The Bharatiya Janata Party’s unprecedented campaign onslaught in the poll-bound state of West Bengal has made incumbent Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee jittery, and in dire need of friends who may or may not contest the upcoming state elections in West Bengal. Of course, a false sense of bravado on the part of the TMC has been pulverised by the saffron party, which is precisely why the incumbent party supremo is now talking to other regional leaders across the country. What such leaders have to offer in the state of Bengal is not yet known.
Nevertheless, the TMC’s desperation has tumbled out in the open. For the uncontested hegemon of West Bengal politics until only two years ago to now begin shoring up nationwide support for its campaign against the BJP is quite telling of how far the saffron party has penetrated into Bengal. Now, as per reports, after being nudged by NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is all set to invite DMK chief MK Stalin, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and others for a joint opposition rally in January.
NCP leader Nawab Malik, while talking to the media, said, “Sharad Pawar and Mamata Banerjee discussed how the BJP is trying to destabilise Bengal, withdrawing government officials at will and infringing into the state’s rights. The way the BJP is misusing central agencies is not right.” “Mamata Banerjee and Sharad Pawar will hold meetings with other national leaders too. Mr Pawar will go to Bengal if needed,” he said.
The signs emerging from West Bengal are that Mamata Banerjee, for reasons best known to her, is attempting to stitch a national alliance of opposition parties to take on the BJP at a state-level. What else could possibly explain her inviting MK Stalin and Arvind Kejriwal, among others, for a joint rally in January? How could such regional leaders possibly help Mamata Banerjee take on the BJP in Bengal? Further, the TMC trying to rally other political parties from across India in its support shows how the incumbent party of Bengal is no longer confident about its electoral fortunes in the state.
Temperatures between the BJP and TMC have particularly been raised after eleven MLAs, an MP, and a former MP quit the TMC to join the BJP in the presence of Amit Shah at the Home Minister’s Midnapore rally. And then, the MHA posting three senior IPS officers from Bengal in charge of the security of BJP President JP Nadda’s convoy on central deputation has further infuriated Mamata Banerjee, whose obstinate administration is failing to comply by the directions of the Central government.
One thing is known for sure, however. Like the purported “federal front” failed to even materialise in the run-up to the 2019 General elections, the TMC’s bid to cook up an alliance of irrelevant parties will fail to stop the saffron party’s magnanimous surge in the state of West Bengal which goes to polls early next year.