Is TMC mirror image of CPI(M)?
By Ashis Biswas
Not entirely facetiously, senior opposition leaders in West Bengal often marvel at the similarities between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the CPI(M), the party it defeated after 34 years of uninterrupted rule..
The TMC, born exactly 34 years after the CPI(M) came into existence, (another coincidence!) has proved to be its most devoted copycat. It borrowed the CPI(M)’s left slogans almost word for word, created its own shouting brigades, learnt to adopt disruptive stonewall tactics against the administration (in opposition) and political rivals. Over the years, it outflanked the CPI(M) on the left by aligning with Maoists and Naxalites in the Singur and Nandigram agitations.
Two years in power, the TMC shows every sign that it will pursue its ‘ape the CPI(M)’ programme more vigorously, even if it means self destruction. Already there are loud civil protests against the misuse of the police, the forcible takeover or suppression of rival employees’ unions in offices, growing corruption of parry ranks and leaders in shady real estate deals, corruption and excesses against opponents of the rural areas. Like the CPI(M), the TMC too equates political criticism with enemy action and is utterly insensitive to dissent.
These are precisely the features that characterised the last days of the Left front in Bengal in 2011, when people voted it out after three decades. Given the mood of the state electorate, which has succeeded in unseating its political masters once, it is common knowledge that the TMC will not enjoy such a long run in power.
Do TMC leaders know that their days as a ruling party may not last long? Yes and no. No one expects Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee or other TMC leaders to admit publicly that their tenure may not last for long. But their private utterances are different. Sometimes they slip up. The loudest of Mamata faithfuls, Jyotipriya Mullick (minister of food) once was candid enough to tell a public rally that he may not be in power ‘after the next elections’ but the policies he was initiating would bring much benefit for the people. He was severely reprimanded by his leader the very next day!
Lower level leaders at the municipal and other rungs are more forthcoming. Recently, this writer heard local TMC workers at Jadavpore, a south Kolkata suburb, urge upon a landlord to undertake his real estate project ‘asap’. ‘You see we really do not know how long we’ll be there (in power) to help you.’ Even their leaders, they said, had told them to make hay while sun was shining!
Now the TMC copying the methods and tactics of the more seasoned, experienced CPI(M), which has had its share of success in both central and state level politics in India, is understandable. When the reverse happens, that is when the CPI(M) ‘copies’ the TMC tactically or seems to, it leaves most analysts and diehard left supporters stumped! And the surprising thing is, even this is happening, another sure sign of the Left’s continuing downward spiral.
The best example of this was the demonstration by the SFI in Delhi on April 9 outside the Planning Commission office, against the Chief Minister of West Bengal and three other ministers. Amit Mitra, Minister for Finance was badly manhandled. While there was muted condemnation of the incident in the national capital and elsewhere, the reaction had its loudest resonance in West Bengal.
The SFI demonstration, where there seemed to be more middle-aged women than students, was a poor show. A handful of protestors were agitating against the death in police custody in Kolkata of their leader, young Sudipto Dutta. The incident evoked a sharp reaction. Banerjee made matters worse by her insensitive comments once again. As she was attending her meeting at the Planning Commission, she was politically on the defensive.
By manhandling Mitra, the demonstrators brought only discredit upon their organisation (SFI) and the party to which it was affiliated, the CPI(M). Banerjee, let off the hook, grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Screaming blue murder, she brought the Commission and its deputy chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia collectively to their knees. Over the years, Banerjee has perfected her browbeating techniques through the effective use of her lungpower. Parliament Street sighed in relief when the official meeting ended and plaster stopped dropping from the ceiling.
Banerjee’s behaviour continued to puzzle. Pleading poor health, she cancelled two extremely important meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Newspapers covering her programme wondered what could have happened to her after her meeting with the Commission, which she was strong enough to attend and finish? And the two scheduled meetings were to be held the day after, on April 10 anyway!
While Bengal went on the boil after the incident, TMC supporters began attacking CPI(M) and other left offices systematically from Coochbehar to South 24 parganas, yet there was little national reaction. Cong(I) spokesperson Renuka Choudhury played down the incident, saying it was ‘a matter between the TMC and the Left’, nothing to do with the Cong(I).’ Commission officials expressed an apology, as did the Prime Minister when he learnt what had happened. There was no communication from the Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, or Sonia Gandhi. The CPI(M) Politburo regretted the incident.
Delhi police authorities revealed that Banerjee had not listened to their suggestions as to which gate she should use to avoid the demonstrators. She did not use their pilot car or escorts. She had used someone else’s personal car, which stopped plumb in front of the demonstrators. She plunged right through them, to end up standing before one of the locked gates. Fetching the key took time, enabling the demonstrators to isolate and attack Mitra.
How sincere was Banerjee’s appeal to her followers to keep peace in Bengal? Difficult to say, for it had been preceded by her claim that she could ‘call up 10 lakh people in response to the 20 people called up by the SFI’ and that but for her restraint, there would have been a ‘bloodbath’ in Bengal after she won in 2011. ‘Too bad Sudipto Dutta’s family did not understand this,’ said a Left supporter.
But here again, the TMC supporters, like its leader, did not know where to stop. Attacking and often burning scores of CPI(M) offices was apparently not enough. They now went (April 10) on a reckless attack on the prestigious Presidency University on College street, one of the few remaining signs of Bengal’s former prominence and glory! Carrying TMC flags, shouting TMC slogans when not mouthing obscenities, they disrupted classes, beat up students and teachers, and smashed the internationally reputed Baker physics laboratory, in protest against the ‘murderous attack’ on their leader by the SFI. Incidentally, the SFI does not have much strength in the University.
Even as Minister for Industries Partha Chaterjee and Minister for Education Bratya Basu claimed that ‘no TMC supporter was involved,’ the TV footage showed local TMC council Partha Basu and youth leader Tathagata Dey leading the attack. It involved breaking open the lock on the main gate, scaling the high railings, before unleashing mayhem in the campus proper.
State Governor MK Narayanan lived up to his current billing as one of the busiest persons in India. On April 10, he had condemned the SFI attack in Delhi and called for an apology from the CPI(M) politburo. On April 11 he described TMC supporters ransacking Presidency University as ‘criminals who should be dealt with effectively’. He was condemned for his first statement by the CPI(M) and condemned by the TMC for his second.
As for hoping for effective police action against criminals, their entire programme had been watched stoically by the police picket posted by the local thana to prevent trouble. As teachers frantically asked them to help, they said, Sorry, we have no orders to act!’ and continued to watch the mayhem. (IPA Service)