Who does not remember the West Bengal assembly elections last year? We all do. After winning Uttar Pradesh, the BJP saw West Bengal as the last obstacle in its ambition of dominating over the whole country. All their heavyweight leaders were pressed into service. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made 17 trips to West Bengal to address election rallies. Home Minister Amit Shah made many more. Mamata Banerjee’s close lieutenant Subhendu Adhikary was induced to leave Trinamool Congress and join the BJP. Several others followed.
Many of us braced ourselves for the inevitable – BJP rule in Bengal.
Mamata, however, did not say die even when things were looking bleak. She rallied support with the now-famous war cry of ‘khela habe’, which meant that she and her party was prepared for the bout. The BJP did hugely increase its tally in the state assembly, but could not reach anywhere near dislodging Mamata, who led the TMC to win 213 of the 292 seats that went to polls. She, herself, lost to Adhikary in Nandigram, but led her party to win the third consecutive term in power. Modi’s ‘aswamedha yajna’ was disrupted. The horses were called back to Hastinapur.
Her victory had an electrifying effect on many who had so far watched helplessly as democratic institutions collapsed all around them. Here was a leader who could possibly unite the opposition against Modi in 2024 and hold out the only hope of defeating him.
That hope however did not last beyond the elections in Goa.
But things were going wrong more seriously inside Bengal. Mamata’s inability to discipline her party’s leaders and workers encouraged unlimited corruption. The TMC leaders, big and small, helped themselves generously with public and private money. Instead of taking the bull by the horn, she took to denigrating district level party functionaries and government officials in public meetings.
What did she hope to achieve thereby? That people will not punish her for their mistakes! She did not fight the elections on political and administrative issues. She sought votes as Bengal’s own daughter. She campaigned on a wheelchair to raise sympathy. These stratagems have their limitations.
She is still known as the feisty lady who single-handedly took on the CPI(M) in Bengal and ended its 34-year-long rule.
She is still known for siding with the land losers of Singur and Nandigram and for launching her government’s ‘Kanya Shree’ programme for schoolgirls. But much of her capital is eroded. Corruption in the party has reached the top. Partha Chatterjee, her number two in the party and the cabinet, is accused of gross irregularity in the appointment of teachers. The Enforcement Directorate has moved in quickly and unearthed almost Rs 50 crore in cash from properties linked to his close aide.
A sting operation exposed several TMC leaders and ministers six years back. They were seen taking cash from a stranger.
It happened just before the 2016 elections, but Mamata actually increased her party’s vote share. This must have given a boost to her self confidence, which ultimately led to wrong choices.
At that time she could carry on without taking any action against the accused. This time around she removed Partha Chatterjee from the cabinet and suspended him from the party – surely an indication of change in approach, albeit a little late.
(The writer worked in the IAS. He retired in 2010 as Chief Secretary West Bengal.)