Didi Rules Bengal
The results of Kolkata and other Municipality
Elections shouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone. This columnist
may be tempted to say "I told you so" (Read previous DailyO article BJP needs a new gardener in West Bengal) but
truth be said, the results were a forgone conclusion. What may come
as a jolt to many is BJP's total rout - which the Trinamool spokesperson
rather unkindly - but not entirely without justification - called "a
balloon gone Phoos !!".
That Congress couldn't put up a respectable show will not
bother many. More significant is the total decimation of the Left with no signs
of the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes.
Trinamool didn't need to indulge in any rigging or violence
to achieve these results. Many political observers believe - the violence
happened either out of local rivalries among lumpen elements or
an "over-kill" following Mukul Roy's disengagement and fear of
internal sabotage.The slogan #DidiRules, therefore, is meant as much for
the opposition as it is for inner party constituents.
Congress is all but a spent force in Bengal. Even assuming
the new improved RaGa 2.0 is able to breathe fresh life into the party - it
will be a long time before it touches Bengal. In the coming Assembly Elections
- therefore, it'll desperately seek alliance with either the Left or
Trinamool - but both have little reason or incentive to grant it
space. The coming months will no doubt see a a queue of dejected
Congressmen outside Mamata Banerjee's Kalighat residence. In the longer term,
it would be reasonable to expect - the Left of Centre space in
Bengal will be occupied by Trinamool or one of its off-shoots if it were to arise.
The just elected CPIM supremo Sitaram Yechury - who knows
Bengal (and Bengali) well - has rightly placed the finger on the
pulse - when he said the main challenge of the Left is get back the youth
to its fold. But, he doesn't spell out what does the Left have to offer today's
youth - who are looking for jobs and gainful employment - given Left's dismal
track record on that economic front in Bengal. At least to that extent -
though the jury is still out - Mamata Banerjee still holds out the promise of getting
industry to invest in Bengal, create jobs and development of the state. Any
such claims by CPIM is bound to sound hollow.
The bigger issue for CPIM is it has lost its cadre base
entirely. The dividends of Land Reform and Operation Barga have been milked
dry. With fragmented land- holdings villagers prefer to move out to cities or
other states for employment and the actual work of tilling the land left
for non-agricultural farm-labourers. With hardly any industries left in
the state - the trade unions have also moved out of its ranks. The
educated youth no longer want to stay back in the state - and the chatter of
latest movies and TV serials dominate the air of Coffee Houses and College
Canteens rather than talk of Marx and Lenin.
BJP's failure in these elections is not only that it
could not mobilise even a "work in progress" organisation - losing
the plot even before it got started with infighting and anarchy -
but the way it frittered away in less than a year the goodwill generated
at the time of the Lok Sabha elections. It also can't be denied - however much
one may argue local body elections are decided on local issues - the NDA
governments performance so far has failed to inspire the Bengalis. It
is, perhaps, also a commentary on people's increasing agnosticism towards
scams and coruuption - that all the noise over Saradha and other Ponzi
frauds didn't have any visible impact on the
poll outcome. While it is certainly true - Mamata Banerjee and TrInamool
have mastered the art of "election management"
first perfected by the Left (perhaps, better than even her own
"art") - it would be futile for BJP to seek an excuse in that -
as some of their national leaders have already begun to do. instead,
it is time for the party to look for a new leader and a central manager
who can build the organisation from the grassroots and re engineer its image.
Till then - probably - the best bet for Bengal would be to
live by the formula which Narendra Modi had suggested in his first election
rally in Kolkata in February 2014 - "Didi in the State, Dada (Pranab
Mukherjee) in Rashtrapati Bhavan and (Narendra) Bhai at the PMO. It could
well be a winning formula - at least in the short term - if Didi and Bhai
can establish a working relationship may be with a little help from the
Dada.
#BengalVerdict #Trinamool #DidiRules #BJPBengal
#KolkataMunicipalCorporation #WestBengal
Article first published in DailyO_ Click here to read
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