Mamata Banerjee in yet another desperate move to save political ground has announced an increase in the grant given by the West Bengal government to committees involved in organising Durga Puja celebrations. Now these committees are poised to get a grant of Rs 25000 which is a 150% increase from the earlier grant amount of 10000.
Mamata Banerjee also announced special grant for those puja pandals organized by women. This move by Mamata Banerjee is poised to increase the load on already debt ridden West Bengal by another Rs 70 crore. Apart from this Mamata Banerjee has also announced a 25% concession on the total electricity bill of each of the Durga puja pandals.
“We are a poor man’s government but we still try our best for the Durga puja committees. Instead of Rs 10,000 given last year, we are increasing it to Rs 25,000 this year. I am aware that the economic condition of the Durga puja committees is not very well and the electricity unit prices have also risen, hence we are offering 25% discounts on electricity bills. Kolkata Municipal Corporation tax have also been eradicated,” said Mamata Banerjee.
While she increased grants for these puja committees, Mamata Banerjee also declared that there should be no politics over Durga Puja.
“We shall once again prove that we won’t allow Bengal to be tarnished. We won’t allow any politics over Durga Puja,” Mamata Banerjee said.
While Mamata Banerjee claims to be having an apolitical approach towards Durga Puja, however, evidently TMC has been a major benefactor of political support steaming out of these puja committees and this move of increasing the grant amount surely reeks of similar ulterior agendas to counter the growing influence of the saffron party over these committees.
The massive loss in the Lok Sabha elections, in which TMC was reduced to 22 seats from its previous 42 in the state of West Bengal, the upcoming state elections have got Mamata Banerjee all riled up. The TMC leader has realised that her reign of terror is only going to push the people towards BJP which has now emerged as the main opposition and only alternative to Mamata’s tyrant rule. So now, in order to counter BJP’s growing popularity in the state, Mamata Banerjee has effectively played according to the fundamentals.
According to various reports, several Durga Puja committees have also been tilting towards the saffron party, which have traditionally been monopolized by the TMC. Mamata Banerjee was earlier called out for placing restrictions on puja celebrations in order to appease certain sections of the second largest majority in the state, i.e., the Muslims, now reports coming showing this tilt in puja committees is surely fallout of Mamata’s anti-Hindu governance practices. Reports over call for leaders like Amit Shah, Smriti Irani and Yogi Adityanath, and others to inaugurate pujas have also been made. Hence Mamata’s move is surely aimed at consolidating Mamata’s monopolistic hold over these puja committees.
Earlier, the West Bengal Chief Minister also attended a Rath Yatra event organized by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, attended the Rath Yatra event along with Bengali actor-turned MP Nusrat Jahan, who inaugurated the Rath Yatra. Nusrat Jahan was also seen offering puja along with her husband Nikhil Jain.
Hindus of the state are seemingly upset with Mamata’s anti-Hindu policies and her rampant Muslim appeasement. Mamata has finally seen the writing on the wall and that is why all of a sudden she is continuously being seen in a different avatar. But in her race to be champion of the Hindus, she has forgotten her essential vote-bank, the Muslims; and the Hindus are surely not going to be deceived by these gimmicks.
History has been witness as to how the Hindus of the state vote en-mass for a political party. Before TMC, the Left ruled the state with almost no opposition. Now, the wave has certainly shifted towards BJP.
However, for TMC the upcoming state assembly elections are surely not a battle of just retaining power in the state but also include the massive challenge to maintain political relevance at the national and state level. But, to remain politically relevant, Mamata needs the Muslim votes as her next best chance is to be the main opposition party. But with Mamata cosying up to the Hindus, it has left the Muslim community upset which is definitely looking to shift their allegiance and their next best option is Congress, since the Left has been rendered irrelevant in the state. With Mamata trying to consolidate her support over Hindus, questions over Muslim votes shifting to Congress from the TMC are more serious than ever.
Nonetheless Mamata’s efforts to reach out to the core voters will definitely push the minorities away in the state. Rattled by the major electoral roadblock, Mamata Banerjee seems to have gone into survival mode with her massive outreach program trying to erode off her radical image that has been formed over the past few years after her overarching efforts of minority appeasements even at the cost of compromising with safety and rights of other groups. However, going by the trend Mamata is definitely going to have a tough time to save her political relevance.