‘40% voters vote 100% in strength... minority vote is a huge factor’

Former Union minister DINESH TRIVEDI quit the Trinamool Congress (TMC), resigned from the Rajya Sabha, and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the West Bengal Assembly polls. In an interview with Aditi Phadnis, he says the elections in Bengal do not reflect the spirit of democracy and claims the state is on the downslide. Edited excerpts:

How do you see the political situation in Bengal, now that you’re on the other side?

Even earlier one could have evaluated objectively what was going wrong. Just because you’ve crossed over doesn’t mean your vision changes. The story of governance in Bengal is a sad one: I say sad, because there was a time when Bengal used to be Number 1 in the world. By world, I mean India. Bengal was ahead of the rest of India in economic activity, whether it was Bidhan Chandra Roy, Siddhartha Sankar

Ray… that progress stopped and then it went back to fear and terror during the regime of the Left. The environment for people to invest here is over.

When the Trinamool Congress came to power, there were a lot of expectations. And things did move in the first five years. But now… So I’m very pessimistic about Bengal — not because of the people, they’re brilliant; we have the best of agriculture, the best of brains, the best of culture, everything. But the environment is just terrible and in many ways; things have become worse than in the Left rule, as far as terror is concerned.

Those who could lead Bengal — the bright, young people — have all left the state. Bengal has now become a Vriddha Ashram (an old age home). You only have to go to Salt Lake in Kolkata, once envisaged as the hub of economic activity. All that is left there, are old parents, surviving on remittances sent by their children abroad. I feel Bengal has gone back many years.

You said the first five years of

Trinamool rule were good…so what happened after that?

In the first five years, there was movement and the slogan was: ‘Badla noi, badal chai (not revenge but change)’. The promise was that it (the Trinamool) would not seek revenge. It would not match violence with violence. But somewhere down the line, that control went away and the direction was lost. Money became more important as far as individuals were concerned.

I’m not casting any aspersions on the chief minister. But the people around her — they just made money! Anybody wanting to return and even construct a house or build a factory — they had to pay, almost as a ransom. The police were hand in glove with extortionists, so people even stopped complaining to the police. The easier way out was to pay up. But once you pay, you have to go on paying.

And the worst part is, the chief minister was not quite well aware. She was aware but she has now lost the control to rein in these elements in her party.

And yet, that very chief minister has defied incumbency, has managed an electoral result that surpasses her party’s previous performance both in terms of seats and vote share…

Let me tell you about vote share — how it happens. I’ve seen so many elections and contested many, as well. I should tell you honestly: Democratic elections are never held in Bengal. People are standing in queues peacefully…but you do not know what is happening inside the booth.

In the booth, people of opposition parties (like for example when Left parties were in power) dare not say anything. The agents are mortally scared. Returning officers, the people from the Election Commission — they’re mute spectators. Even the police — because they know if they do something, the result will be bad. The proof is the postpoll violence.

I’ll give you a small example. See what is happening in Bhawanipur. When you see candidates canvassing, they’re surrounded by security people! Isn’t it a shame that a candidate needs protection? And that protection goes away once the election is over. When the counting takes place, political parties come to know which booth has voted in which way. You might not know which individual has voted for whom – but you do know about localities. And if the trend is against the ruling party, there is mayhem.

So people are scared and a lot of people don’t go out to vote.

The party to which you now belong, the BJP, performed spectacularly (when compared with the previous Assembly polls) this Assembly election. How do you think that happened if the system is so tilted in favour of the party in power? The average turnout in the Assembly elections was 80 per cent...

There is almost 40 per cent minority Muslim vote and they vote one way. As long as the Left was there, they just voted for the Left. After the rise of Mamata, they came to the Trinamool: 40 per cent of the voters vote 100 per cent in strength.

Clubbed with whatever I have just told you, the minority vote is a huge factor.

So given the astounding performance of the BJP in the Assembly election, would you still say the elections are not fair? And if the minorities, who are also citizens of India, vote in a certain manner, shouldn’t we analyse why that is so?

Many times, they don’t vote for anyone. They vote against someone. Look at the condition of minorities in Bengal. You only have to look at the Sachar Committee report. They have no recourse to economic activity, decision-making…it is more an anti-bjp vote.