MAMATA INVOKES ‘SACHCHE DIN’
On July 25, the Congress party’s official Twitter handle put out a tweet with a photograph of Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee and a little explainer riffing on Union home minister Amit Shah’s nowfamous “Aap chronology samajhiye” comment. Shah, of course, was implying an Opposition conspiracy to stall Parliament, but the meme was turning the charge on its head to suggest that the Trinamool Congress national general secretary was a victim of the Pegasus spyware during the 2021 Bengal election. The timing was no accident—Mamata was arriving on a five-day visit to the national capital the next day to hold discussions with Opposition leaders on possible strategies to take on the BJP in 2024.
On the evening of July 28, Mamata called on Sonia Gandhi for what she called “chai pe charcha”, yet another dig at the big adversary. Talking to reporters later, she said the Congress president was equally keen on building an anti-Modi platform for ‘Hope 24’—Mamata’s catchword for the next general election. “We want to see ‘sachche din’; we’ve seen enough of ‘achhe din’,” she said.
In the past too, the Congress, TMC and other like-minded parties have made noises about the need for a strong national opposition to take on the BJP, especially after the latter played underhand games to grab power. So what’s different this time around? Mamata upped the ante only after she had secured her state bastion, in a bruising battle and seemingly against odds —demonstrating in the process that she had the nerve to take on Modi’s BJP. Also in the
strategising mix this time around is the man who helped her forge that victory—Prashant Kishor or PK, as he is commonly known. PK has been busy meeting opposition leaders across the country, including the likes of NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar, who is also an active participant in this enterprise to rally the opposition forces ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Meanwhile, Mamata’s plans for a big meeting of Opposition leaders at Banga Bhawan on July 28 may not have materialised, but individually many leaders called on her in Delhi, including Kamal Nath and Anand Sharma (Congress). She also met AAP chief and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, and has lined up meetings with Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena) and Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party).
Not many observers may be convinced yet that all this early enthusiasm will convert into a real threat for the BJP. Prasanta Ray, a social scientist and professor emeritus at Presidency University, grants that he “can see something cooking… it appears both parties have agreed to sink their differences towards a common goal”. He points out that never before has the Congress managed to get off its high horse and project a leader of another party on its walls.
SOMETHING’S COOKING Earlier, on July 13, there was a buzz in Delhi after PK dropped in at Rahul Gandhi’s residence in Delhi and had a long meeting with him, Priyanka and senior party leaders K.C. Venugopal and Harish Rawat (in-charge of Punjab affairs). This, in turn, led to the presence of top Congress leaders such as P. Chidambaram and Digvijaya Singh at the TMC’s annual Martyrs’ Day rally at the Constitution Club in Delhi on July 21. Others present at the online event, where Mamata spoke, included Pawar and Supriya Sule (NCP), Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), Manoj Jha (RJD), Tiruchi Siva (DMK) and Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena). Mamata was quick to express her gratitude to the Congress high command and even sent an advance invitation for a grand opposition rally in Bengal at the end of the year.
A month back, on June 27, the TMC had unveiled a new slogan in Bengal: ‘Bharat nijer meyekei chaye (India wants its own daughter),’ a corollary to the ‘Bangla nijer meyekei chaye’ (Bengal wants its own daughter) chant that delivered the blockbuster victory just months ago. The TMC, it appeared, was testing the waters, for soon hashtag #Bengaliprimeminister was also doing the rounds of social media in Bengal. But Mamata played it all down when she was in Delhi. Asked if she’d be the face of a united opposition, after her meeting with Sonia Gandhi, Mamata said: “I have no problem if someone else leads. When the matter is discussed, we can decide. I cannot impose.”
The Bengal election was the most closely watched electoral battle in recent memory. Not only did a wide array of opposition leaders—Pawar, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Kejriwal, DMK’s M.K. Stalin, among others—egg her on and stand by her when she charged the Election Commission of being partisan, they also applauded and saluted her grit after she’d won.
TMC insiders say Pawar was a calming influence, guiding Mamata through the aggressive campaign the BJP, led by Modi and Shah, ran against her government and party in the run-up to and during the election. Today, even old foes, like the Left Front, seem ready to work with Mamata. CPI(M) patriarch Biman Bose said as much while speaking against the CBI arrest of three TMC leaders in May.
THE WINNING FORMULA Mamata’s first move after settling down into her third term was to engage PK to try and bring the opposition parties under one umbrella. Pawar and ex-BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, who has now joined the TMC, are reportedly helping him out. “We cannot allow the best to become the enemy of the good. One thing is clear, there cannot be any effective opposition alliance without the Congress,” says Sinha. PK’s recent huddle with the Gandhi siblings may have also helped clear the fog. But it’s not quite a merry Opposition band yet. Even while Mamata was in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi held meetings in Parliament for a joint opposition strategy ‘on the floor’. Fourteen parties attended the meetings, but there was no representative of the TMC.
The strategy that Mamata is pitching for 2024 is, in fact, a reprise of the 2019 plan she had put forward at a mahagathbandhan rally before the general election. In places where the Congress is either the ruling party or the principal rival to the BJP, the other alliance partners should combine and extend support to the grand ol’ party. But in states where the regional parties are on stronger ground to challenge the BJP, the Congress should leave the field open to them. At the time, except for the public bonhomie, the plan did not take off. Were any lessons learnt?
Veterans like Pawar and Sinha know the value of a common minimum programme (CMP) in keeping together different parties with disparate political agendas. So, issues of common concern, which resonate with all parties—such as the controversial new farm bills, the Pegasus snooping scandal, inflation, fuel prices and unemployment—will most likely feature in the CMP to build pressure on the BJP in Parliament. It’s early days to predict how far this will go, but if the drive gathers steam, the BJP may have a fight on its hands in 2024.
MAMATA’S FIRST MOVE AFTER SETTLING DOWN IN HER THIRD TERM WAS TO ENGAGE PK TO TRY AND BRING THE OPPOSITION PARTIES UNDER ONE UMBRELLA