Bengal LoP to boycott meeting on state human rights commission convened by CM

Kolkata: Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari, on Thursday said that he has decided to boycott the crucial meeting on the appointment of a member of West Bengal Human Right Commission (WBHRC) convened by Chief minister Mamata Banerjee later in the day.

The Leader of the Opposition has also placed his arguments in support of his decision to boycott the meeting. According to him, the meeting is mere eyewash which has only been planned by the ruling dispensation to give effect to favoritism.

Adhikari specially raised objections about the name of former state secretary Basudeb Banerjee as one of the three names in the list from whom the member of WBHRC will be selected.

“He is a blue eyed candidate for the chief minister. In fact after his retirement, he was blessed with the post of state chief information commissioner and now once again a plan is in place to rehabilitate him as a member of WBHRC,” the Leader of the Opposition said.

Secondly, he pointed out, that during hearing of the post-poll violence matters, it was clearly observed that the WBHRC had become a defunct body, Claiming that as a consequence of WBHRC’s inaction, the "law of the ruler prevailed over the rule of law", Adhikari said that the conspicuous silence of the commission screamed bias and unethical loyalty towards the ruling dispensation of the state.

“Even in the past two-and-half years, they were found missing-in-action during incidents like the horrendous Bogtui massacre, Egra blast, panchayat election violence and the very recent arson by Trinamool Congress at Doluakhaki; Joynagar,” he added.

The third and the final reason for his decision to boycott the meeting, according to the leader of the opposition, was WBHRC is always in deep slumber on sensitive issues induced by various perks provided by the state government for their silence. “It only wakes up from their slumber when a rare case comes across where the narrative suits the state government,” Adhikari added.