“It happened to be a choice between the Congress and Ma, Mati, Manush. I chose the
latter,” said West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Whatever advantage the Trinamool Congress had once seen in sticking with the UPA at the Centre was thinning fast, what with the Congress image hitting a trough. What better remedy than to pull out its stakes, and use it to burnish its reputation as a ‘grassroots’ party. The diesel price hike, cap on subsidised LPG and the clearance of FDI in multi-brand retail offered it the ideal alibi. “We’d warned that we won’t tolerate any anti-people policies. So we had to exit. The possibility of other parties trying to take advantage of the situation doesn’t concern us,” she added.
Other parties do not share Mamata’s proclaimed indifference to the situation she has created. Nationally, the Congress is approaching it with studied caution, and others are seeking to eke out opportunities from the crisis. In West Bengal, however, the whole spectrum is agog. The TMC, CPI(M), BJP—all are looking to make the most of it.
Even the Congress. “Yes, her decision to part ways with us augurs well for us. We will re-emerge as a major political party in our own right in the state,” says Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury. “The alliance with TMC was more of a burden. We would have had a stronger presence, but the tie-up forced us to give up many seats during seat-sharing. The morale of our party workers has now received a boost; they had been feeling depressed playing second fiddle to the TMC.”
| | | | Mamata pretends she’s not bothered by the flurry of political activity she has set off. Others sense opportunity. | | | | |
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At the CPI(M) headquarters on Alimuddin Street, an unmistakable mood of resignation had been in the air since May 21, 2011, the day Mamata’s TMC swept to power in the state, after defeating the Left in election after local election in the previous two years. Since last week, there appears to be a new sense of purpose. Mohammed Salim, former party MP, explains, “The decisions of other parties have no bearing on our policies and programmes. But changing political scenarios do impact the political realities of parties. Our party is no exception. The alliance between the Congress and the TMC was not based on any common ideology or common minimum programme. The cracks were always there and it was a matter of time before the alliance crumbled. We always knew it would happen and it has happened. The alliance was formed primarily to oust the Left and they came to power with each other’s support. Now that that alliance no longer exists, it obviously has a bearing on the Left.”
At the other end of the political spectrum, the mood at the state BJP office on Central Avenue too is one of hope: there are those who would now see the party emerging as a force in the state. Tapas Chatterjee, vice-president of the state BJP unit, says, “The people of West Bengal have rejected the Left. It might be said, from the way the Left has fared in the last few elections, that people are not afraid to give other parties a chance to form a government—after 34 long years. They brought in a TMC-Congress government. If there is disillusionment, they will bring the BJP to power too.”
There are, at the same time, curious straws in the wind. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a TMC MP has confirmed that “the Congress has approached several of us in the past couple of days, pressing us to quit the TMC. We are considering. If we have the numbers, we will do so.” However, Mamata has dismissed reports of any budding dissension in her party. “These are distorted reports,” she says. But if the other parties are seeking to manoeuvre the situation in West Bengal to their best advantage, it may not be as easy for her as she would make it seem.
But at the moment, as Mamata points out, the TMC holds the clear majority, a leverage she knows how to utilise. Political analysts say it’s this knowledge that allows her to take a gamble at the Centre, especially when the panchayat elections are around the corner. Tarun Ganguly, a political commentator, says, “The three key issues over which she withdrew support—bringing in FDI in multi-brand retail, the diesel price hike and the scheduling of subsidy on cooking gas—are seen as populist, but panchayat-level voters are most likely to see her stance as a reason to support her.” And neither the CPI(M) nor the BJP can attack her on the position she has taken on these issues.
As we go to press, the final act in the play—of Mamata’s ministers at the Centre formally handing in their papers— seems, well, just a formality. Far removed from the impulsive streak she normally gets accused of, this time it’s a well-calculated sacrifice of stakes.