BJP’s march in West Bengal: Modigiri trumps Didigiri

At last, when matters in Bengal were spiralling out of control, the Election Commission (EC) made history. It invoked Article 324 to end campaigning at 10 pm on May 16, one day before it was meant to end. As it happens, much of the damage was already done, with widespread violence, vandalism, and disruption of normal life in the state. Pitched street battles between the cadres of Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) marked this last and most acrimonious phase of the voting. The final straw on the proverbial camel’s back was the “combust” of the statue of Hindu renaissance man and reformer, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, despite the bandobast. 

Matters having that reached that low-point with much finger-pointing and fisticuffs, there was not much, therefore, to be saved by the EC clampdown. The Prime Minister and ruling party’s star campaigner, Narendra Modi, had already accomplished most of what he might have intended. Worse, for TMC and Didi, Amit Shah, BJP Party President and numero due or second-in-command, had just concluded a rousing rally in the historic heart of the city, right next to Calcutta University. Shah’s roadshow was as impressive as it was unprecedented. In the last half-a-century, possibly since the struggle for India’s independence, India’s erstwhile capital and first city, Kolkata, had never witnessed Hindu self-assertion on this size or scale. No wonder Didi was upset, alarmed, ashen-faced, even outraged. 

Clearly Didi was incensed because she had failed to stop the BJP digvijaya yatra or victory parade in her own stronghold. Or was she actually more scared than angry? We won’t have to wait too long to find out; May 23rd isn’t far away. What if BJP gets 20 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal!? Or 15, 12, even just 10? It will be their greatest triumph and TMC’s worst nightmare. The BJP’s look-and-act East policy will have succeeded beyond imagination, handing them half the country from Delhi all the way to Arunachal Pradesh, through UP, Bihar, Bengal, Assam, in addition to Delhi’s throne — gift-wrapped in a ribbon or swathe of saffron.

Whatever the outcome, one thing is crystal clear. Didigiri, which some might cynically say is worse than dadagiri, failed miserably to stop the BJP wrath or should we say rath (chariot)? If anything, it is Modigiri that has triumphed. Not only have roars of Jai Shri Ram resounded across the state, but chants of “Modi, Modi, Modi.” Modi and Shah have gone the extra mile in the 2019 campaign. Their fierce determination and will to return to power will rarely find their match anywhere in the world. Modi himself has led from the front, a relentless campaigner, political genius, and mass leader, the likes of which India has scarcely seen since Mahatma Gandhi. With a killer instinct to take the battle into the enemy’s camp, Modi has made the life of regional political satraps like Mamata measly if not miserable. Today, it seems Didi has literally nowhere to hide. She is struggling not so much to win the elections as fighting for her very political survival.

The TMC’s widely reported tactics to intimidate rivals, capture constituencies, prevent opponents from voting, instigate violence and unrest have all come a cropper. Even BJP spokesman, Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga, arrested by the police from his hotel at the unearthly hour of 2am for inciting violence, had to be released by the red-faced authorities when they failed to provide evidence against him. Instead, Didi and her minions, with their meme-intolerance, were painted in shamefaced, anti-democratic and dictatorial hues. Bengal, it seemed, had descended practically, if paradoxically, into a cross between a goonda raj and police state. No matter how much Didi fumed and fulminated, a defiantly high turnout of over 80% of voters showed that her fortress was not only under siege, but on the verge of being stormed.

The EC may have acted at the eleventh hour, but the Bengali electorate was afforded some respite from a bitterly cantankerous campaign. The rest of India too now as a break from the daily eruptions of conflicts and clashes. The BJP, now the principal opposition party in the state, is poised to wrest crucial seats from the incumbent TMC. If the pro-Modi factor was an undercurrent in the rest of India, it is a groundswell in the East, a wave even. Just before the last phase of the general elections on May 19, such a Modi wave in Bengal could well wash away all Opposition, presaging not only a clear victory for the BJP but Modi’s return to power for a second term as India’s Prime Minister. No prizes for guessing Mamata Banerjee ko gussa kyon aata hai.

Author is Director, IIAS, Shimla 
Views are personal