Indeed, in the 2011 Assembly polls, the TMC was voted to power to get rid of the CPM that had miserably failed to protect the interests of the people in general. Incidentally, the TMC -- that emerged as an alternative to the CPM -- could not address major issues such as industrialisation and law and order. While 97 per cent decline in industrial growth was recorded under the present dispensation -- ostensibly for want of easy acquisition of the land for the purpose under the complex provisions of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act (ULCA) 1976 -- the crime rate against women in particular also spurted bringing the State next only to Utter Pradesh in the country. Notably, soon after coming to the power, the Mamata Banerjee Government had stated in its draft industrial policy that it was against any kind of forcible acquisition of land. At the same time, as per the National Crime Record Bureau report, whereas UP tops the list of crimes against women in the country with 38,467 cases, West Bengal follows the figure with 38,299 cases against women crime.
More, the infamous graft cases -- such as Sarada and other scams -- were exposed and aimed to embroil the Chief Minister in the controversies too. The alacrity with which the CBI started investigations into the cases was, however, not felt in the course of time. Although a few close aides of Mamata Banerjee were jailed in connection with the graft cases, she appeared to have kept on invoking public support by exercising demagogic measures amid the scathing attacks by the opposition for her failure to ensure industrialization and law and order.
These factors are, indeed, potent enough to equip the opposition with the political arms to disrepute Mamata Banerjee. This, notwithstanding the fact that she had won the hearts of the people by addressing the abysmal living conditions in the rural areas of the State in particular. She is said to have laid emphasis on construction of rural roads that are now visible and even her worst critics cannot afford to deny this fact.
BW tried to elicit views of people from different sections of the society on the question as to what has led Mamata Banerjee or TMC to hold on to power in West Bengal.
A former bureaucrat who held a key post under Mamata Banerjee Government confided on the condition of anonymity that she had expertise in reading the pulse of the people. He claimed that on two different occasions she refused to take tea before thousands of constables -- who were not served tea -- while holding meetings with the State Police department. He recalled that before taking tea for himself on two different occasions of the State police department meetings, he preferred to offer the tea to the Chief Minister, but she refused to oblige him. Instead, she made a terse remark on how could she take tea before thousands of policemen who had not been served with. Similarly, unlike CPM leadership that used to dole out money among its cadres to manage electioneering, she preferred to fund scores of ‘local clubs’ that were run by local goons in different localities in order to muster their support in the elections, he informed. The bureaucrat, however, believed that her luck had also favoured her time and again. He cited the example of the remarkable development in power sector by claiming that the people were hardly aware of the fact that the undisrupted power supply they were enjoying at present through major power plants at Sagardigih and Bakreswar were not initiated by the Mamata Government: they were started during the previous Government, but the present Government has cashed-in on the situation as they were commissioned under it.
When BW asked a senior functionary at Kolkata-based US Consulate about reasons behind the possibilities of her comeback to power in the ensuing elections, he suggested – once again requesting anonymity -- to look at comparative studies of the abysmal conditions of rural dwellers under the CPM regime and that of the present dispensation. He claimed that contrary to the situation under the CPM regime, rural areas of the State were, at present, well connected with wide-spread roads that have been used to carry out successful anti-Maoist operations by the forces in their remote hideouts, besides other communication facilities. He informed that after the killing of dreaded Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao alias Kishanji, the second-rung leaders of the ultra-left outfit were offered constabulary jobs in the State police under the surrender policy of the State and most of the erstwhile MCCI cadres had been now tasked to deal with law and order jobs.
Senior journalist and Resident Editor at the Kolkata edition of The Hindustan Times, Rajiv Bagachi claimed that Mamta Banerjee was all set to hold on to power for another five years. The reason behind her certain comeback to power was development in rural, health and education sectors. While roads were constructed in rural areas, the redundant Government Hospital in Kolkata that barely managed to survive the decades-long callous neglect of the erstwhile CPM regime received a makeover: it was equipped with five-star facilities and has become a top super-speciality hospital with the intervention of the Chief Minister, he informed. Similarly, she launched implicit preventive measures against child marriage in the State by formulating a ‘cash incentive policy’ under the Kanyashree Prakalpa scheme for girls who continued their education and were not married till the age of 18 years, legal age of marriage, he said. Under the scheme, a girl child is eligible for a one-time incentive of Rs. 25,000 -- besides annual scholarship of Rs. 500 -- for her education if she is not married off till the age of 18 years.
A well-known businessman in Kolkata, Ashok Agrawal said that the business community had to cast votes in favour of TMC as they had been left with no option except to choose the better among the worst.
Santosh Rai, a taxi driver at Howrah in Kolkata, said that although he had nothing to do with political gimmicks, he felt the difference in work culture under CPM and that of TMC. Voices of the common people under the present regime were listened to while under the previous Government, only a handful of pro-CPM people had access to the powers-that-be, he confided.
To top it all, even as the possible tie-up between the CPM and Congress is likely to reduce percentage of votes and seats to the credit of TMC and the BJP is eyeing to reap benefits of it in the ensuing elections, the galloping increase in the Muslim population-albeit at the cost of infiltration from across the adjoining Bangladesh border- is believed to be a major juggernaut behind the foregone success of the TMC. As per the current census, West Bengal has the highest growth rate of Muslim population in the country with over 27 per cent increase.
BW Reporters
D.P. Sharan has been a journalist for the past 30 years and has served many national dailies, magazines and channels. He has also been a member at the Central Board of Film Certification, Mumbai under I&B Ministry, Government of India
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