Kolkata: The West Bengal panchayat polls are just around the corner and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is going all out to give her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), an edge. This time around, the TMC is facing a challenge not just from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has emerged as the principal opposition party in the state, but also from the Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist), which have joined hands to take on the TMC.
Mamata will be campaigning extensively across the state for the 8 July panchayat polls for which 20 June was the last date for withdrawal of nominations.
“We haven’t paid heed to panchayat polls previously, but this time you saw, ahead of the polls, we took your opinion, Abhishek (her nephew and TMC’s national general secretary) carried out rallies for the last two months,” she said in Cooch Behar district Monday. The three-time CM added that her party now aims to “control the panchayats so that no one can steal money”.
“Don’t pay money for any government schemes. If anyone has hurt your feelings, I apologise to you, if anyone misbehaves with you, slap them, I give you the permission,” she told TMC supporters, apologising on behalf of TMC leaders who might have taken “commission” from beneficiaries of various government schemes.
At the time of the last panchayat polls in 2018, the BJP had only two MPs and three MLAs in the state. That picture has since changed significantly. It now has 17 MPs and 69 MLAs in West Bengal out of 42 and 294, respectively.
While there is little doubt that she was and will remain her party’s star campaigner in all elections, Mamata has sent a clear message to her cadres and supporters — she is taking the panchayat polls very seriously.
Political analyst Jayanta Ghosal told ThePrint that the Bengal CM “does not take any election lightly and ensures that the TMC doesn’t leave an inch of ground for the Opposition to take advantage”.
Drawing parallels between her and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who campaigned extensively for the BJP ahead of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls in December 2020, Ghosal added that Mamata “uses her political might to win voters and take the party’s message to them despite her schedule”.
According to TMC sources, Mamata is likely to address at least 10 rallies for the panchayat polls, although the details are yet to be finalised. Her nephew Abhishek is set to resume his public meetings from Nadia district starting Tuesday.
Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Chowdhury told ThePrint that Mamata “cannot dictate” what the Congress will do or how it will fight the panchayat polls.
“TMC has stolen people’s money and is now seeking forgiveness,” he alleged.
BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh, meanwhile, said Mamata is campaigning for the panchayat polls because she has realised that voters in West Bengal have begun to distance themselves from the TMC.
Dismissing the charges, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, “No matter what tricks the BJP uses, the people of Bengal will continue to bless the TMC and Mamata Banerjee will emerge victorious again.” Ghosh alleged that BJP, Congress and CPI(M) “have an understanding among themselves” for the panchayat polls.
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‘Litmus test ahead of 2024’
Mamata’s renewed push this year bears a striking resemblance to 2013, when she mounted an elaborate campaign for the panchayat polls, two years after coming to power in the state for the first time. Starting from Haldia in Purba Medinipur, she held rallies in Amdanga in North 24 Parganas, Haringhata in Nadia, Sundarbans and North Bengal.
Going further back in time, it was the outcome of the 2008 panchayat polls in West Bengal that had hinted at voters’ discontent with the Left regime. The TMC had won 24 percent of gram panchayats, 23 percent of gram samitis and 16 percent of zilla parishads, delivering a significant blow to the Left.
Political analyst Ghosal, quoted earlier, said the factors at play in these panchayat polls are “very different” from those in the past.
“Mamata Banerjee’s government is firefighting central agencies. Allegations of scams and irregularities in implementation of schemes have rocked the government. The BJP has grown significantly in the state, it is the only opposition party in the state assembly. A state that Amit Shah himself is monitoring politically,” he added.
At a public meeting in Bhopal Tuesday, Modi said the TMC is accused of corruption to the tune of Rs 23,000 crore. “There is the Rose Valley, Saradha scam, school recruitment scam, cattle smuggling scam and coal scam,” he said, listing various graft charges against TMC leaders.
Ghosal said this is why, despite her nephew and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek hitting the campaign trail, Mamata is not breathing a sigh of relief. “Uncontested seats too have dipped this time. There isn’t any doubt that these (panchayat polls) results will be a litmus test for both the BJP and the TMC ahead of the battle for 2024.”
According to West Bengal State Election Commission data, TMC has already won nearly 10 percent of seats in the state this time around, compared to 34 percent five years ago, due to no other party having fielded candidates in these seats.
Political analyst Udayan Bandyopadhyay too said the TMC is aiming for mass mobilisation in these panchayat polls with an eye on the 2024 general election. “Through her campaign, she is reiterating the positive steps taken by the state government to combat the continuous negative image-building programme by opposition parties,” he told ThePrint.
He added: “The TMC, in my opinion, is going through a phase of transformation on the question of leadership at the grassroots level. Many new candidates have been selected by the party to fight these polls.”
It is also significant that the results of the panchayat polls will be declared on 11 June, the day before 15 opposition parties including the TMC are set to meet in Shimla to further talks to firm up a strategy to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections next year.
The TMC’s performance in the polls, therefore, could give it leverage in West Bengal, where it is unlikely to cede more than two parliamentary seats, said party insiders.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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