Author: Editorial
Publication: The Statesman
Date: October 9, 2001
Introduction: Hospital horror exposes
the CPI-M
It makes no sense for chief minister
Buddhadev Bhattacharya to organise all-party meetings in favour of a ban
on rallies and roadblocks and for his health minister to ban gheraos in
government hospitals, only to result in a hypocritical response to the
all-too-familiar mayhem that takes place regularly, on this occasion at
the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital on Sunday. The overwhelming evidence
in this case supported by an FIR lodged by members of the hospital superintendent's
family was that the local MLA, Lakshmi De, who is already known for his
links with Rashid Khan, supervised a murderous assault on Dr Sacchidananda
Sinha for his "crime" in removing encroachers from the hospital premises
- in accordance with government policy. While an FIR is filed by the family
of the injured superintendent of the hospital Dr Sinha, CPI-M state
secretary Anil Biswas pronounces De innocent on the ground of absence from
the scene even as he makes two separate promises.
There will be an inquiry and its
report will be implemented. Having already pronounced him innocent, the
point of the promises is a little obscure. The simple-minded will ask,
how would the hoodlums have had the courage to break the bones of the doctor
and his son while De looked on according to eye-witnesses. The answer lies
in the well-tried maxim ex hypothesi, Marxists especially protected Marxists
can do no wrong. Is that right, Mr Biswas, or do you have another explanation?
For the record the police have picked the few who had beaten up Dr Sinha
and his son, a medical student in Bangalore, leaving both with serious
injuries while the permanent police picket at the hospital remained spectators.
No one misses the duplicity in the
CPI-M's response. On the one hand, Health minister Surya Kanta Misra and
health secretary Asim Burman make a determined effort to clean up the mess
in government hospitals and win public approval in the process. On the
other, the party has vested interests which it will not set aside. If Buddhadev
expects the public to take him seriously, he cannot afford to allow MLAs
in his own party to run amuck and hold the public to ransom. Secondly,
he must get the police - a department where he is still directly in charge
- to act firmly and fairly regardless of political affiliations; arresting
Lakshmi De along with his henchmen would have sent the right signals down
the line. Thirdly, the line must be drawn between party and government;
this is clearly a matter of governance in which the police cannot be seen
to be acting on the wishes of CPI-M bosses.
Finally, if the party can set an
example by endorsing the evictions from Tolly's Nullah in Mamata Banerjee's
constituency to make way for extension of the Metro Railway, what prevents
proper action at the Calcutta Medical College? Consistency and conviction
lie at the heart of credibility. The demoralising effect and sense of insecurity
among the medical fraternity are thoroughly bad; doublespeak and hypocrisy
make it worse.
