The scene for a major confrontation is opening up in West Bengal, with assembly election approaching in another three months, and the Trinamool Congress led by chief minister Mamata Banerjee attempting to defend its long-held fortress. The BJP, which tasted defeat repeatedly in the assembly polls as also parliament elections in the state is keen on making another try – through a voter list revision as is done in other states too, and extending olive branches to the electorate through the launch of a new set of developmental projects at the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
The electorate in Bengal has proven repeatedly that they stood by Banerjee despite the high electoral hype the BJP created in the last two assembly polls there. The Congress and the Left are mostly down and out there, while the BJP at one time showed signs of significant growth. Due to a variety of factors, Banerjee managed to hold the ground – not the least among these being her direct, personal approach with the ordinary masses in the state. Obviously, the Muslims, who felt they got a raw deal from the three decades of Left rule, also solidly backed Banerjee, their new-found saviour. Nothing yet goes to show this large segment of the population turned against her – their alternative being the Congress and the Left, both being in a lost situation. The BJP’s Hindutva slogan does not jell with the generally progressive mindset of the Bengalis, though a section of them have in recent times edged closer to the saffron cause due mainly to the fact that the BJP runs the central government. With the Leftist governments failing to extract the state’s due share from the Congress governments at the Centre in the past, and later the TMC from the BJP government too, Bengal’s infrastructural progress suffered. Kolkata as the western metropolis, which once acted as the central business and commercial hub for the entire north-east, has also failed to build fresh muscles. The Left rule had seen several industries migrating to neighbouring states due to the trade union militancy on the part of the CPIM.
Prime Minister Modi launching projects like new railway lines for Bengal, as he did on Sunday, is appreciable. But, if projects are launched during the run-up to elections, chances are also that these would not progress in the event the vote goes against the party that runs the central government. Such lures had been held out for Bengal during the Congress terms at the Centre too, but the state lost heavily due to its regional-centric politics. Modi’s own promise to the people, state after state, is to elect BJP to power to ensure the functioning of a “double-engine” sircar; but this does not rhyme with the grand federalism concepts the framers of the Constitution introduced. States must get their due share from the Centre, irrespective of who rules them. Yet, the BJP’s plea seems to have worked in its favour in the Mumbai civic polls, as also the previous Maharashtra assembly elections. Bengal might or might not think anew.
