West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raised political temperature considerably when she accused the army of “clear violation of the Constitution” by attempting to “create a civil war-like situation in the country”. Mamata Didi has a penchant for dramatics and victimhood, sometimes justifiably so, during the three-decade rule of the Left Front in West Bengal. The Chief Minister decided to spend the night at the state secretariat. Perhaps she was readying herself to do a Boris Yeltsin in front of army tanks in the morning.What made it worse was other organs of the state like the West Bengal Police reduced themselves to parroting Ms. Banerjee’s hysterical social media postings. The air cleared after the army uploaded acknowledged copies of letters sent to senior police officers informing them about their exercise. Skeptics will want to know why the army didn’t approach the National Highways Authority for the information. In a digital world, this information, updated to the last second, could have been instantly emailed. For one, it is always beneficial to conduct a field exercise rather than framing strategies based on number crunching. Second, toll gates are a recent innovation. The army perhaps did not think it fit to adjust its procedures to the digitalisation of toll booths.But Mamata Banerjee has rarely lent herself to cogitative contemplation in public life. A day earlier she had alleged an attempt to kill her when her flight was kept on hold for landing due to congestion. The next day her colleagues were raising Cain in Parliament. Rational explanations from the airlines cut no ice with Mamata and her party colleagues. To be fair, Mamata is matching the ruling coalition at the Centre and even her new-found crusader, Arvind Kejriwal, in appealing to emotion while ignoring the facts. The Centre’s Love Jehad, surgical strikes and demonetisation are of the same piece. In this era of post-truth, perhaps we should reconcile ourselves to a kind of public posturing where truth is of secondary importance. But the downside of such affectations is their collateral damage on apolitical institutions like the army.

Army row: Mamata unrelenting

Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal CM

Kolkata, December 2

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left the state Secretariat on Friday evening after staying put overnight to protest the alleged Army deployment in the state and threatened to explore “legal options” if the Army was not withdrawn.Before leaving the seat of power “Nabanna” in neighbouring Howrah district, she said the Army was deployed at toll plazas while keeping her government in the dark.Edit: Perils of overreaction“We have never seen such arrogance (by the Centre). If the Army is not withdrawn, we will explore legal options,” she said, alleging the Army was being used for “political vendetta”. Denying the charges, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and the Army’s Eastern Command claimed it was a routine annual exercise to assess the availability of load carriers at  major entry points in states.The TMC supremo claimed the Army had informed the police about the exercise only for one spot — the toll plaza of Vidyasagar Setu near Nabanna.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)“The police did not permit them to conduct such an exercise. They did not give any intimation for other places where they undertook the exercise,” she said. The Chief Minister said such exercises were not conducted in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Punjab, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. “It was done in Bengal because we have been raising our voice for the people of India,” she claimed. Demanding to know whether a military coup had taken place, she said: “The motive is political, vindictive, unconstitutional, unethical and undemocratic.” She spent the night at the Secretariat, demanding withdrawal of the Army from the second Hooghly Bridge toll plaza, about 500 m from Nabanna. Shortly after midnight, the Eastern Command said the Army had been asked to withdraw from the toll plaza near Nabanna as it had already collected the required data.Denying Mamata’s charges, Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar and the Eastern Command of the Army claimed it was a routine annual data collection exercise carried out to assess the availability of load carriers at all major entry points in various states.General Officer Commanding Bengal area (officiating) Maj Gen. Sunil Yadav said the exercise was conducted with “full knowledge and coordination with the local police.” — TNS