Kolkata: A police officer in real and reel life who has made films and written plays, and one whose star fell after the Sitalkuchi firing during the 2021 assembly polls — the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have each fielded a former IPS officer from West Bengal in the Lok Sabha elections.
While Debasish Dhar had resigned from the service citing personal reasons ahead of the BJP declaring him its Birbhum candidate, Prasun Banerjee had tendered his voluntary retirement ahead of the TMC declaring him its Malda Uttar candidate.
Their experiences as serving police officers in West Bengal are different — like the parties they have now picked to serve. Dhar, unlike Banerjee, says he was “frustrated” on the job.
Speaking to ThePrint, Banerjee, who retired as inspector general, Raigunj Range, said politics would help him reach the public more effectively.
“So long as I donned the uniform, I was neutral. The rulebook restricts us. There is no freedom of speech or expression; as a politician, one can reach the people more effectively,” he said.
Banerjee had six-and-a-half years of service left when he chose to retire. A 2006-batch IPS officer, he has previously served as superintendent of police (SP) in South Dinajpur and Malda, and deputy inspector general (DIG) of police in Balurghat and Malda, and also in the Crime Investigation Department (CID).
In addition, Banerjee has played a police officer on screen in a popular Bengali television show, Desher Mati. He has also made many documentaries and short films and written plays, and plans to visit Kashmir and Manipur to film a documentary later this year.
“Every year, on 31 December, I will give a report card to the people for the work I have done. It is their right to know. As I have served this district as a police officer, I know the area with my eyes closed, which will help me reach people more efficiently,” added Banerjee.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in charge of the home department, will now be Banerjee’s political boss.
“Mamata Banerjee reminded me of the good work I had done as an officer and told me to continue working hard. Abhishek Banerjee also gave his support,” said Banerjee, who will be taking on the BJP’s sitting MP, Khagen Murmu, in Malda Uttar.
Speaking to the media shortly after Banerjee’s name was announced as a TMC candidate, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, said, “He used to work for the TMC in uniform and now he will work with a party flag in his hands.”
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‘Political pressure on officers’
Another IPS officer — from the 2010 batch — Dhar said the past three years had left him “frustrated”, so he resigned from service last month.
Dhar was posted as Cooch Behar superintendent of police (SP) by the Election Commission of India during the 2021 assembly polls when firing by central forces near a polling booth in Sitalkuchi left four dead.
The West Bengal government then suspended Dhar and sent him on compulsory waiting.
Dhar, who also served in the CBI, said, “The state had taken advice from me about how the CBI functions internally, but suddenly, in 2016, minister Sujit Bose complained about me to the CM when I was posted as ADCP (additional deputy commissioner of police), Bidhannagar, and things went down thereafter. There is always political pressure on the officers here in West Bengal.”
The former IPS officer will be fighting from the Birbhum Lok Sabha seat against the TMC’s sitting MP, Satabdi Roy, at a time when the party’s Birbhum strongman, Anubrata Mondal, remains lodged in Tihar Jail in connection with a probe into alleged cattle smuggling.
“The chief minister has a set of advisers; they range from bureaucrats to journalists. She believes what she’s told. I never got a chance to speak to her since the Sitalkuchi incident. I could no longer compromise, I always wanted to do justice to my uniform,” added Dhar, who said he planned to bring about administrative reforms if chosen as a public representative to the Lok Sabha.
But former IPS officer Humayun Kabir, who won the 2021 Vidhan Sabha elections on a TMC ticket and was elected MLA for Debra, said he never faced any “political pressure” while in service.
“I am an MLA now; I don’t speak to my OC (officer-in-charge) — maybe once in two months or to exchange greetings. The SP and the OC do their duty; I don’t interfere with their work,” he said.
But according to political analysts, police officers joining politics have had little to no political impact in West Bengal so far.
“This is unfortunate that serving public servants, who are expected to serve the people neutrally, are joining mainstream politics by quitting their service. One IPS has been victimised, so he resorted to joining politics, and the other has been given a ticket for favouring the ruling party,” said political analyst Bishwanath Chakraborty.
Chakraborty said such moves raised questions in the mind of the public at large about the neutrality of the administration, which is supposed to work for the people.
“No bureaucrat, who has quit and joined politics, made an impact in Bengal in the past. Politics is an easy way to continue enjoying the privileges and perks of playing a kingmaker. As a public servant, one gets enough and more opportunities to reach the people and serve them. As a politician, you get more power,” added Chakraborty.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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