The Fast
Seldom do events in West Bengal capture national attention. Trinamool chiefMamata Banerjee’s indefinite fast has, however, become the talking point allover the country. And none, save her followers and supporters, are happy aboutthis unwanted and negative attention that West Bengal could have well donewithout. Mamata, known to be adamant and unpredictable (as a simple analysis ofher actions over the past few years would amply prove), is quite enjoying allthe attention and the fuss. A steady stream of visitors calling on her, fromGovernor Gopal Krishna Gandhi to Priya Ranjan Das Munshi (AB Vajpayee lookslikely to join this stream soon), the appeals to call off her fast coming fromall political quarters—all this is what she revels in. From her point of view,the Singur issue has been a godsend. The fact that so soon after receiving ahumiliating drubbing in the polls and her party nearly losing its status as theopposition party in the Assembly she has been able to get such a lot ofattention (and that translates into a lot of political capital) would have beenbeyond even her wildest dreams. To give the lady her due, it must be concededthat she has been able to turn what would have been a very local landacquisition issue (which would, perhaps, have died down soon) into a nationalone with all her antics. But then, her gain could well turn out to be Bengal’sloss. She, of course, doesn’t care.