It has to be seen and heard to be believed! Former Arambagh CPM(M) MP Anil Basu , addressing an election rally in his home turf likened Mamata Banerjee to a ‘whore of Sonagachi’, who is now getting rich clients from the US to give money for her election campaign! I draw attention to this with the greatest of respect for the women he is referring to, sex workers who work hard to make a living. When Basu refers to them, however, it nothing but a statement of misogynist contempt for women in public and reveals, once again the mindset of the Left leadership that rules West Bengal.
Some extracts from today’s Indian Express report:
“Addressing a rally yesterday, Basu made references to Sonagachi — Kolkata’s red-light area. “Where is she getting the money from?” he asked. “From which bhatar (Bengali derogatory slang for a woman’s “illicit male partner”) did she get Rs 24 crore to fund the Trinamool Congress’s poll expenses?”
Saying that prostitutes in Sonagachi “do not even look at smaller clients” when they get a “big client”, Basu said now that the Trinamool has got a “big client” — the USA — to fund its poll expenses, it is not interested in the “smaller clients” from Chennai, Andhra Pradesh and other places in the country.”
Earlier too, Basu has distinguished himself with foul misogynist and sexist language, Says the report:
“Earlier too, after the Singur agitation, Basu, a seven-term MP from Arambagh, had said that if he had his way he would have taken Mamata by the hair and dumped her at her Kalighat house instead of allowing her to continue her sit-in protest at the gate of the Tata factory.”
Monobina Gupta’s post on Mamata a couple of days ago, had mentioned some of the ways in which CPI(M) leaders in West Bengal talk about Mamata. We had, on earlier occasions, also mentioned how 125 CPI(M) workers had greeted Medha Partkar in Nandigram with their bare buttocks, at the call of another luminary of the party Benoy Konar.
A vibrant culture of democracy, if there ever was! Here is the youtube link for those who want to see action Anil Basu live.
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 
‘Basu’ not ‘Biswas, as erroneously mentioned twice.
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There is a factual error in the report. This notorious person is Anil Basu not Anil Biswas as as mentioned in the piece.
These are not isolated remarks of some desperate lumpens who now lead this party. Actually these parties (CPIM and associates) are historically leaded by brahmins and upper caste hindu male chauvinists who have deliberately kept the minorities, lower castes and women out side the key decision making positions of the party hierarchy. The lists of members of Politbeuro, Cental Committee, West Bengal state committee of CPIM are the cases in point. Even the council of ministers headed by Budhhadev Bhattacharjee is predominantly represented by the upper caste hindus. They have failed to accept women and other loer caste and minorities as equal partners in the decision making process.
So Anil Basu’s comment is not an isolated outbrust. It reflects the true caste character of the party which talks about ‘class’ struggle. Till date they could camoflage this ugly side of male chauvinism as women, monorities and lower caste people did not challenge them. Only now they are being challenged by women like Mamata, lower caste religious leaders like Baroma( Matuas) and minorities. The closely guarded mask of these upper caste hindu lumpens are shattered now. The true face is relealed. Long live the truth.
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Shameful and disgusting. Basu’s statements personifies the patriarchal humiliation a woman in public life is repeatedly subjected to. If well known women in powerful positions are heaped with such humiliation, imagine what ordinary women, those faceless activists face when they come out into the streets as political -social-public beings. Basu may have won 7 elections but he has shown that he can’t deal with politics as politics when women enter it. He will reduce it to their sexuality. Such inciting verbal assaults are no less grave than a physical assault. Shame on him and his brand of politics.
He and his party must also apologise to the women at Sonagachi, for the humiliation he has heaped on them. Pushed by a system that has thrown these poor women into the margins, so that they can be devoured, all they have done is struggle to eke out a living and survived. Why should they be invoked for every humiliation. Basu has no business tearing apart their dignity, he and his party should infact be answerable on why women in Sonagachi continue to be so miserable.
Radhika
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The first paragraph has ‘Anil Biswas’ rather than ‘Anil Basu’. Do correct this if possible?
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Thanks, Brinda, Jhuma and Dipankar for pointing out the error which occurred due to my hurry in posting. I have long known Basu, by the way, for years since he came as a freshly elected MP. So, Dipankar, it is a mix up of names, not really a factual error. Thanks everybody nevertheless.
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These are our leaders! Look at his body language. It is equally nauseating – brute and filthy, apart from his words.
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when you point out such foul mouthed outburst to the vocal supporters of the party, they simply counter it with there has been similar attacks to Buddhadeb Bhattacharya (the reigning CM of bengal) which gives them the right to say such things. before pointing our fingers to our leaders, we should look in ourselves and see what have we become!
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The downfall of the Marxists in India is the Bhraminical system and not willing to think about caste and gender. Loosing this election too perhaps will not make a difference. It is sad that a potentially powerful philosophy for the oppressed has become rhetoric of a high order in the hands of the bhraminical fold. (not the vulgarity of this speech here by Basu). A time to change is important but to what Mamta?
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Anil Basu should be asked the obvious question: Are he and his party members pimps in Sonagachi, to know such details about Mamata?! It is sad that Basu and his cadres have failed to get clients from the U.S. Bad pimps get bad clients. Period.
This remark by Basu, reminds me of Rajarshi Dasgupta’s paper on the sexist cultural standards of the bhadrolok comrades of the CP(I)M in West Bengal. They had banned a poem by none other than Subhash Mukhopadhyay for his using the word “gator” (a de-classed word for the body) for a worker. The party said the word is objectionable to be used for a worker as it is meant for whores. Old mindsets die hard.
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ps: Sorry, a lapse in memory. It was Mukhopadhyay’s Bengali translation of Marx’s pamphlet ‘Wage, Labour and Capital’, where he used the word “gator” for the body which was objected to, not by the CP(I)M but by its cousin, the CPI.
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I agree with the comment about Brahmanical leadership. The Bhadralok culture was a class-caste-community mix — upper caste, well to do and Hindu. After an early period, mainstream marxism in Bengal simply took over the bhadralok culture. Perhaps Asok Mitra did understand the problem, in his widely known but not always understood comment, “I am a communist, not a bhadralok”. A real proletarian leadership, when it is built in Bengal, will have to overcome the class-caste-community nexus of this culture, without thereby giving up on the achievements of the past.
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Can such nasty shows in the name of communism be staged anywhere else in the world?
Possibly, India could be the only place such a thing happens in the twenty- first century.. Elitism on the Left seems to be as firmly rooted in a hierarchy of caste-gender as that on the Right..
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AIPWA
ALL INDIA PROGRESSIVE WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION
Press Statement
Punish CPIM Leader Anil Basu for Sexist Abuse Against Women
New Delhi, April 24, 2011
While campaigning for the ongoing West Bengal Assembly elections at Hooghly district’s Arambagh sub-division, Anil Basu, 7-time CPI(M) MP from Arambagh Constituency in Hooghly district on Friday attacked Mamata Banerjee with crude sexist abuse. In presence of senior party officials and a massive crowd, he compared Mamata Banerjee to the sex workers of Sonagachi.
Anil Basu’s misogynist abuse personifies the patriarchal humiliation to which a woman in public life is repeatedly subjected. Basu may have won 7 elections but he has shown that he cannot deal with politics as politics when women enter it. When it comes to a woman political opponent, he immediately dumps political arguments, and falls back instead on the easy patriarchal staple – attacking their sexuality and branding them as prostitutes.
During the Singur agitation, too, Anil Basu had declared that if he had his way he would have taken Mamata by the hair and dumped her at her Kalighat house instead of allowing her to continue her sit-in protest at the gate of the Tata factory. Apparently, this CPIM leader could not contend with an agitation led by a rival woman leader without resorting to the patriarchal imagery of a mythical Dusshasana’s methods.
The West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has said the language used by Basu is ‘unpardonable’, and he has asked the CPIM to issue Basu a warning. But if such verbal violence intended to humiliate women in public life is indeed unpardonable in the CPIM’s eyes, how can a warning be sufficient? Why has the CPIM and the West Bengal State Government yet to act against Anil Basu?
On previous occasions, too, CPIM leaders have responded with similar patriarchal taunts and abuses. The late Suhas Chakraborty ridiculed the Trinamul leader’s Maa-Mati-Manush slogan saying: “She is an infertile woman; what does she know about Maa?” CPIM’s Central Committee member Benoy Konar asked CPIM’s male cadre to “bare their backsides” to Medha Patkar at Nandigram. On those occasions, when electoral considerations were not immediate, there were no condemnations forthcoming from the CPIM.
The CPI(M) also needs to apologise to the sex workers of Sonagachi, for the humiliation Basu has heaped on them. Pushed by a system that has thrown these poor women into the margins, so that they can be devoured, all they have done is struggle to eke out a living and survived. Why should they be invoked as a symbol of shame? What have they done to be ashamed of? Basu has no business tearing apart the dignity of Sonagachi’s sexworkers; rather he and his party should be answerable as to why women in Sonagachi continue to live such deprived lives after more than three decades of CPIM rule.
Kavita Krishnan,
National Secretary, AIPWA
—
Kavita Krishnan
9560756628
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if anyone wants to condemn a person for his foul language it can be done without invoking that person’s caste. some of those who condemning basu are bringing in his caste for no reason.perhaps these days it is politically correct to target the so called upper castes and point out the ‘caste character’ of the left movement as if the so called upper castes are the ones who still practice patriarchy.i hold no brief for that basu but to use his foul language as an excuse to indulge in such stereotyping is not a good or intelligent criticism.
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Anil Basu apologises for remarks against Mamata: http://www.hindu.com/2011/04/25/stories/2011042558551300.htm
Biman asks Anil Basu to apologize for his remarks on Mamata: http://www.taratv.com/west_bengal.php?task=full&newsid=4309
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There is no doubt that these comments are disgusting and unacceptable. But like most reactions in Bengal these days, I wonder why the objections flow thick and fast when the CPM makes unacceptably grotesque comments. The same when made by Mamata seem to be glossed over – she called the earlier Chief Secretary and Commissioner of Police (who happened to be brothers) as Lalu-Bhulu, a common name for street dogs with a reference to a story by the same name. One would hope that the same standards be applied for her. As for Upper Caste bias in CPM, let us recount the main names in TMC – Mamata Banerjee, Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee, Mukul Roy et al. All of them belong to the upper castes. For her “intellectual support” she has Suvaprasanna (also a Bramhan), Bratya Basu, Sunanda Sanyal, Sujata Bhadra, Saonli Mitra, Debabrata Bandopadhyay. All of them are upper castes. There is no doubt that Anil Basu’s statement is completely unacceptable, but let us also have some balance in reporting this and be even handed when TMC makes similar statements
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Point well taken, Raja. Just one point and one clarification. I have not raised Anil Basu’s caste – that was some other commenter and just as I am not responsible for yours, so I am not for his. This opinion is as valid or invalid as yours. Yes, my own point – and this a the really big difference – is that there is no comparison between Lalu-Bhulu and this outburst by Basu. Lalu-Bhulu type of name calling has been very commonly indulged in about Mamata (and not just by Anil Basu – leave aside the ‘dragging her by her hair and dumping her in Kalighat’ etc). The point is not even what most CPM people imagine what it is: Shyamali Gupta said (criticizing Basu of course), that it is reprehensible to raise the question of a woman’s chastity in the course of a political campaign. Yes, that is a part of the story. But why exactly is chastity an issue at all? Suppose a sex worker from Sonagachi were to actually contest the election tomorrow, would it by justified to say what Basu has said? Do you ever refer to how many women (or men) a man has slept with and on what conditions, when you attack him politically? Why does all morality, even for Shyamali Gupta get condensed into that one question: chastity? And I am sure this is what is behind the party censure of Basu. He violated the code of patriarchy by calling a woman names that are unacceptable to the bhadralok. Deep inside their own hearts, they too all believe that the only acceptable role of a woman is that of a mother, daughter or daughter-in-law. The deviant woman – ruled by hormonal imbalance, by an untamed temperament and a vitriolic tongue – is always a trope for the unacceptable woman in public life. And all these characteristics could easily apply to Gautam Deb as well but will anybody ever dare to say he is sexually deviant!
That a woman need not be attacked for what she stands for but simply for her ‘sexuality’, her purported deviations from the good-woman norm – that is the big difference.
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My point also is that TMC indulges in the same issues and manoeuvres. During Singur, Mamata made statements that the additional 400 acres of land would be used for malls, hotels, beauty parlours and “other businesses that I cannot even name” (in Bengali, emon sab byabasa ja ami mukheo ante parbo na). That was not a personal attack but was it very different in sum and substance ?
It is not that Anil Basu’ statement isn’t reprehensible, it is just that there is little difference between CPM and TMC. However, no one raises these pertinent objections when TMC or Mamata makes them.
Also do recognize, that Mamata also cultivates a very specific image for her own purpose – self willed so that no one can influence her, propelled only by uncompromising principle, wearing common Bengali tant sarees and chappals – the image of a “pagla , tho(n) kata bardi” (as used in Bangla affectionately, translates to an elder sister, who is outspoken and therefore viewed as a tad eccentric). She already cultivates her deviations in a very calculated way that appeals to Bengali middle class.
It is therefore something that cuts both ways. Sometimes you get idolized for that, at other times, basically uneducated men like Anil Basu make disgusting statements
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CPM’s thoughts for impoverished have since long become impoverishment of thought and this incident is only a sad reflection on the vacuity of what their ideology has become of.
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The shame is that this man is a seven-time MP of CPI(M). Imagine what kind of a leader and human being he must have been. And such people continue to get tickets in that party! The only way the conscious people of West Bengal can teach this man and his party a lesson is by defeating CPI(M) badly in this Assembly elections.
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Please post the CPI (M) reaction to Anil Basu’s comments as well. The Chief Minister has called this an unpardonable offence. Comrade Biman Bose has condemned the statement and Anil Basu has been asked to tender a written apology.
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Roshan – see Urjoon above.
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sad! his use of words is condemnable and his comparision is inappropriately grotesque …
but is there any shelter from such abuses?… be it the Left or the Trinamool, badmouthing the opponent seems to be the most easy weapon these days. have you heard the Trinamool leader on stage or have you heard her allies speaking in public gatherings? they are worse…
The question is can we name a single person who we can choose as our leader on basis of righteousness or at least on basis of ‘good behaviour? or can we say that this is the person who doesn’t badmouth…
at least the left party has the courage to apologise and for me that is definitely a redeeming factor and works wonder at times …
the trinamool has to learn to be more patient and since they are just born so they need it most at this time …
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@ ek underdog permalink
I wish you had a point here:
“if anyone wants to condemn a person for his foul language it can be done without invoking that person’s caste. some of those who condemning basu are bringing in his caste for no reason.”
Unfortunately, when the very foulness of language has to do something with an hierarchy of caste-gender, you will be tempted to make a mention of the speaker’s caste as you would do of his gender.
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Dear friends,
Again, i have few doubts and i would be happy if somebody clears it…
1) Is there any relationship between marxism and brahminism? How come majority of so called marxists happen to be brahmins and uppercaste? Not only that their interpretation of Marxism is correct over others in a way saying they are the custodian of Truth. Historically brahmins enjoyed power over interpreting truth from knowledge, Only the text is different now, earlier it used to be vedas and puranasn and now it is Das capita and marxist literature.
2) Whether Marxist party in india is a communist party or sankara mutt (hindu mutt), how come all the brahmins take refuge there?
3) Marxism is supposed to be a all compassing thought and helps in understanding the reality better, but how come it is more than 90 years now, still they are not able to deal with caste, when caste is still THE reality?
4) Now so much debate about gender, can we have gender sensitivity with hindu religion and Manu smirity, because it clearly laid down the duty of woman, she has no right what so ever but duty, treated just equal with sudras, women are called just leather bags and child producing machine, these all clearly written in the hindu texts? how one can still be hindu and expect women dignity?
5) Now so much talk about sexist remark? what about krishna paramadma, who was the first known sexual harrasser in indian history, those who stand for woman dignity, first should burn his pictures and texts? Do any body have guts?
6) Please dont take wrong i am not against brahmins, the question is how come they become comfortable with every rule and all the ideologies, for examply they were happy with mughals, then british when British was not heeding their voice , u had freedom movemment, then New india( read brahmin bania india), now they talk about socialism and communism so on?
Now the fundamental question is whom we are fighting, who is our enemy? if they brahmin control entire communist party structure what can a dalit or woman expect from them? can there really a fight or orchestrated drama of class struggle?
The recent Wikileakes revealed that sonia gandhi was comfortable with uppercase communists than the dalit/sudra leaders? What can expect from these so called upper caste communists? lets not make the argument that movement makes leaders? would like to know what is the contribution of these brahmins marxist to Indian marxism? Do we have really a marxim that developed with in india like it developed in other countries to the country specifics ?
Without clearing all these doubts, i wont really get anger from that uppercaste CPM leader, it is expected, because the elites have been doing historically for long time? Please clear doubts if possible. thanks
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There is a move on this page to shift the discussion on the issue of caste and the upper caste basis of the Communist movement in Inda, particularly within the CPI(M). The barbs thrown on this forum are incorrect to say the least. Whithout going into a detailed listing of dalits in the CPI(M), let us focus upon another allegation during the current West Bengal assembly elections – that of cash-for-votes against the CPI(M) MP Ramchandra Dom. We all know that the ‘Doms’ are the lowest of the castes in the caste hierarchy. Later the Election Commission rejected the complaint as flase. Had Ramchandra Dom not been a leader of the CPI(M) the likes of Mayawati would immediately have issued a statement claiming that he was being harassed because he was a dalit! But most for most self-defined dalit leaders Ramchandra Dom has lost his dalit identity by virtue of being in the CPI(M).
Now for a moment if we refrain from bare symbolism (even the Congress has loads of dalit leaders – does that make it a pro-dalit party?); we should focus on the political programme under taken by the particular party. While accepting that a lot more work is desirable with regard to the empowerment of dalits in Bengal, let us try to form an objective assessment of the performance of the Left Front government in Bengal.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2407/stories/20070420001404200.htm
http://insightyv.com/?p=851
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Bare symbolism? So you say that the fact that there were no women leaders in the leading bodies of the party (politburo, central committee or state secretariat) with a rare exception here or there, is merely a symbolic issue? (I will leave aside the question of caste for now as that calls for a separate discussion). Yes, at one level, you are right – for the culture that the communist movement in India spawns, leaves little room for anything other than symbolism here. Why else would women comrades be made to wear laal paar sarees and just serve water to delegates at party conferences? Shy on earth would they be asked to shower flowers or present bouquets to their valorous men (‘comrades’) or sing them a song here and there? And why, even in the women’s organization, i.e. Ganatantrik Mahila Samiti, would they be simply be trained to make pickle and things like that?
And please don’t tell us that The Hindu us the place to get an ‘objective’ assessment of the LF government’s performance! A bad joke, this!
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Just because ‘The Hindu’ in an article supports the CPI(M) will you disregard the newspaper? I was merely presenting a certain set of statistics through that article. I also linked another interview of Anjan Ghosh (CSSS) which is not all completely in support of the CPI(M). How conveniently you overlook this.
I disagree with your assessment of the role of women in the CPI(M) inner party meetings and particularly the role of the AIDWA – one would expect better from informed researchers (Certainly, you are not serious that the AIDWA limits itself to making pickles!!). Once again this is not to suggest that the CPI(M) is free from patriarchal attitudes and like on the issue of the empowerment of dalits more certainly needs to be done in this front.
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you know when i saw the video, what struck me was not just those abhorrent words of Basu…the way the crowd frantically cheered his words was also equally repulsive. this shows that patriarchy is entrenched to the core in the CPM leadership and they have just not done any politicization of their cadres. so much for a ‘Left’ party!
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Thanks everyone for a lively discussion. Anil Basu’s misogyny did not surprise me. Remember what the CPI(M) its affiliated women’s organization Ganatantrik Mahila Samity had to say on women who were raped at Birati. The year was 1990.
Shyamali Gupta, then the general secretary of the PBGMS and a leading ideologue of the organization, gave her official statement in the CPI-M’s political periodical People’s Democracy :
“On the night of July 17 between one and three, a group of anti-socials attacked and raped Sabitri
Das, Reba Sen and Shanti Sen, three women who stayed in unauthorized hutments along
the railway tracks of Birati railway station. Although they, [like] so many women of that
area—including Shanti Das, the mistress of a notorious anti-social—were involved in
foul professions and such honeymooning of these women with the anti-socials is an open
secret, that day’s event appeared to be a sequel to the rivalry between these anti-socials
with that of Pradip Sarkar, of whom Sabitri Das was a mistress”
Gupta’s statement indirectly reiterates a sexist notion that a rape
ceases to be a rape or sexual violence if it is perpetrated against certain categories of women who
have low ‘sexual morality’: prostitutes.
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Thanks for quick reply from arjun ghosh on the achievement of CPM.. He feels that CPM has to do more on women and dalit front.. wow great.. if you feel ur party has not done enough on dalits and women, there is a serious question as to what is the social base of CPM, because women dalit and obc constitute potential base of any revolutionary programme.. what has it been doing so far, whom has it been fighting for? it wont attack patriarchal hindu structures and would not hesitate in celebrating durga pooja.. wow what a great revolutionary march of CPM…. it has done largest atrocities on Dalits in Morichjhapi in post colonial india. So far no accoount of it known to the world.. that is the biggest contribution of CPM if at all anything..
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Unfortunately, I only have disdain for those who express shock at this.
The patriarchal mindset of India males is not something limited to CPI(M). I can guarantee that this would be the reaction of over 90% of Indian men who find themselves challenged publicly by women. Is that a surprise or a shock to you ?? Not to me….
After all – for a country that can allow the murder of at least 40 million defenceless girls, pulling Mamata Banerjee’s hair is small change.
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Mamata Banerjee made nasty misogynist remarks about the appearance and looks of a CPI(M) woman candidate in Bally a few weeks back. A few local newspapers and channels published the news. But, given the current mandate of the mainstream media, it isn’t reported. And the alternative media is anyway more about “alternative interpretation” of mainstream media news than about “alternative news”. Just want to point out that there’s misogyny, Mamata style also.
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Politically-conscious Indians, especially those belonging to the fairer sex, were stupefied when he compared the railway minister and All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) supremo Mamata Banerjee with a whore choosing a wealthier client than others. ”Addressing a rally a few days back, Basu referred to Sonagachi — Kolkata’s most prominent red-lig http://kafila.org/2011/04/24/the-whore-of-babylon-or-misogyny-sexism-cpm-style/
This was repeatedly telecast by almost all the private TV channel save the pro-CPM channel which has a high TRP. But the mandarins at Muzaffar Ahmed Bhavan were shaken sensing the ill-effect of it on the poll prospects of Left Front. Virulent reactions took place among CPI(M) rank and file too. West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said
But the mandate issued by the state leadership of CPI(M) to the former CPI(M) MP and West Bengal state committee member of the party Anil Basu that he must not participate in election campaign and must not be on the dais was pooh-poohed by the foul-mouth leader. Several vernacular dailies front-paged photographs showing Basu hand in hand with the West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, a polit bureau member of the party It was Bhattacharjee who said the day after the abusive speech was telecast that no apology would make amends for such words that are unbecoming of a communist.
URL of photographs carried in two Bengali dailies are
http://epaper.pratyahik.com/GalleryView.shtml?GId=30042011001019001
http://epratidin.in/Details.aspx?id=8018&boxid=2194562
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Quite interestingly, none of the politically-conscious Indians was stupefied when the Dramatist Laureate of TMC, said- “They have even ruined the language. Theatre artistes have been tagged by the Left Front as natya karmis (theatre workers). It sounds like jouno karmi (sex workers). Why aren’t those who sing not called sangeet karmis (music workers) or those who teach aren’t called sikshya karmis (education workers)?”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110412/jsp/calcutta/story_13843644.jsp
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I rest my case, miao! They (TMC) are truly as bad as the CPM is – just that they have no moral high ground of being the agents of history.
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The poor communist(s)! They can only mention the terrors of 1972-1976 only. There is nothing else they can pursue over the decades. Poor fellows!! With poor temperment and culture!!!
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Actually you are all missing the point. It’s not just CPM- all the so called bhadraloks regardless of party affiliation – other than Trinamool, have for years – in my recollection at least 20 years- described her as a whore. Those who did not use those words relentlessly came up with all kinds of innuendos about her including how many abortions she had. The women weren’t exactly averse to repeating this stuff. Mamata is very clearly aware of this – her whole image is constructed to basically indicate that she doesn’t care a fig for what these people consider to be appropriate behavior.
The reason for this reaction to her, especially by men, is that they are afraid of her rise to power. But understand that, Mamata deliberately behaves as crudely and vulgarly as she can – slapping policemen in public, using bizarre language etc. Moreover, her clothes and demeanour are basically a taunt to the Bengali concept of bhadrolok. Her behavior deserves condemnation – but the vile rumors and innuendos reflect the misogynistic mind set or her detractors. While I have always found Mamata’s disrespect for the rule of law and people in general apalling, the rumours spread by the left, the bureaucrats etc are Worse.
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