Ever since Mamata Banerjee came into power in West Bengal, she has become the face of Muslim appeasement. Her actions such as banning Durga Puja and appeasing the Muslim voters in the state through various decisions like granting stipend to Imams, have led to her acquiring a patently anti-Hindu image. The killing spree of BJP workers in the state of West Bengal only sharpened Mamata Banerjee’s radical image.
In the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Mamata Banerjee’s anti-BJP tirade time and again took the shape of an anti-Hindu narrative. The manner in which she fumed over ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans, exposed her anti-Hindu bias. Stifling the freedom to hail Bhagwan Ram gave her an anti-Hindu tag which she still fights hard to get rid of. She got so engrossed in her anti-BJP campaign that she did not even realise when she lost the subtlety in her vote bank politics and came out looking like a radical anti-Hindu leader.
Even in her Lok Sabha poll campaign, an embittered and vindictive Mamata Banerjee made all possible attempts to impede BJP’s inevitable rise in the state. Chopper landing permission was denied to top BJP leaders, including former party President and present Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in a bid to block BJP rallies in the state.
The TMC supremo’s negative campaigning, appeasement politics and anti-Hindu image never really helped her cause. Owing to these faultlines, the BJP succeeded in seriously denting her seats tally in West Bengal during the Lok Sabha polls last year.
Realising that her political relevance had come under a serious threat even as the BJP made massive strides in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee roped in “master” political strategist, Prashant Kishor.
With Prashant Kishor’s entry, there was a sudden change in Mamata Banerjee’s political discourse. She was no longer making anti-Hindu remarks and also toned down her attack on PM Modi.
Fixing Mamata’s anti-Hindu image was at the top of Kishor’s agenda. This was clearly manifested in induction of TMC MP Nusrat Jahan’s avatar in the oath taking ceremony of the parliament where she was seen sporting a saree and sindoor. She took the oath in the name of ‘Ishwar’ and ended by saying, “Jai Hind, Vande Mataram, Joi Bangla, Thank you.”
Later, Mamata Banerjee, along with Jahan, was also seen attending a Rath Yatra event organized by International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).
As stated earlier, the West Bengal CM also stopped making deplorable and objectionable remarks about PM Modi. Before the Lok Sabha polls, she had said, “Sweets? I’ll send him roshogolla made of mud with pebbles mixed in so that he loses his teeth.” This remark was directed towards PM Modi. It had come after PM Modi had said in an interview that the TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee sends him kurtas and sweets at least once a year.
Prashant Kishor is said to have advised Banerjee to tone down her anti-BJP rhetoric and concentrate on development work instead. In the month of September last year, Banerjee met PM Modi in a rather cordial manner. The West Bengal Chief Minister was seen carrying a kurta and sweets before the meeting to greet the country’s Prime Minister a day after his birthday.
Mamata Banerjee was given a script aimed at shedding her anti-Hindu image, and till only very recently she was even obliging with the advice of her coach (Prashant Kishor).
However, right in the middle of her image makeover exercise, came Amit Shah’s deadly bouncer- the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The CAA creates an expeditious and easier process for granting citizenship upon those minorities who have settled as refugees in India facing religious persecution from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The pseudo-secular parties obviously saw an opportunity in the CAA. They started spreading rumours and instilling a sense of false fear in the Muslim community, with the sole object of grabbing a healthy share of Muslim vote.
With a multitude of parties fighting for the Muslim vote, none of the pseudo-secular parties could afford to ignore the matter. CAA was too a big bait to ignore.
Unprepared for the move, the TMC was caught off guard. She got carried away and today she is back to square one all over again. She vehemently opposed the CAA, the NRC and even the NPR.
With West Bengal government’s advertisments, Mamata Banerjee has once again become the unnecessarily confrontational CM that she was just before the image makeover exercise was initiated.
Recently, the Congress called for opposition meet on Citizenship (Amendment) Act, i.e., CAA, but majority of the powerful opposition parties, including Mamata Banerjee ruled TMC skipped the meet.
The Muslim vote constitutes 30 percent of voter base in West Bengal and they have traditionally voted for Congress before Mamata Banerjee patronized them, and Mamata does not want to be seen as standing behind the Congress when it comes to appealing for Muslim votes.
Mamata Banerjee wants the lion’s share in Muslim votes in the state of West Bengal. This has exposed the moderate image that she was trying to carefully craft for herself.
Prashant Kishor and Mamata Banerjee were practising only for ‘Yorkers’, but Shah hurled a sharp and deadly ‘Bouncer’ at them in the form of CAA. The CAA and the narrative that followed has exposed Kishor and Banerjee, both of whom have been repeatedly speaking against the Amendment legislation.
Shah’s bouncer has left Mamata Banerjee and her coach gasping for breath. The TMC supremo’s opposition to the CAA is going to entail dire political consequences. Now that Hindus have seen through her tactics, Banerjee would stand on a very weak footing when West Bengal goes to polls next year.