The policy on the release of political prisons, should a new party come to power, has emerged once again in West Bengal, where crucial assembly elections will be held in April-May next year.
This time, the promise to release political prisoners was made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has become the main rival of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government.
On Sunday, Dilip Ghosh, the head of the BJP’s Bengal unit, announced at a public rally in the East Midnapore district that the party would drop cases against political prisoners belonging to any party, including the TMC.
“We will withdraw all false cases filed against political prisoners. Not only the cases that have been brought against the BJP workers, but we will also withdraw the cases that have been brought to falsely implicate the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the workers in Congress. We will even drop cases that have been brought against some TMC supporters to prevent them from leaving the party. A decision will be made at the first cabinet meeting after the BJP comes to power in Bengal, ”Ghosh said.
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The BJP is pinning its hopes on toppling the TMC government in next year’s assembly elections for Bengal’s 294-member legislative assembly based on its impressive achievements in the 2019 parliamentary elections.
The BJP had won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha (LS) seats last year.
Human rights activists said that in 1977, when the Left Front government first came to power, the decision to release political prisoners was made at the first cabinet meeting, headed by then-Prime Minister Jyoti Basu.
In February 2011, Mamata Banerjee, before coming to power, had made a similar promise to release political prisoners.
Later, in May 2011, when his party came to power, he formed a 13-member committee to review the process for the release of political prisoners.
The committee was notified in the Kolkata Gazette on June 4.
“Although the Left Front government had dropped the cases against political prisoners, the TMC government did not. In 2011, there were around 200 prisoners with the status of political prisoners. Only those who obtained bail or were released by the court were released. More than 500 of those prisoners did not obtain the status of political prisoners. Later, in 2013, the TMC government changed the definition of political prisoners, making the release of those prisoners even more difficult, ”said Ranjit Sur, a member of the central secretariat of the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR ), a rights body.
The TMC government had prepared a list of 52 prisoners, who would be released in 2011 based on the recommendations of the review committee.
But later, the Union Ministry of the Interior (MHA) warned the Bengal government against releasing the inmates, who owed their allegiance to the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist).
However, some Maoist leaders were released after their acquittal.
The ruling TMC made a decision on the BJP over Ghosh’s announcement.
However, TMC leaders refused to comment on the opposition party’s proposed proposal to release political prisoners, citing that it was CM’s prerogative.
“Ghosh is trying to send a message to all the antisocial elements and has urged them and their associates to vote for the BJP in an attempt to come to power. This is unconstitutional and illegal. The BJP daydreams of coming to power, ”said Saugata Roy, Member of Parliament (MP) for TMC, who represents the Dum Dum constituency at LS.
LS Congressional Leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Left Front Legislature Party Leader in Bengal Assembly Sujan Chakraborty lashed out at the BJP and criticized the latter’s poll tricks in an attempt to grab a few extra votes in what promises to be a hotly contested assembly election.
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