Bengal Tigress on the prowl                     

by abhay mokashi

The results of the Assembly elections in West Bengal are bound to have a major impact on national politics, though reports say that Mamata Banerjee has lost the election in Nandigram.

All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by Mamata Banerjee, has been elected to power for the third consecutive term in the state. Banerjee came to power 2011 for the first time defeating the then all-powerful Left Front.

In the current election, she faced a major challenge from the more powerful Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which use all the saam, daam, dand, bhed in its attempt to defeat Banerjee.

The BJP concentrated more in West Bengal during the assembly elections to five states and got its leaders Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to campaign extensively in West Bengal. The party also got its Chief Ministers and former Chief Ministers of various states and countless members of the Union Cabinet to West Bengal to campaign more against Banerjee, than for the BJP. Banerjee had to face challenges not just from the BJP, but from an extremely pro-BJP mainstream media, which was hostile to her, not to speak of a biased Election Commission of India.

For the last few years, the BJP has been concentrating its energy in West Bengal, wanting to throw Banerjee out of power, because the party leaders are aware that she is the only and the biggest challenge to Narendra Modi at the national level.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has raised several issues that could put the BJP in trouble. His repeated warnings to the Union Government on the COVID situation, since December 2019, were ignored and the country has been paying a price for it. Yet, the party, through its leaders, spokespersons and its propaganda cell, was able to neutralise Gandhi by its campaign to run him down and calling him Pappu. It is another thing time has proved him right on what he said about COVID, while the nincompoop leaders of the BJP were proved wrong.

Though a leader of a regional party, Mamata Banerjee is a go-getter and has the courage to take on the political mighty, has the backing of the people and her simple life has appealed to the people at large. Unlike, Modi, she did not capitalise on her lifestyle, her one-room home, her Hawaii chappels, the khadi saree and her income through the sale of her creative works or through royalty on her writings. Her campaign manager can now promote these qualities to bring her on the national level, the way the chaiwala was marketed. Of course, these are not the only qualities that the BJP is scared of, she is a good administrator too.

Banerjee is staunchly against communalism and has openly opposed the BJP’s communal politics and the highhandedness of the Union Government.

It would be unfair to the people of West Bengal if they are not given credit for the defeat of BJP’s communal politics. For over two years, the BJP tried to spread a message in West Bengal and the country that Banerjee does not allow Durga Puja celebrations. Many in the country believed it thanks to the mainstream media, but all this was exposed by the independent media, streamed over various social media platforms.

Members of the public, interviewed by the independent media, spoke vehemently against communal politics. Numerous Hindus and Muslims stated that they celebrated their festivals and family functions together and that they are like a family. This is to the credit of the Bengalis, for whom the Bengali pride is very important. They are Bengalis first and Hindus and Muslims later.

Modi made a fool of himself on a few occasions while trying to impress the Bengalis. He got Rabindranath Thakur’s birth place wrong and garlanded the wrong statue, when he was to garland another Bengali and national icon-Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, just to mention two such incidents. While the world calls the Noble laureate Tagore, he is addressed as Rabindranath Thakur by Bengalis. Modi continued calling him Tagore and sported a beard that resembled that of Guru Rabindranath. All this did not go well with the Bengali masses.

Banerjee proved to the Hindu chauvinist leaders belonging to the BJP that she is more of a Hindu than them, by chanting the Chandi Paath on a public platform, an act she could have avoided.

With her thumping victory in West Bengal and her ability to defeat communal forces, Banerjee will now have to come to the national political theatre and bring together all parties opposing the BJP. She could defeat the BJP’s money power too in her state, but that will not be easy at the national level, unless leaders and parties come together.

The Bengal tigress will have to come on the prowl on national level.