West Bengal: BJP's Khela Sesh (Game Over)
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-05-02 14:35:40
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
Mamata Banerjee has stormed back to power in West Bengal, upsetting all the calculations of the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo and their attempts to browbeat the Banerjee family and other TMC leaders. In the process, she has given a huge jolt to the famed (and ruthless) election machinery of the BJP and shown how it can be brought to heel in a localized situation. Although in a huge setback, Mamata Banerjee herself lost from Nandigram to her once-trusted lieutenant who left the TMC to join the BJP by just 1736 votes, since the party has won big, it does not matter much. Banerjee will obviously be chief minister and get elected in the stipulated six months. (Although she has conceded defeat from Nandigram, she is likely to contest the result in court as she said there were "malpractices" in the counting process).
So where did the BJP go wrong despite immaculate and war-level planning since 2019, unleashing of unimaginable state power and excessive campaigning by the BJP stalwarts including Modi, Shah and Adityanath? Although it is not as simple as that, still if one were to sum it up in a single reason, one would say that ultimately, Bengal voted for its own daughter (as the TMC final slogan said "Bangla nijer meye ke chai") and that in West Bengal, Brand Mamata is much, much bigger than Brand Modi. The BJP simply did not have a face that could come anywhere near the iconic Mamata Banerjee, let alone match her, and the people of Bengal have always hated being ruled from Delhi.
But that is a very simplistic analysis and elections, especially state elections, are contested on a hundred of other local issues although the people obviously give prime importance to who is going to be their chief minister. Obviously, Mamata Banerjee has given satisfaction to more people that she has been given credit for. Obviously, the tolabazi (cut money and corrupt practices) which the BJP accused the TMC of, even if true, did not affect the life of so many people as to turn them against Didi and oust her from power. Obviously, the BJP's calculations were all wrong.
It also helped that despite the Centre accusing the state government of not applying Central schemes to the state and depriving the people of the benefits, Mamata designed several schemes of her own that people found better and they went on to win national and international laurels. It was precisely because the BJP could not find fault with her welfare schemes that it went hammer and tongs at her with the corruption charges, but the voting pattern shows that none of them stuck.
Also, the perceived consolidation of the Hindu votes never materialized in the state. On the other hand, it seems that the fear of Hindutva running amok in a state proud of its cultural heritage and communal peace made even many Hindus turn away from the BJP. The minorities, and the women voters, who have been the backbone of Mamata's rise to power and subsequent consolidation, did not ditch her this time too. In the end, one can safely say that from 2019 to now, Mamata Banerjee did all the right things to win back the favour of even those who had voted against her in the Lok Sabha elections while the BJP did many wrong things to lose the support of even those that had given it 18 Lok Sabha seats, let alone win new converts. There can be no other explanation of Mamata Banerjee's spectacular victory that has taken the winds out of BJP's sails.
