Granted that not too much need be read into the outcome of local body polls vis-à-vis the political climate, the results of the civic polls in West Bengal, swept by the ruling Trinamool Congress, are educative. These must be seen in the context of a nationwide churning at the political level in the run-up to the general elections two years hence. To this will be added the impact of the assembly election results in the five states that will be known on March 10. Put together, a formal opinion poll on national politics might have emerged by then.
Polling less than 13 per cent of the votes and winning no civic body but only 53 wards across West Bengal, the BJP has demonstrated its hopelessness in the state and cut a sorry figure nationwide. This was against the 38 per cent votes the BJP polled there in the 2021 assembly polls and the 40 per cent of votes and 18 Lok Sabha seats it got in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The results in West Bengal have repeatedly reinforced not just the superiority of the ruling Trinamool Congress but also the impenetrable, unassailable strength of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. No politician in West Bengal had, after Jyoti Basu, acquired an aura as imposing as Banerjee in state politics. The iterations of election results in the state obviously give her the courage to pursue her dream of grabbing power in Delhi and be India’s Prime Minister in place of Narendra Modi. Bengalis, despite their high interest in politics, could never politically lead India though several PMs have come and gone. Today, for such aspirants, the only silver lining is the perceived erosion in the strength of the BJP at the national level, which might create conditions for its exit from power in 2024.
But the problem is, Banerjee is not the only hopeful among the Opposition ranks for the PM’s post. Telangana chief minister Chandrashekar Rao, the other hopeful has camped in Delhi for a week to engage in talks with other Opposition figures. This, after he declared at a public meeting that he plans to soon take up an important job in Delhi and sought Telangana people’s blessings for that. What he aims at could be the PM’s post. Nitish Kumar from Bihar is testing the waters in Delhi. Maratha leader Sharad Pawar thinks he can manipulate things in national politics. Congress and Rahul Gandhi can’t be written off; they still have their own relevance over and above the claims of these worthies to be in the forefront. Politics has just got more interesting yet challenging too for its not just about winning but about providing governance to over a billion Indians in a rapidly changing environment.
