DIDI IN DOCK

 

 

UNION Home Minister Mr. Amit Shah’s election blitzkrieg in West Bengal has rankled the Trinamool Congress leadership and Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee. Mr Shah’s two roadshows in Midnapore and Birbhaum had all indicators of the electoral mood in the State and signs of hostility towards the ruling dispensation. However the Trinamool leadership seeks to brush away Bharatiya Janata Party’s poll pitch for next year’s Assembly elections, recent drumming up of political activities in West Bengal has proved beyond doubt that the BJP is slowly chipping away at the TMC bases across the State.

 

 

The success of Mr. Shah’s rallies, coming just after the attack on BJP National President Mr. J P Nadda’s convoy on December 10, is harbinger of an intense electoral battle in the State in 2021. The West Bengal Assembly polls will be one of the most-watched events in the next year. By cranking up its election machine, BJP has made some significant points that the Trinamool leaders can take lightly at their own peril. Mr. Shah’s aggressive speeches have paved way for a bigger political offensive against the ruling party in the coming days. Mr. Shah’s visit and the support he attracted from a large swathe in strategic constituencies has busted the Trinamool rhetoric of the BJP being an “outsider” party. If the Trinamool is banking on this logic to satisfy its ego then the party is digging its own grave. Numbers in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections should sound alarm bells for Ms. Banerjee.

 

The BJP, painted as anti-Bengal and rank outsider, walked away with 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats as compared to Trinamool’s 22 seats. BJP’s vote share went up to 40 per cent, a sharp increase from the previous elections. Between 2016 and 2020, the BJP has swelled its seats in the legislative assembly by 15. These are enough indictors for a political veteran like Ms. Banerjee to feel the undercurrent. If Mamata Didi is yet to look at the fast wilting ground beneath her feet, then a bigger revolt in the party cadre is set to weaken the Trinamool’s case even further. Scoffing at BJP leaders’ claims that many Trinamool workers and leaders were waiting to switch over to the party, Ms. Banerjee has miserably failed to guard her flock. The defection of a loyalist and influential leader like Mr. Suvendu Adhikari has rocked the TMC boat pretty wildly.

 

The latest switchover has seen one Lok Sabha MP, 10 MLAs (seven from Trinamool, two from the Left and one from Congress), two ex-MPs and 60 Councillors, Zilla Parishad and panchayat samiti members joining the BJP. It was an unprecedented event and signal of the BJP’s intentions as it takes the battle for Bengal to the Trinamool camp. Pooh-poohing the BJP challenge will be a monumental mistake for Ms. Banerjee. By indulging in whataboutery over nepotism and defection of leaders, TMC leaders are only making a show of themselves. Inanity is no answer to BJP’s poll machine that is always in action mode throughout the year.

 

The fever-pitched campaign in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Council elections has showed how the BJP has spread its influence across various landscapes. Since 2014, the party has ramped up its presence in West Bengal, taking on the corruption in local administration, Ms. Banerjee’s indifference to illegal migration and political violence of which BJP local cadre is the worst victim. The poor law and order situation also reflects the arrogance that has gripped the TMC Government. All the present crisis in Trinamool is of Ms. Banerjee’s making. From a mass leader she has gradually transformed into an insecure party boss totally consumed by the power at hand. Parties with a single-point or single-family leadership arrangements are often swayed away by their myopic view of ground situation. The TMC ploy of Delhi-bashing to divert voters from its misgovernance and lawlessness and shield the corrupt has lived its shelf life. The quicker Ms. Banerjee realises the harsh truth, the better Trinamool could stand the BJP blitz in Bengal.