By IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi/ Kolkata, 13 Dec 2014: The TV channels Friday ran amok with the news of arrest of West Bengal transport minister Madan Mitra by country’s premier investigating agency CBI in Saradha scam. The scam has become a painful thorn in the flesh of Mamata Banerjee government since the recent past. Banerjee hit out at BJP national president Amit Shah and Narendra Modi government saying that TMC was being targeted because it is playing the role of main opposition in Delhi.
Trinamool Congress with 34 MPs is the third largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha and no doubt it has been cornering the BJP led NDA which enjoys brute majority in the lower house over host of issues. The Congress party with 44 MPs and its first family of the Gandhis has virtually taken a backseat and is too badly bruised to take up the electoral might of the Modi led BJP. Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha has host of issues in the form of disproportionate asset case against her and had recently landed in jail. The Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi is a beleaguered force with BJP and Sangh Pariwar leaders virtually dominating over the political space of the state post 2014 elections. Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav are still busy resurrecting their political constituency in the form of revising their “Janata Pariwar”. Yes, Mamata has been defiant to the political authority of BJP and Modi.
A media report on May 16, 2014 after Trinamool Congress scored a thumping victory said that “Mamata’s campaign in 2014 elections was marked for her focused attack on the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who engaged her in a war of words as he campaigned aggressively in the state, where his party has only had minor presence so far. She has categorically said that her party won’t tie up with the BJP if the latter comes to power. The war of words between the TMC supremo and Modi turned ugly after the BJP strongman targeted her over the West Bengal Saradha chit fund case.”
There is no denying the fact that Mamata Banerjee is being targeted due to her defiance but yes the BJP is rising in Bengal, Mamata’s home turf, due to multiple factors and that is unnerving the Mamata Banerjee regime in the state. An expert of West Bengal politics who refused to be identified told IndiaTomorrow.net: “Bengal is witnessing consistent rise of BJP and Sangh Pariwar. Madan Mitra is closest aid of Mamata Banerjee and by arresting Mitra the central government has given a clear message to her. There are reports that VHP will be holding a massive rally near Shaheed Minar in Kolkata. Mohan Bhagwat is reportedly coming there. Buses filled with people will be coming from across the state.”
When asked if Bengal is turning to right wing politics, the expert sounded a bit reluctant and used the term “economically right”. “Turning right in West Bengal will basically mean more of an economic affair because there is no other right in the state that has groomed itself in the Left wing politics for decades. Issues like TMC government giving allowances to Muslim religious leaders had sparked an undercurrent against the state government regime,” he said.
Decades of Left rule have led to neglect of market economy in West Bengal and dole culture has become the mainstay of government policies as was the practice during the Left front regime. The Trinamool Congress was bred in the culture of Left wing politics thus it carries the burden of its policies and the state continues to be under decay and decline which the Mamata regime has failed to resurrect. This was the reason that the BJP cornered substantial vote shares in the state despite not winning adequate number of seats.
On the other hand he also blamed the communal fault lines in which the BJP is attempting to creep. In rural Bengal the saffron party is more open with its communal politics and carries it on its sleeves while promising development in urban areas like Kolkata the thrust is more on economic development.
“The variables are different. In South 24 Parganas and North 24 paragans the moblizations are taking place on communal lines. Same is with Malda and Murshidabad. The BJP is encouraging these fault lines in these areas,” he said.
In the heartland of Kolkata, Hooghly and Howrah the party is appealing to the economic sense and wooing the middle class – the Bengali Bhadrlok. The middle class is identifying the BJP more with the market economy as the TMC has failed to fulfil their expectations. The BJP getting acceptability in the Bengali middle class is significant as it is this class which creates opinion on most of the issues and due to economic decay and decline this class is gradually shifting to BJP.
