By Tirthankar Mitra
West Bengal’s politics is on a rollercoaster. But as two significant by-polls inch closer, it becomes evident that there is nothing mirthful about it.
The defections, withdrawals from the poll race, arrest of the Congress candidate on charges dating back to two decades, stain the by-polls. The latest sinister twist in the tale is the unearthing of a plot to engineer communal conflagration in and around the two constituencies, thus trying to influence the outcome of the by-polls.
Consider the facts. The Election Commission of India has frozen the symbol of the undivided Trinamool Congress (twin flowers in grass, or jora ful) for the October 6 by-elections. Needless to say, it is a massive psychological blow to Trinamool’s support base.
There is a precedent in the form of the trajectory of Shiv Sena. Like it, the Trinamool matter will be decided by the court.
The warring factions of the TMC were allotted alternative identities and signages. The Mamata Banerjee-led faction, now dubbed ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’, has received the emblem of a football player.
This is in the fitness of things, quipped the critics of Mamata Banerjee, saying that the symbol resonates with the “khela hobe” (game, set, go) slogan that Mamata Banerjee once voiced challenging her political adversaries. She was also once seen with a football inaugurating a tournament.
But then after her party nominee at Nandigram went all the way to the state secretariat Nabanna to seek Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s blessings and thereafter withdrew from the poll battle, it was indeed a below the belt hit for Banerjee. Astute politician that she is, Mamata Banerjee extended support to Milan Pradhan, the Congress candidate in the Nandigram by-poll.
She had no other option, but it energised her party activists no end. But just as MAITC activists were patting themselves on their backs for their leader having the last word, the Congress nominee, Milan Pradhan found himself behind the bars.
Alleged involvement in a 2007 murder case linked to the Nandigram land agitation, which had not been pursued till date, pulled Pradhan away from poll campaigning, thanks to Kolkata Police following the CM’s diktat in the name of protocol. Ironically, the 2007 Nandigram protests catapulted the political careers of both Mamata Banerjee and her then deputy, and the current Bengal CM, Suvendu Adhikari. In fact, the charges against Pradhan can be equally applied to CM Adhikari himself!
If one thought, the curtain had dropped on the bizarre by-poll drama, Rabiul Alam Choudhary, the TMC candidate, first withdrew from Rejinagar poll fray, then returned to the election reportedly at Mamata Banerjee’s request. Sources in the saffron camp feel his presence in the poll battle will facilitate division in the votes to be cast against BJP nominee, Sakharov Sarkar.
If BJP is looking for a cakewalk in both the seats, the ground reality can be humbling for the saffrons. BJP is facing its first electoral test in West Bengal after its Assembly poll triumph.
It has to prove that its Assembly polls success was not a flash in the pan. To prove its grip on popularity, it has to register convincing victories in both the constituencies.
Moreover, it is facing Opposition accusation of creating a situation which is not a level playing field. The Opposition, that is MAITC and Congress, feels a saffron plot has culminated in the withdrawal and arrest of candidates at Nandigram.
What the BJP leadership did not foresee is that the sequence of events that put the Opposition in the backfoot has actually brought Mamata Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi closer, and they are jointly training their guns at the saffron camp. Proximity between these two leaders was the last thing the national-level BJP wanted from the important by-polls.
The changed equation is discernible in West Bengal politics. Congress has strongly condemned the BJP and the local police administration after several Trinamool leaders were roughed up recently at Mukundapur, in the southern fringes of Kolkata.
Hurly burly of election campaign apart, a sordid plot to stoke communal sentiments at Rejinagar by-poll has also been unearthed. Humayun Kabir, the Aam Janata Unnayan Party leader, was interrogated in connection with an audio clip stating a plan to switch off CCTV cameras around the proposed Babri mosque sight in this area and put up BJP flags.
The state electorate finds itself witnessing the unfolding of a dispirited tale. The script is familiar. No matter which party’s writ ran, the electoral turf has never been fair. Neither Congress nor Trinamool can deny this charge.
Things remain unchanged even after a regime change. The poll pitch continues to be tweaked though the modus operandi has changed.
Charges continue to be raised and fingers pointed. They are answered by whataboutery.
There was a widespread claim of change (poriborton) after BJP replaced the Trinamool dispensation. The recent happenings completely negate such assertions. (IPA Service)
