Master of apology

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seems to be on an apologising spree. Addressing a campaign for state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee in Behala Paschim Assembly constituency last week, she said: "If you think I have committed a mistake, slap me; I wouldn't mind. But I'm hurt if I am called a thief... Abuse me if you like but don't abuse my mothers in Bengal." Just days before that, at a rally in support of state minister Manish Gupta in Jadavpur, she had said: "If you think I am a thief, don't give votes. If people don't want, I will not return to power." Some, however, say these are, at best, "near-apologies" and not in the same league as the 2011 declaration of Budddhadeb Bhattacharjee, then state chief minister, who surprised his Left Front colleagues by admitting in public that the involvement of Communist Party of India (Marxist) cadre in the incident at Netai near Lalgarh in West Midnapore in which nine people were killed was a "grave mistake".