By Tirthankar Mitra
KOLKATA: Making a mix of emotions and facts, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee blew her poll bugle loud and clear from July 21 Martyrs’ Day rally. While calling upon her party activists to hit the ground running for the election campaign, she sounded a stern warning for the BJP and Left – “jobdo hobe, stabdha hobe” (you will be put in your place and silenced), she said.
Even as West Bengal chief minister zeroed in on her political opponents, the usually impetuous leader put up a remarkable act of tactical commission. Not once during more than hour long address did she name Congress with whom TMC is sharing space in INDIA bloc. Her deliberate act not to include the Congress among her adversaries in the state, assumes significance before the 2026 assembly polls.
The softening of stance towards Congress can be traced to its change of leadership. Subhankar Sarkar, has never opposed Trinamool and its supremo in the strong mode of his predecessor Afhut Ranjan Chowdhury, While a Trinamool leader did not rule out an equation with the Congress in next year’s election, the state Congress leadership stated it would not deviate from agitating against the TMC state government., but the final decision will be taken by the Congress high command.
Both Congress party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader, Jairam Ramesh were in favour of an alliance with TMC in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. But Banerjee went ahead with the announcement of naming her nominees in all the 42 constituencies after coming to the conclusion that it was not worth aligning with the Congress seeking too many seats not commensure with its marginal position in the state.
During her address, Banerjee put all focus on the fight against the principal opposition BJP and from beginning to end, she emphasised in her address that the BJP strength would have to be drastically reduced in the coming 2026 assembly polls. The chief minister also attacked the CPI(M) among the Left parties though the party posed no threat to the TMC in the coming polls. He targeted the CPI(M), the ruling party in Bengal from 1977 to 2011 elections only because, the party, especially the young CPI(M) supporters were active in a number of agitations against the TMC government in the recent months.
Announcing the “bhasa andolan” to protect the integrity of the Bengali language and culture, has been a shrewd move on the part of the Trinamool supremo. It reminded an older generation of Bengalis of people being killed in erstwhile East Pakistan for demanding Bengali as their official language. The harassment and even jailing of Bengali speaking migrant labour in various BJP ruled states has fanned the sentiments of the Bengali citizens in Bengal and this has gone against the BJP.
Of late, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has spoken of deporting Bengali speaking persons from his state and earning denouncement for himself and his party, BJP cutting across party lines in West Bengal By Banerjee’s announcement of launching a second “Bhasa Andolan” this time in West Bengal, she reached out to supporters of other political outfits having a soft corner for the Bengali language.
History is witness that whenever there has been even a whiff of disrespect for their language, Bengalis have spoken out. And this time as Banerjee sought the protest be made in the ballot box, the huge crowd roared its approval.
Stoking the wounded pride of Bengalis for their language, the Trinamool chief made a canny move to return to the power for the fourth term. It is indeed a handy tool to connect with the voters which was also wooed not too successfully by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his Durgapur rally when he spoke of “paribartan’ (change) in governance in Bengali.
One does not really have to refresh one’s .memory to recall the bloopers the BJP leaders especially those from outside the state has committed. In sum, Banerjee scored points in this regard as the BJP including PM Modi have not been able to effectively counter these charges.
Invoking regional exceptionalism, the Trinamool supremo caught the BJP on the wrong foot. The response to her pitch on Bengali pride was enthusiastic and likely to yield rich electoral dividend in next year’s Assembly election.
Taking the poll battle into the saffron camp, the Trinamool chairperson accused the BJP leadership of paying lip service to members of Matua and Rajbanshi community during election campaign and labelling some of them “foreigners” later on. While present Matua populace belonging to the Scheduled Caste are spread over West Bengal, the Rajbanshis belonging Scheduled Tribe are mostly residents of North Bengal.
Small wonder, the Trinamool chief had them in her sight as BJP has solid support bases among both communities. Needling the saffron camp further, Uttam Brajabasi, a resident of Coochbehar who received a notice from Foreigners Tribunal from Assam was paraded on the podium to give an idea of the shape of things to come if the BJP replaced the TMC in governance of the state.
Next came issue of Rohingyas, a community from Myanmar whom none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi had alleged to be infiltrating into West Bengal with the connivance of the state government. Brushing off this charge, Banerjee accused BJP of inflating the population of this community.
Religion occupied a significant part in Trinamool chief’s address. Promising to set up a “Durga Angan” in the state soon, she sought to steal the thunder of PM Modi’s address in Durgapur where he invoked “Jai Ma Durga'” jettisoning the almost customary “Jai Sri Ram’.
Taking a direct swipe at PM Modi, chief minister Banerjee said “You said that I do not allow Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja. Now all of sudden you remember Ma Durga and Ma Kali”.
Religion over the decades has never played a significant role in Bengal politics. But building the Jagannath temple at Digha, the chief minister made it a political move to counter the BJP’s Hindutva narrative.
Predicting the TMC will defeat the BJP in the Assembly elections next year, the TMC chief said she will not rest till the saffron outfit is ousted from Delhi. The electoral battlelines have been drawn clearly. TMC supremo has set the agenda for the 2026 polls which will include the fight for the dignity of Bengal, its language along with the demand for immediate release of funds which have been blocked by the centre for political reasons.
In the poll battle ahead, the TMC has got a head start thanks to the “self goals” by BJP leadership in other states. The Prime Minister Modi’s utterances in halting Bengali in his July 18 rally in the state only underscored the cosmetic nature of his outreach to the voters of state.
Canny politician that she is, Trinamool supremo has read the mood of the voters right. It is indignation towards the BJP leaders for slighting Bengali language. Inadvertently, the BJP has given TMC a leg up on the poll race ahead. It is unfortunate for Bengal which traditionally favours left wing views that the CPI(M) led Left Front has lost its electoral relevance in failing to emerge as a viable force against the ruling TMC and the BJP.
CPI(M) state secretary Mohammad Salim reacted in his usual way after the July 21 rally that Mamata had no right to talk of movement in defence of Bengali language and culture as she had destroyed Bengal. Divorced from ground reality, the CPI(M) leaders in Bengal are totally delinked from the aspirations and political mood of the people of the state. That is a tragedy for the traditionally strong Left movement in Bengal in 2025. (IPA Service)
