THE Health Minister has played on a pitifully discordant note in his valiant attempt to be in tune with the party orchestra that pompously professes equal treatment to offenders irrespective of party affiliations. Such promise of even-handed justice backfired in quite a number of cases, the most recent one being the Health Minister's announcement about the surrender of sixteen party activists to the administration in Khulna on the auspicious May Day.

It was reported in a section of the press that these activists of the ruling party and their organs were implicated in 'false cases' and were advised by the Minister to surrender to the authorities in the presence of DC and SP, Khulna. The PID handout from Khulna claimed that the 16 accused were handed over to the district administration by the Minister himself. But this was proved wrong as the minister denied any role in the physical surrender of the 'accused', according to a report in Protham Alo.

On Tuesday The Daily Star published a news item quoting an officer of the regional PID office at Khulna as saying that the Minister asked him to prepare a report for Radio and Television on the 'handover of sixteen persons of ruling party's Phul-tala unit who had been wanted in several cases’. The PID official stood by his story and said, 'I made the report as per dictation of the minister and later got it re-checked by him and he approved it.' He has also claimed that the Deputy Commissioner and the Police Super were present at the Circuit House when the Health Minister 'was giving him dictation'.

Now, do we have to understand that an officer of the government is contradicting a powerful Minister without any foundation? It appears that the Minister swallowed more than he could chew. But why did he have to do it? He certainly owes an ex-planation to the people for his bizarre behaviour.