Hyderabad: She had said, “Khela Hobe” (the game is on). It was clearly a question of being history or creating one. By the time EVMs spilt out the mandate, the people of Bengal spoke for the latter. Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee could well just say, “Khela Holo” (the game was played).
Several questions are cropping up on Sunday as Mamata Banerjee steers her Trinamool Congress to a yet again resounding victory in West Bengal – a third time in a row.
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Taking a peek at the micro-level situation in Bengal, it is now clear as daylight that BJP’s campaign of polarisation, that of polarising the voters on religious grounds, has backfired on them. Results from the districts of Malda and Murshidabad as well as from the pockets of South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas and Howrah districts show Muslim minority voters have chosen Trinamool Congress over any other party. In Malda and Murshidabad, which used to be Congress bastions, fell en-mass for Mamata Banerjee. The indication is quite clear, they chose Mamata and her Trinamool Congress, despite all her follies and allegations, only to keep BJP at bay.
In the whole process, the third political space of Bengal, that of the Left Front and its allies, the Congress and the AISF, only shrunk more as the Left’s as well as the Congress’ traditional voters chose Trinamool Congress.
Again, the fact was simple. They voted to stop BJP’s 2019 juggernaut. BJP’s win in 18 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 was roughly translating to around 121 Assembly seats where the saffron brigade had pinned its hope and also on the charisma of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and the vote strategy prepared by party national president JP Nadda and leaders like Kailash Vijayvargiya, BL Santosh and Arvind Menon. The thing the party failed to see is the silent sub-text created by Mamata Banerjee and her strategists.
The more BJP leaders hit on the Pishi-Bhaipo (aunt-nephew) nexus, the more BJP leaders like Yogi Adityanath campaigned in districts like Malda with high pitch slogans of creating anti-Romeo squads in Bengal, the more Mamata Banerjee consolidated her ground strength.
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She had two very potent messages up her sleeves – first, the Duare Sarkar (government at your doorstep) programme, which drew huge crowds at camp offices to register and avail of the social beneficiary schemes. Wrapped in the Duare Sarkar programme was the Swasthya Sathi card, which was registered in the names of the eldest female members of each beneficial household. This ensured that Mamata got the support of women voters in very large numbers. And then, there was the successful trumpeting of the ‘Bohiragoto’ (outsider) factor by the Trinamool Congress. Trinamool Congress’ campaign, ‘Bangla Nijer Meye Kei Chaye’ (Bengal wants its own daughter) resonated rightly among the Bengal polity.
Nevertheless, BJP is on the way to secure around 80 seats in the Assembly, where it had only 3 members since 2016. From the point of political arithmetic, it is no doubt a repeat of what the saffron party had done in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. It had gone from a mere two to a spectacular 18 seats. But, this time political chemistry overtook political arithmetic. Had the BJP not made significant gains from Nadia and a bit from North 24 Parganas districts where the Matua voters and in North Bengal, especially in the districts of Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and CoochBehar, where the Rajbanshis play a decisive role in any poll outcome, the BJP would have cut a sorry figure.
Poll strategist Prashant Kishore keeps his word. BJP makes its foray for the first time as opposition in Bengal’s Assembly. The Left Front and its allies are left high and dry, yet again. But, this summer of 2021 Mamata Banerjee goes home as a contended leader and soars several notches in the national political scene, beginning her wait for 2024.
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