It seems all roads are leading to West Bengal now. Whether the people’s verdict would be in favour of “Paribartan” or not, the state elections are getting unprecedented media attention from across the world. Foreign journalists are floating in to cover the high-voltage poll battle turning it to be one of the most media-interested events in the state, after the demise of Mother Teresa in 1997.
More than the Left Front’s star campaigners — like Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Biman Bose and Gautam Deb — the media glare is on the “change agent” and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee. “The global media is going gaga over a woman, in her mid 50s wearing a plain white saree, wearing hawai chappals. Now, all of them want an interview with Didi. Some have already met her, some are already here and others are on their way,” said Derek O’Brian, Vice-President of Trinamool Congress and a popular quiz master.
The major media groups which are covering the West Bengal elections and are in the town include New York Times, BBC, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Gulf News, Netherlands Radio, Al Jazeera, France 24 TV and Reuters. “It seems all of them want a piece of the Trinamool leader,” he said.
According to sources, these journalists are putting up at top hotels like Floatel and Peerless Inn in Kolkata and most of them have booked their interviews with Banerjee and Bhattacharjee. When asked about the importance the global media is giving to the incident, Jason Burke, South Asia Correspondent of The Guardian, who is covering the elections, said, “I am in Delhi and we will write a story from here. That said, the demise of the Communist party in West Bengal, if it happens, is much more interesting and significant overseas than the various changes elsewhere.”
Compared to earlier elections, they are fighting against each other in personifying the Trinamool stalwart. “The woman with a fiery voice belying her short frame came, spoke and conquered the Kolkata crowd in the manner of someone who is about to become the fulcrum of power in the world’s largest democracy,” wrote Alistair Scrutton of Reuters.
At the same time, the Associated Press too endorsed her. “West Bengal’s poverty-weary people, hungry for change, have been captivated during recent elections by populist firebrand Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress party is predicted to unseat the Communist Party of India-Marxist for the first time in 34 years,” the report said.
According to reports, the major journalists covering the event include Alistair Scrutton of Reuters Kate Daigle of AP, Makiko Itoh of Japan’s Nikkei and even the Pulitzer winning Jim Yardley of New York Times.With the countdown started, all eyes are on Bengal to know whether the TMC will unseat the Left from the Writers’ Building, the seat of power in the state.