion Watch          

Mamata Magic

Except for a few pockets. West Bengal stays with incumbent Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, opined The Telegraph on the outcome of the Panchayat elections, which added that the ruling Trinamool Congress made strong gains in erstwhile stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jangal Mahal, tea gardens, and even among the Matuas. The Kolkata-based daily spotlighted that satrap-held areas such as Nandigram and Murshidabad stood against the TMC.

From the high of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is on the fast decline in the laboratory of violent politics, and the iron grip of the TMC gets further tighter to extend the rule on the lines of the Left previously. The BJP, the Congress, and the Left have lost their street power to the TMC in the last few years.

‘Foreign Hand’

It has been over two months now and Manipur is yet to see respite from ethnic violence, and The Economic Times in its Editorial has accorded credibility to the foreign hand theory – Myanmar military junta backing the Meitei and the rebels there arming Kukis. The business daily has called for immediate steps to douse the fire in Manipur, including accountability of the elected representatives.

European Union will be taking up the issue of the Manipur violence, while thousands have been displaced. Time may not heal the wound in Manipur, and political response backed by an iron-clad law and order enforcement with ‘no sides taken’ approach could be the way out.    

Taming ED

Under the watch of Director of Enforcement Directorate Sanjay Kumar Mishra over 3500 cases were filed under the Prevention of the Money Laundering Act, and the Asian Age has in its Editorial called for judicial initiative to clear the mess in the investigative agency, principally to restore transparency in the appointment of the members. Yet, the daily underlined the judiciary not encroaching into the domains of Parliament by allowing the amendments to Central Vigilance Commission and Delhi Police (Establishment) that allow the government to grant extensions.

Tenures of the Chief Election Commissioner, Chief Justice of India, etc., are never heard of getting extended, and the political class as a whole needs to decide if they can agree on to free the law enforcement agencies from political interference. The teeth to the PMLA and the ED were planted by P Chidambaram and sharpened by Arun Jaitely.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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