If you have Dada, I have Ramdev Baba

Arch rivals Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) and Trinamool Congress are seriously stacking up weapons of mass appeal in the run-up to the assembly elections in West Bengal next year.

After CPM convinced cricketer Sourav Ganguly a.k.a. Dada to come on board to counter Trinamool’s battery of Bengali film actors, the latter has decided to rope in religious and lifestyle gurus.

Wary that Ganguly’s appeal as the ultimate icon of modern Bengal might tilt the youth vote in CPM’s favour, Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has turned to babas. She probably hopes religious leaders will be able to convince followers to take a definite side in this political game.

In fact, Mamata has been able to convince Baba Ramdev to rally for Trinamool. At one of his yoga camps in West Bengal on Tuesday evening, Ramdev publicly appealed to his followers to elect Trinamool to power.

“Mamata is a symbol of honesty and at the same time, a protestor against injustice. She is simple by heart. The law and order situation in West Bengal is deteriorating every day. Victims are being denied justice and culprits are going unpunished. The people of West Bengal want change. Only Mamata can bring that change through her honesty, sincerity and simple lifestyle,” he said.

Ramdev’s rivalry with CPM is old. It began a few years ago, when CPM politburo member Brinda Karat questioned the alleged use of human bones in his medicines.

After Ramdev’s followers protested, Karat launched a fresh attack on the yoga guru, accusing him of violating labour laws in his pharmacy. This appears to be the baba’s revenge.

This is, however, not the first time that Mamata is falling back on religious gurus. Before the 2009 general election, she frequently approached Ma Binapani of the Matua sect of scheduled caste in West Bengal for blessings.

In recent times, she has visited the various ashrams of Baba Loknath to seek blessings of religious gurus there.

Trinamool sources said Mamata was also in touch with Muslim religious leaders, especially imams of different mosques. “Their attitude towards us is highly positive,” a senior party leader said.