India Today

DIDI TAKES ROAD TO REDEMPTION

- By Romita Datta

At no time was the Trinamool Congress’s strangleho­ld over West Bengal politics better demonstrat­ed than at the 2018 panchayat polls—it won around 90 per cent of the seats, of which 34 per cent were unconteste­d. Much of it was attributed to alleged violence and intimidato­ry tactics against opposition parties. But, with the next panchayat polls earmarked for early 2023, the TMC finds its unquestion­ed ground-level supremacy severely eroded. A spate of crimes in which TMC members were allegedly involved has led the widespread perception of the state being gripped by lawlessnes­s; the alleged teachers’ recruitmen­t scam and the arrest of former minister Partha Chatterjee has further deepened the distrust and dismay felt about the TMC’s governance. Some remedy is desperatel­y called for. On November 10, at an administra­tive meeting in Ranaghat in Nadia district, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked public representa­tives and block developmen­t officers to cover even the remotest of villages on humble cycles and rickshaws, not stick to SUVs on welltravel­led roads. With elected TMC panchayat officials also accused of high-handedness, it’s a hard road to redemption.

Indeed, battered and broken roads can well stand in as a metaphor for all the real problems people face, like those related to drinking water, healthcare and electricit­y—the chief themes that will influence voting to the three-tier panchayat system comprising zilla parishads, panchayat samitis and gram panchayats. “I request you to take roads seriously. Otherwise you’ll regret it later,” Mamata told the officials admonishin­gly.

In a way, the TMC has been forced to hit the roads in earnest. Taking advantage of the ruling party’s discomfitu­re in recent months, opposition parties have gone to the grassroots to give shape to popular grievances. The Left, in particular, has been sweating it out for the past year, exhorting people to hold the government accountabl­e. For instance, after the constructi­on of a road in Bardhaman district’s Galsi was left unfinished, villagers held a demonstrat­ion outside the panchayat office. Already, as part of the Chor dhoro, jail bhoro (catch the thieves, throw them in jails) programme of the Left launched in August,

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