#dnaEdit: Eyeing Bengal

Among the many concerns prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expand his Cabinet, Bengal is a top priority. It’s not without reason that Babul Supriyo, a first-time BJP MP from an industrial town of the state, with no background in politics and governance, and very little to show in terms of grass roots engagement is now a Minister of State for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. After three-and-a-half decades of Left rule, and now Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress ruling the roost, the BJP is eyeing to appropriate the space relinquished by the opposition parties — the CPI-M and the Congress. 

The party’s immediate concern is the civic elections in 10 municipal bodies early next year; the long-term goal is 2016 assembly elections. For the saffron party, which has gained more than a toehold in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with two seats, winning Basirhat Dakshin and narrowly losing the Chowringhee seat in the bypolls, the icing on the cake would be to wrest Kolkata Municipal Corporation from the TMC. There is a distinct pro-BJP wave in the state — palpable more in the capital, which has often been at odds with the party ruling the state. While in opposition towards the end of the Left rule, the TMC had complete control over the KMC, and the BJP could well be a beneficiary of that trend, now that Kolkata’s dalliance with Banerjee has ended in bitter disappointment. 

The BJP’s prospects have brightened because of the groundwork done by the RSS without drawing much attention to its activities. Ironically, for a section in Bengal, Hindutva has become synonymous with development — an idea that crystallised with Modi’s meteoric rise in national politics, and gained more currency with the abject failure of Banerjee’s government in turning the state around. Further, the Chief Minister’s tokenisms focusing on vote bank politics have been instrumental in dividing the electorate along communal lines. The many communal riots in the state over the last couple of years have made the ground fertile for the BJP. 

Today, the dominant view is of the TMC being a corrupt party embroiled in Saradha scam, running an army of musclemen — patronised by the leaders and the powerful real-estate lobby — with hardly any vision for economic revival. Bengal’s slide continues in the absence of any major investment since the TMC came to power, forcing the youth to seek livelihoods in different parts of the country. 

The latest disaster to have struck the TMC are the Burdwan blasts confirming the suspicion that homegrown terrorists and those from Bangladesh treat the state as a safe haven. Law-and-order has been the TMC’s Achilles’ heel — evident not only in the rising crime graph against women (the highest in the country), but also in the violence during elections. But the terror angle opens up a new front in the fight against TMC. The state government’s amateurish handling of the blasts that has a direct bearing on the country’s security has been duly capitalised by the BJP. 

It’s unlikely that Banerjee would opt for a course correction. Her arrogance has clouded her judgement. The BJP has already set the ball rolling for the 2016 assembly elections. Amit Shah’s recent meetings with party functionaries and intellectuals are geared towards identification and consolidation of the party’s support bases. It’s now just a matter of time before the saffron forces strike at the heart of TMC.