When injustice becomes law, resistance is only way out: CPI(M) on Malda gherao

Senior CPI(M) leader Md Salim defended the gherao of judicial officers in West Bengal's Malda, saying that “when injustice becomes law, resistance is the only way out”.

Speaking to PTI on the violent events and high drama that unfolded on Wednesday, 1 April and continued into the early hours of Thursday, Salim — the party's West Bengal state secretary and a politburo member — described the incident as an “inevitable fallout of the abject failure of both the Centre and the state to reflect people’s aspirations and publish an error-free electoral roll”.

“Such agitations are bound to happen when the citizenship and voting rights of people are taken away. The Election Commission (EC) is violating the People’s Representative Act. When criminal-minded people become legislators, they fail to address emerging issues by enacting laws and enhancing the power of executives and bureaucrats. It has hence come down to people versus the executives,” Salim said.

“When executives, starting from the BDOs (block development officers) to the CEO (chief electoral officer) and all the way up to the EC, fail to deliver justice, the character of administration becomes a police state. They then sway from the democratic path and take hard coercive steps,” he added.

Seven judicial officers were held hostage inside the local BDO office in the Mothabari area of Malda district, while an eighth officer was confined inside a vehicle for about nine hours on Wednesday, after a large crowd protesting the post-SIR deletion of names from voters’ lists turned violent. Protesters blocked roads, vandalised vehicles and allegedly attacked police personnel.

So far, at least 35 people have been arrested by the state CID in connection with the violence. The National Investigation Agency has now been tasked by the EC with probing the incident, following a directive from the Supreme Court, which has censured the West Bengal administration over the developments.

Those arrested include suspected prime instigator Mofakkarul Islam, a 43-year-old Calcutta High Court lawyer who contested the 2021 state polls on an AIMIM ticket. His associate and fellow lawyer Ekramul Bagani and Mothabari ISF (Indian Secular Front) candidate Maulana Shahjahan Ali have also been taken into custody.

The CPI(M) has stitched an alliance with the ISF for the state's upcoming Assembly polls, while positioning itself against the AIMIM, which the party has accused of advancing a “communal agenda”.

“When injustice becomes law, resistance is the only way out. Across the world, people have resisted this kind of undemocratic, unconstitutional, irrational acts of the executives. By overriding people’s power, no executive can survive,” Salim said.

The Left leader alleged that the controversial SIR exercise in the state amounted to “a war” against marginalised communities. “Right from the beginning, the SIR game plan was to re-establish the binary of divisive politics. The names which were isolated for adjudication were region- and religion-specific, keeping in mind demography and election results,” he alleged.

“This is a war against Matuas, refugees, Muslims, women, minorities and the transgender community. Names of many who qualified for mapping and established progeny were deleted without assigned reasons for removal. It was an ill-prepared exercise conducted with a biased AI tool,” he added.

Salim said the judiciary’s involvement in the process reflected the failure of both the legislative and executive arms of the state.

“They neither know West Bengal nor Bengalis, with little idea of how Bengali names are pronounced, spelled and written. Since the days of the British, rulers from Delhi have failed to understand this. Sending names for adjudication means both legislative and executive have failed, and now it is incumbent on the judiciary. When that happens, the bureaucracy, police or civil servants become powerful, and people’s resistance is inevitable,” he said.

With PTI inputs