Once again the Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has shown her political supremacy and electoral prowess by making her party decisively sweep West Bengal panchayat polls in the face of stiff challenge from Narendra Modi peeping through the posters put up by the state party urging the voters to defeat Mamata and her TMC.
No doubt, Mamata managed to outwit her political challenger, but the electoral bout has left some scars on her face. The results announced so far indicated that Trinamool had bagged 73 per cent of the gram panchayat seats. In the 2018 election, it had bagged around 79 per cent of votes. Though in this election its share for panchayat samitis has gone up, in the true sense, the performance at the gram panchayat reflects the popular mood.
Though the BJP had entered the electoral arena with the avowed promise to wash out TMC, it failed miserably. The primary reason being cited is the turncoat Subhendu Adhikari leading the BJP vanguard. Subhendu has failed to take the party’s message to the common people: bring a change for the growth and development of the state. Instead, his personal enmity with Mamata and other TMC leaders overshadowed the party agenda.
He completely altered the party’s approach and agenda with nod from Amit Shah. At no stage did Shah caution him against personalising the attack on Mamata. Subhendu’s ‘No Vote to Mamata’ was by and large disliked by the voters. And it turned into a massive ‘Vote for Mamata’.
After coming back from the election battle, the participants confess that it was hostility of a major section of the BJP and RSS leaders and cadres against Subhendu that turned the tide in favour of TMC. The people were dissatisfied with the performance of TMC cadres but they were against promoting and projecting Subhendu as her successor. Even some BJP and RSS leaders confess that Modi and Shah turning blind eye towards activities of Subhendu has led to the present situation.
They point to the better performance by the CPI(M), Congress and Islamic Front as the sign of a bit disenchantment of the people towards Mamata. These may appear to be isolated gains, but it reinforces the truth. Trinamool failed to repeat its 2021 Assembly poll performance in Murshidabad and Malda, with the Left and the Congress gaining to some extent.. Even in south Bengal, which is a strong bastion of the TMC, the CPI(M) got a few seats.
The Indian Secular Front (ISF), an alliance partner of Left-Congress, which is emerging as a force in Muslim pockets of West Bengal, performed well in its stronghold of Bhangar (South 24 Parganas district). It bagged 43 of 132 seats with help from allies. Bhangar was the epicenter of violence as three people were killed there. ‘Jomi Jibika Bastutantra Poribesh Rokkha’ Committee [Land, Livelihood, Material, Environmental Protection Committee] leader Mirza Hakim said, “The results show that the people of Bhangar rejected the TMC. They stopped us from filing nominations from 86 seats. We have filed a case in this regard in the Calcutta High Court. If we get verdict in our favour, we will win the majority of 86 seats also.” The ISF won several seats in Bhagabanpur, Bamanghata, Shanpukur and Bhogali gram panchayats.
The TMC may feel content with the results, but it would certainly cause concern in the top TMC circle. The results from Murshidabad, Malda and Bhangar send an unambiguous message that some people are indeed looking for an alternative. This attains more importance as this has happened just eight months ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha election.
After Congress had won the Sagardighi assembly byelection, the narrative that Muslims were turning away from TMC had surfaced in the political circles. But it appears that the TMC leadership did not take the shift seriously. Undoubtedly, the TMC did not lose in other minority-dominated districts, but this should not make the TMC complacent.
The results send a clear message that the minorities do not intend to commit hara-kiri by rallying behind the BJP. This was the reason that the TMC continued to be their first preference in minority-dominated areas. In these places, they did not find suitable alternative. The CPI(M) is still too weak organizationally to give a real challenge to the TMC while the Congress is limited to two/three districts only.
At a time l when the TMC was being identified as the party of scamsters, corrupt and greedy politicians, the panchayat performance is indeed admirable and morale booster for the leadership. The lower rung leaders were feeling dejected. No doubt Abhishek Banerjee, TMC general secretary’s Nobo Jowar campaign across the state had the electrifying impact on the cadres. The turnout at his programme gave the lower-rung party leaders the courage to hit the streets.
The primary thrust of Abhishek’s campaign was on Centre’s ill-treatment towards the people of Bengal, stopping flow of funds to Bengal for the rural job guarantee and rural housing schemes and patronising the unproductive section of the cadres and supporters. It is worth mentioning that BJP could win 9 of the 17 gram panchayats that fall under the Nandigram Assembly segment, with a dogged Adhikari resisting Trinamool’s attempts to avenge Mamata’s narrow defeat to him in the 2021 Assembly polls.
There is no denying the fact that Trinamool Congress thwarted the attempt of the BJP to dig its anchor in North Bengal and Jungle Mahal districts where the BJP had made significant political inroads during the last assembly and Lok Sabha elections. With the crucial general elections scheduled after eight months the gains are likely to boost party’s ultimate push for the Lok Sabha 2024.
For BJP, the most worrisome news came from the Matua community, which Subhendu had been striving hard to win over. It even has one Lok Sabha member, the chief of All India Matua Mahasangha, Shantanu Thakur. But the BJP lost Ichhapur in the panchayat polls, which Thakur had banked on. At the panchayat level, Trinamool won 146 seats in the Matua-dominated Ranaghat I and II blocks. Two prominent communities in north and south Bengal, known for their leanings toward the BJP, voted Trinamool in large numbers in the rural polls.
In the Matua-dominated areas of Bongaon, Bagdah, Gaighata and Swarupnagar under south 24 paragana, Trinamool won 49 panchayats out of the 53 seats. This owes to the love lost for BJP. The people of Matua community have smelt the wrong motive and designs of Modi and Shah. Biswasjit Das, the Trinamool president of Bongaon held: “Matua community had reposed faith in Mamata Banerjee. It is a befitting reply to the BJP and Shantanu Thakur in particular, as they misled the community… with fake citizenship promises”.
This turn around makes it explicit that the Matua and Rajbanshi are not willing to walk into the BJP trap and become prey to their divisive politics. BJP had even engaged Jibon Singha (the KLO chief) and played the statehood card to polarise votes. But people refused to subscribe to it. It was at the direction of top BJP leaders that Anubrata Mandal, Mamata’s strongman, was shifted to Tihar from Coochbehar. It was done to weaken the hold of the TMC. But the results make it apparent that it has failed miserably. In Coochbehar, with 2,507 seats in panchayats in nine blocks, each with a good presence of Rajbanshis, Trinamool won majority of the seats.
The TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is recuperating at her residence since her accident last month. She did not campaign in the last two weeks, but the TMC cadres carried out the poll campaign in her name. Mamata has that unique power to bring victory to the Party despite people’s grievances against TMC workers. She has only the political power behind her to challenge the Prime Minister Narendra Modi who usually converts the state elections into a battle between the PM and its opponents. PM lost in Bengal in 2021 assembly elections as also recently in Karnataka polls where he was the BJP mascot. Mamata has been winner all through since 2011 assembly elections. That is her strength which will give her the extra muscle power when the opposition parties meet at Bengaluru on July 17 and 18. (IPA Service)
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