TMC civic polls sweep shows Mamata’s hold

The landslide win of Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the civic elections in West Bengal is a clear pointer that there is something about Mamata Banerjee that gels with the common man in the State. Her manifest simplicity, her undying spirit and her tenacity indeed go down well with the masses even though the intelligentsia in general is fed up with her histrionics. Mamata is truly one who has vanquished a corrupt and authoritarian Left and a moribund Congress, both of which are unrecognizably down in the dumps. The BJP is doing everything possible to emerge as a player to reckon with, but its performance in the municipal polls shows that while it has overtaken the Left and the Congress, it is a distant second that is currently miles behind the TC. Of a total 148 wards in the seven civic bodies which went to polls on August 13, the TMC bagged 140 while the BJP got six seats, relegating the Left to third position with a mere one seat and decimating the Congress completely.

Trinamool Congress supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the win as the victory of “ma mati manush” (mother, land and people), a slogan that has made an undoubted impression on people. The BJP won six seats in three municipalities — four in Dhupguri in north Bengal and one each in Buniyadpur (north Bengal) and Panskura in south Bengal. The lone Left seat was won not by the CPI (M) but by Forward Bloc. An independent candidate also succeeded in one seat. State BJP president Dilip Ghosh, said, “We all know that the TMC used money and muscle power to win the elections. We have seen how democracy was subverted by the TMC.” The Left and the Congress called the civic election results a “farce.” But the fact that Trinamool won hands down can hardly brushed aside. Significantly, Trinamool created history by winning the Mirik municipality in Darjeeling district which had been the scene of violence for weeks due to the agitation for a Gorkhaland state. The TMC won six of the nine wards in Mirik, which has been a Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) stronghold. Whether that would affect the movement for autonomy remains to be seen. With that win, the Trinamool Congress has become the first mainstream political party to win an election in the hills in the last three decades–regional parties have held sway in the hills for years.

What could account for the TMC’s spectacular win across the State despite allegations of corruption and cases against some TMC former ministers in chit fund scams? The answer lies as much on Mamata’s charisma as on the fact that the campaign against the party is seen substantially as a witch-hunt by the Centre through its investigative agencies. The absence of a credible leadership in the BJP and also in the opposition in general at the State level is also a factor in Mamata’s undisturbed clout.