As the results of 2019 General Elections have become clear, it is apparent that BJP has posted its best ever tally yet since its inception. BJP is currently standing at a total of 303 in the Lower House taking the NDA tally to around 350 seats. NDA’s massive victory comes after it was successful in repeating its performance from 2014 elections in almost all states coupled with massive electoral gains in states like West Bengal.
In West Bengal riding on the anti-TMC sentiment, BJP has been successful to make a huge jump from just 2 seats in the 2014 general election to the current tally of around 18 seats in the state. BJP is now also neck and neck with the TMC in terms of vote share doubling it from 18 % in 2014 to more than 40% this general election.
However, embarrassment for Mamata Banerjee runs deeper than the overall defeat. Singur, where Mamata had laid foundation for her political conquest against the Communist government in West Bengal has also rejected Mamata’s TMC. Singur falls under the Hooghly Parliamentary Constituency where TMC’s Dr. Ratna de (NAG) has been defeated by BJP’s state Mahila Morcha president Locket Chatterjee in the historic elections.
More than ten years after Tata Motors was forced to move its Nano car project out of West Bengal’s Singur, ghost of Mamata Banerjee’s anti-land acquisition movement’, orchestrated against the left government, is coming back to haunt TMC in the region. Singur, one of the seven constituencies in the Hooghly Lok Sabha seat, where the Nano plant was located, proved to be a turning point in Banerjee’s political career in 2011 when it helped end the 34-year rule of the Left Front in the state. However farmers are now regretting their support for Mamata’s political movement in 2008, have given a befitting reply to the strong arm leader.
Following a long legal battle with the Tata’s, the Mamata Banerjee government in 2016 had returned the land to the farmers with much fanfare. As compensation for the farmers Mamata Banerjee government gives them a monthly dole of Rs 2,000 and 16 kilograms of rice at Rs 2 per kilogram.
“Initially we were happy to have gotten back the land, but later we realised it was of no use to us anymore. What happens with just Rs 2,000 a month and 16 kilograms of rice? Is it enough to run a family of five persons?” asked a farmer from Singur.
Locket Chatterjee with a total of 6,70, 031 has beaten TMC’s Ratna de. A defeat from Hooghly is surely translating into a huge embarrassment for Mamata Banerjee, who is already been struggling with law and order situation in the state. TMC had also tried to consolidate its voter base by blatant minority appeasement however was evidently not completely successful. The last Panchayat elections in West Bengal saw newfound support for the BJP, which had created a momentum seen in the results of the 2019 General elections. This electoral victory will surely hurt TMC’s electoral plans in the upcoming state elections in 2021. This victory trend coupled with further disillusionment of voters from Mamata’s promises; BJP is surely poised to benefit from these developments.