DIDI SHOWS A SOFTER SIDE
New alignments, new approach: Mamata Banerjee changes tack to take on a belligerent BJP
It was June 27 and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was delivering a speech in the assembly when newly elected BJP MLA from Madarihat, Manoj Tigga, shouted “Jai Shri Ram”. As the chief minister paused mid-sentence and the assembly held its breadth in anticipation of an explosion, Mamata surprised everyone by gesturing to her own raging MLAs to keep quiet. She then went on to finish her speech, concluding with a ‘Vande Mataram’, which, she was quick to remind the BJP benches, was written by a Bengali, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya, and that the day happened to be his birthday.
The assembly was stunned, the usually combative Mamata had turned calm, and even accommodating. Indeed, in the past few days, Didi has been humility personified, addressing veteran CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakrabarty as “Sujan da” and senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan as “Mannan bhai”.
The softened attitude has had its rewards. Sujan da and Mannan bhai, hitherto never seen anywhere near the wings of the assembly that house the
chief minister’s office, have become frequent visitors to her room, dropping in to chalk out floor coordination strategy over cups of tea and ghugni.
Having lost 12 Lok Sabha seats in the general election, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief has learnt the hard way that by shrinking the political space for the opposition in the state, she has created a political void, which the aggressive BJP has expertly filled.
So, just two months after the results, Mamata is not just talking political pluralism but even asking her own TMC cadre to open up political spaces for both the CPI(M) and Congress. “Don’t impose on opponents (meaning CPI(M) and Congress), we have to co-exist,” is her new prescription for party leaders.
She made a similar appeal on the floor of the house on July 10, requesting support from the Left and the Congress to defeat the “fascist BJP”. The 20 per cent drop in vote share of the Left and the consequent 23 per cent increase in that of the BJP has Mamata worried. So much so, she has even been telling Left leaders to focus on rebuilding the party. The party offices of the comrades, besieged by the Trinamool after it came to power in 2011, have been handed back. Mamata has even gone soft on leaders of the CPI(M)-affiliated employees’ union, which still has huge support among the government staff. Fifteen of them, who were transferred out to remote areas, are now being allowed to return to their bases. Also, the land for the proposed Jyoti Basu Centre for Social Studies and Research has finally been cleared, as are the outstanding dues of the Leftcontrolled Siliguri civic board.
But the Left is still a bit wary of her. “Mamata’s olive branch has to be tested. She’s in trouble, which is why she’s reaching out to us,” says CPI(M) central committee member Robin Deb.
MAMATA HAS ALSO STARTED A CLEAN-UP IN HER OWN PARTY
The Congress, too, has benefitted from Mamata’s change of heart. Party leader Nepal Mahato, who has clout in Purulia, has been asked to mediate with the tribals for a power project in the Ayodhya Hills. The BJP had done well in the district—they won over 40 per cent of the panchayat seats and the Lok Sabha seat.
Prasanta Ray, professor emeritus at Presidency University, says Mamata is trying to pitch the idea of a joint secular opposition alternative to the BJP. “The political binary benefitted the BJP in the last election because people were looking for a stronger opposition to challenge the incumbent power,” he explains.
Which is why Mamata is trying to open up the political space so that voters have more options. This is possibly part of political strategist Prashant Kishor’s plan to turn around the party’s fortunes.
Meanwhile, the TMC chief has also started a clean-up exercise in her own party. “If you have done wrong, go to the people and ask for forgiveness. Let the people vent their anger and frustration at you, instead of allowing a third party to take advantage of it,” she said at a party review meeting recently, insisting the TMC cadre have to introspect. In the past one month, she has conducted 10 such meetings, focusing on districts where the party has fared poorly.
She has already created quite a stir over the ‘cut-money’ issue. Even as the Opposition tried cashing in by demanding a refund of the cut-money taken by TMC leaders, the latter has managed to rake up similar demands in places like Basirhat, Bongaon and Ranaghat, where BJP leaders are accused of extorting people.
“By confronting the problem headon, Mamata has shown rare courage. The TMC will now want other parties to come clean on the corruption issue. And there are plenty of cases, such as the LPG distribution scam, child trafficking, against BJP leaders,” says the TMC’s Diptangshu Chowdhury, who heads the grievance redressal cell for cut-money complaints.