Mamata Banerjee Is Showing Signs Of Political Desperation

By Sagarneel Sinha

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress supremo, is now finding herself entrapped in a political state — with credits fully going to her for creating this trap, which has now become a headache for her. Last year, on Trinamool’s annual mega rally, held every year in 21st July, Mamata being confident about the defeat of Narendra Modi-led BJP declared that her party would play a major role after the results of 2019 elections — indirectly indicating there were chances that she herself would occupy the post prime minister.

But didn’t happen. Modi returned with a thumping mandate than before with BJP deeply penetrating through Mamata’s stronghold of Bengal by winning 18 seats at the cost of 12 Trinamool seats, thus, reducing Mamata’s party to only 22 seats in comparison to whopping 34 won in 2014 elections. Trinamool was almost completely routed in North Bengal and in the tribal belt of Jangalmahal — comprising of districts West Midnapore, Bankura, Jhargram and Purulia. Actually, the 2019 results, which Mamata was expecting to be sweeter with her eyes on the PM’s post, rather turned into a nightmare for her — ringing alarm bells on the post she currently holds. Something she was not expecting — as she was sure that her CM’s chair will not see any danger in the near future.

So, this 21st July was all about saving her own chair in 2021 assembly polls — as she now faces an imminent threat from Modi’s BJP. Mamata’s desperation was witnessed when she tried to counter the issue of cut-money with black money — asking her party workers to enquire about the black money BJP leaders got into their pockets. Clearly, cut-money issue has become an embarrassing issue for Trinamool — as evident from Mamata’s speech. Although since day one, when Mamata herself talked about the issue of cut-money after the loss of Lok Sabha elections, she has maintained that there is nothing wrong in disciplining her own party workers — who have been extracting unofficial commission from common people for getting government grants for local area projects approval.

However, the question is — Why Mamata had to wait for an electoral loss to break her silence on local Trinamool workers’ taking unofficial commission from common people? Because, the issue of extortion of commission by Trinamool’s workers has been there since the days of Mamata’s first tenure.

Opposition parties including Left, BJP and Congress have always accused of “syndicate raj” in the State under her rule — a legacy left by the CPM government — which reached new heights under Trinamool’s regime. According to a news report, in 2015 municipal polls, which saw almost no participation of opposition parties due to attacks by TMC supporters, the violence mainly rocked in those places where these syndicates are active and flex their muscles. Obviously, Mamata herself has let the cat out of the bag and handed a big political weapon to the opposition — especially the BJP. And by trying to counter cut money with black money to attack the BJP, she herself has confirmed how the issue is affecting the party’s image — already hurt by the loss of “unexpected” 12 seats aided by defections of party leaders and MLAs to the BJP — engineered by Mukul Roy, the former second-in-command of the Trinamool.

Apart from that, Mamata, who recently hired the well-known political strategist Prashant Kishore for her party’s campaign, trained guns against EVMs for “helping BJP to win the Lok Sabha elections”. Although forgetting the fact that it were the same EVMs that helped her to clinch victory against Left Front in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections followed by the historic downfall of the 34 years old Left government in 2011 — fulfilling her wish to sit on the chair of chief minister. Later too, the same EVMs were used, when her party won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections followed by her return to power for the second time in the 2016 Then why to train guns against EVMs for the 2019 electoral loss? This actually shows her frustration about the results which she called a “mystery”.

However, the truth is this “mystery” happened not due to EVMs but because of her party’s policy to completely weaken the opposition — Left and Congress. A significant number of Congress MLAs were lured and had to switch over to the Trinamool in comparison to a small number of Left MLAs over the years. Although, the Left managed to control its MLAs but failed to resist the attacks unleashed by Trinamool supporters across the state — witnessed in last year’s panchayat elections in the state. This created a vacuum in opposition politics — ultimately paving the way for BJP’s rise in the state against Trinamool. A large chunk of the saffron party’s supporters are the Left supporters who have joined BJP — only to get rid of Mamata’s rule. It was this erosion of Left’s votebank to BJP which helped the saffron party to win 18 seats despite Trinamool managing to increase 4% votes in comparison to 2014 polls.

Had the opposition candidates been allowed to contest in the panchayat polls, Trinamool would have got the opportunity to gauge the mood of the electorate and also not earned the disrespect of the electorate — who couldn’t properly cast their votes in the polls. Currently, it seems she is in a state of confusion being not able to figure out how to manage the situation. She also attacked the CPM, which recently rejected her offer to work together to defeat BJP, in the rally vehemently — unlike last year’s rally where she was seen soft towards her once most arch rival — for helping BJP. Mamata is aware of the danger of CPM’s votes going to BJP’s kitty; so, she is now wishing privately for CPM’s revival in the state to check the saffron party’s rise — although it seems an impossible task for the CPM to revive at least before the 2021 assembly polls. As for most of the CPM supporters, BJP is the best option to defeat Mamata. Actually, the changing political scenario, which Mamata herself failed to gauge, has led her to fall into the trap — created by her own political gaffes — making her desperate as she now faces an imminent threat from BJP in the upcoming assembly polls. (IPA Service)