Khela hobe na? Why Mamata is softening her stance on Modi, Amit Shah

TMC insiders reportedly said the Centre's decision to stop fund disbursal hurt state administration coffers and Mamata intended to seek financial help from Modi, Shah

The West Bengal political circuit is abuzz due to two events - a meeting between state CM Mamata Banerjee and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on December 16 and the former's refusal to blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi for central agencies' raids on Opposition leaders. She also had announced that she would be at an event Modi is attending next week.

Some have speculated that Mamata's softening stance against the BJP's top two leaders comes because her government is in a financial crunch and there's no help from the Centre.

At the time of Banerjee and Shah's meeting, a state administration official said, "We have dues from the Centre. The Central government has not paid (West Bengal) a single penny in MNGREGS since last January … the dues amount to more than Rs 6,000 crore. On Saturday, Banerjee gave a letter to Home Minister on this matter and we expect that the Chief Minister raised this point with the Home Minister during their meeting," The Indian Express reported.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) insiders reportedly said that the Centre's decision to stop the fund disbursal had hurt state administration coffers and Mamata intended to seek financial help from BJP's Big Two. However, the Opposition alleged that Mamata and co. have been on the backfoot since the alleged school scam came to light earlier this year and is trying to reach a political understanding with the saffron party to get central agencies to back down. Many TMC leaders including Mamata's nephew, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, were on the radar of the investigating bodies.

CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty has lashed out at Mamata over her stance, saying, "The CM is now eager to meet the Prime Minister and Home Minister. It is now clear like daylight and all people knew that only these two can save the sinking ship of the TMC and Mamata Banerjee is doing exactly that," according to IE, but the state BJP unit is not reading too much into it. Samik Bhattacharya, the spokesperson for the saffron party in WB said, "This is a very weak screenplay. She wants to confuse people. But, she will not be successful because the TMC and Mamata Banerjee have not changed."

Another one bites the dust?

Mamata's stance towards the BJP top ranks has been growing somewhat softer, with DH reporting that the CM had taken a conciliatory approach to the state Opposition, contrary to the CM's usual combative self.

In November, she held a "courtesy meeting" with Suvendu Adhikari - the former TMC man turned leader of the Opposition. Mamata also asked state officials to ensure all MPs and MLAs were invited to the Kolkata International Film Festival. Also, while addressing a gathering of the members of the Legislative Assembly and officials at the inauguration of the platinum jubilee memorial building of the Assembly, Mamata said that she would have been happy had the (BJP) MLAs in the Opposition also attended the function.

In September, Mamata effectively insulated Modi from her criticism while slamming "some BJP leaders" for "misusing" central agencies to put pressure on the Opposition. "Every day, leaders of opposition parties are being threatened by the BJP leaders with arrest by CBI and ED. Should central agencies function this way in the country? I don't believe that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is behind this, but some BJP leaders are misusing the CBI and ED for their interests," the TMC supremo had said.

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Modi has been conspicuously missing from Mamata's speeches from earlier in the year as well, including the one at TMC's annual Martyrs Day Rally on July 21. Moreover, statements like "all in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are not bad" have shown a change in direction to the West Bengal CM's earlier staunch stance against the saffron tide in the country.

Go gentle into the good night?

After TMC beat BJP in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls, Mamata tried to project herself as the face of the Opposition. Leaders from other opposition parties began to see some promise as well, and the 'khela hobe' slogan became a galvanising force against the BJP's vision about which journalist and author Saba Naqvi wrote for DH ahead of the recent Gujarat and Himachal elections that the party's 'double engine' government pitch can be seen as a move to have 'one party, one leader'.

However, now TMC's enthusiasm for a possible national expansion seems to have faded.

Post-March 2022, the situation starkly changed with the TMC's stance in the Presidential and Vice Presidential polls giving an indicator of the party's changing stance. Mamata said if she had known BJP was fielding Droupadi Murmu, she'd have reconsidered fielding a candidate. In the VP polls, TMC abstained from voting, making it easy for Jagdeep Dhankhar to win. Up until this point, Dhankhar had butted heads with the West Bengal party multiple times when he was Governor of the State.

Self-preservation kicking in?

Mamata had, however, raged against the top BJP leaders on multiple occasions earlier, making headlines along the way. From refusing to speak at an event Modi was attending due to 'Jai Shree Ram' chants to refusing to meet him at the Kolkata airport, Mamata had made it known that TMC and BJP stood at opposite ends. From skipping Niti Aayog events to protesting against federal policies, Mamata posited herself as a fiery opposition, with her speeches in broken Hindi only adding to the impact.

The altered stance could be due to a variety of reasons. India Today opined that a driving factor could be a fear that what happened in Maharashtra could happen in West Bengal too. In the Western state, Eknath Shinde broke off from Uddhav Thackeray's party and formed the government with the then-Opposition BJP. With some of the TMC leaders under pressure, Mamata could have feared a similar outcome, with her former prodigy-turned-foe Adhikari stepping up to be the Deputy CM.

In July, actor-turned-BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty alleged that 38 TMC leaders were in touch with the saffron party, which the TMC head denied. However, she went for a cabinet rejig and India Today reported insiders saying that her troubles were far from over.

As per the publication's opinion, Mamata has most likely understood that opposition unity in 2024 remains a distant possibility, given the politics between AAP and Congress - the main anti-BJP forces in the nation.

No trickle-down effect on this apparent softer stance

Despite Mamata's apparent softer stance towards the party's biggest names - Modi and Shah, the BJP doesn't seem to be backing down. After her comments to isolate Modi, the BJP said the PM does not need "validation" from her, and Bengal BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul added, "She needs to save her nephew and herself, hence she is trying to soften her stand," as per India Today.

Likewise, the TMC has also not eased off from attacking the BJP government, with TMC MP Mahua Moitra recently raising questions in the Lok Sabha on industrial output saying "Who’s the Pappu now?". Mamata's nephew too hit out at Shah in September after the ED questioned the former in connection to a coal smuggling case. TMC's youth wing launched a tee-shirt campaign with Shah's photo and the words "India’s biggest Pappu" printed on them.

(With inputs from PTI)