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| Edited By: |Source: DNA |Updated: Aug 13, 2015, 11:11 AM IST
Once the rallying point for non-BJP opposition, it seems that the decimation of Left parties since has left a void in parliamentary politics.
Paradoxically, the CPI-M’s bête noire Mamata Banerjee, who was instrumental in dislodging the over three-decade-old Left Front government from West Bengal, now appears keen to step into that vacant political space. Whether or not she succeeds in that role is of course a separate subject of discussion. Interestingly, Banerjee is not alone in eyeing that empty slot. Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, too, seems to have set his sights on it. He, too, hopes to emerge as a force that would forge together the politically and ideologically diverse parties opposed to the BJP.
As already witnessed in the ongoing monsoon session, the politics practiced by this motley group of parties is mediated by flexible tactics, which are expedient in the context of short-term politics. For instance, the Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s recent blow-hot-blow-cold policy towards the Congress and the BJP, by turns, could bear out such political conjecture. For the non-BJP parties, the success of an enduring long-term strategy however, would hinge on putting together a complex political template that could stall the BJP’s advance, in states as well as at the Centre.
And this is where Banerjee, who, since her ascension to power in West Bengal in 2011, has shown no signs of retreating before an aggressive BJP, has come to acquire an edge in presenting herself as a rallying force. Her ability to retain her popularity and even widen her party’s electoral ambit, notwithstanding the Saradha scam and terror tactics of party cadres, has — no doubt — confounded many political analysts. Despite BJP’s bravado against the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Banerjee has gained in strength in every successive local election since 2011. The real face-off for the political ownership of West Bengal is going to play out sometime next year when the state goes to polls.
For Banerjee, marking her imprint in Delhi’s durbari politics at this juncture is important. Especially when in the past, the TMC chief has been known to lack the skills of a consummate political player, who could successfully manoeuvre her way in and out of Delhi’s corridors of power. The current political volatility at the Centre appears to present Banerjee with yet another opportunity to bridge that gap, and present herself as a mature player of politics at the Centre.
The events that unfolded in Delhi this Tuesday could suggest that the TMC chief is keen on widening her ambit of politics and intervention, even outside of West Bengal. Banerjee met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Parliament’s central hall, had a one-on-one with senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, and ended the day with a dinner meeting with Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. During the day in Parliament, she also met Sharad Pawar and the Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav. Interestingly, the West Bengal Chief Minister has also kept her channels of communication open with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Recall her accompanying Modi to Bangladesh this June even when she had earlier dropped out of a similar delegation led by the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The erstwhile third front constituents would ideally like to put together a non-Congress, non-BJP alliance that would provide an alternative to the two major parties. But as they wait for the arrival of that opportune moment, they have to walk a tightrope in tactically allying with the Congress within and outside of Parliament, keeping in mind the state-level political contradictions. The flurry of current activity within the opposition camp seems to suggest that political volatility is not going to go away anytime soon; a state of affairs that seems to suit Banerjee and her party.
