Not So Easy This Time


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Grams Econweekly Editor Krishna Raj Associate Editor Rajani X Desai Assistant Editors M S Prabhakar Gautam Navlakha Editorial Staff K Vijayakumar, A A Dalvi Manager S Nagarajan Advertisement Manager R Venkiteswsran ON March 26, the Union Home Minister, Zail Singh, was telling reporters in the Calcutta Press Club that though there had been many complaints about the state of law and order in West Bengal, "We have no intention at present of dismissing the West Bengal government". However, that very day, in Delhi, Siddhartha Shankar Ray was meeting Indira Gandhi. Two days later, on March 30, there was a violent demonstration by the Congress (I) in Calcutta in support of their catch-all complaint of a 'breakdown of law and order' in the state. Three persons were killed in the police firing that ensued. Four days later, on April 3, in a Congress (I)- sponsored West Bengal bandh, there was arson and firebombing, damage and destruction of public property, and nearly 20 people were killed. The Prime Minister has always been exhorting the people to desist from the path of agitation, except as in West Bengal where she has actively encouraged her own partymen to indulge in the most destructive forms of agitation, including encouraging a potentially explosive separatist agitation in Darjeeling district