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Mamata Banerjee: Didi’s the only alternative

West Bengal’s economic stagnation under the CPI(M) and the anti-incumbency factor are two of the strongest things Mamata Banerjee has going for her. But Didi has also made adjustments in her political tactics for the upcoming polls.

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If Ma (mother), mati (earth), manush (humanity), a political slogan coined by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, gained momentum after the Singur and Nandigram fiascoes of the CPI(M)-led Left Front, for most educated Bengalis, it may not represent any political ideology.

But Banerjee’s USP — which seems to have helped her win over the middle-class and the Bengali elite in Kolkata, besides the masses in rural areas — has been her great consistency in anti-CPI(M)ism! 

No bookish ideology  but her consistent pledge to free Bengal from ‘Left misrule’ has drawn several former Left intellectuals such as Sunando Sanyal, a respected educationist, and many social activists, to her.
Her  sense that the Left’s mistakes could be used as a political weapon against them came out during her massive campaign to win the farmers of Bengal when Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee tried to acquire agricultural land for Tata’s car project in Sringur. The Left’s mistake also helped Mamata make a comeback after her split with the NDA.

Not only did she manage to stop the project, she could also convince the farmers — whom the Left had cultivated with land reforms — that the CPI(M) is actually no friend of theirs! And that signaled the beginning of the Left’s political isolation in rural Bengal. This was only hastened further by the return of Maoist extremism. At the moment, Left-engineered socio-economic stagnation and the anti-incumbency factor seem to be the strongest points for Mamata Banerjee.

‘Intolerance’ is her strength
Of late, Mamata Banerjee’s style of functioning has raised questions over her willingness to accommodate the democratic aspirations of a people disgusted with the Left. For example, she needlessly snubbed a reporter when she was releasing her party’s manifesto a week ago. The journalist only wanted to know how she would manage things if she came to power. But a more ‘arrogant and a more intolerant’ Mamata cautioned the reporter that she was “conscious of the presence of CPI(M) agents here” and curtly told him to pose such questions to the bosses of Alimuddin Street, the state headquarters of CPI(M)!

But as irony would have it, not only do state Congress leaders and Trinamool Congress party men find her ‘stubborn intolerance’ acceptable, they even consider it a strength that enable her to match the CPI(M).

Making top national top leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee, yield to her terms of seat sharing— not more than 65 seats to the Congress — for the forthcoming assembly polls was one more instance of her ‘arrogance’’ fetching her big political returns.

In fact, a little before the deal was announced, a CPI(M) member told this reporter that he did not see the deal coming through. Little wonder that the Left camp was taken by surprise when the deal was clinched! “It proves that she is now more able and farsighted,” says a TMC leader.

Change in tactics
Tactically, Mamata Banerjee, has also learnt to let go of some of her old ideas, as is evident from the party’s new pro-industry manifesto, which has economic reforms high on its agenda.

Now, she is also pointedly ignoring the issue of corruption charges against prime minister Manmohan Singh, as also the Centre’s failure to reign in inflation. Obviously, she knows that while the Left might go, the problems they leave behind won’t go away with their departure from power. Another important hint of change in her approach was that till a few months ago, she had been saying that once she comes to power, she will release political prisoners (primarily Maoists). But she has maintained a studied silence on this issue in her manifesto. Well, no one would blame her for having gotten politically wiser, but this might well be some desperate political adjustment aimed at achieving her goal.

All these changes reflect a change in her style of thinking — for did she not walk out of the BJP-led NDA on the issue of corruption in 2001?

One theory attributes this shift in her political style to her becoming more and more isolated — in her personal and political life.

After the late Ajit Kumar Panja left the TMC, claiming to be hurt by her ‘behaviour’ after her split with the BJP-led NDA, she has no political friends. She seems to have learnt to live her life fighting it alone.

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