The much awaited paribartan (change), preceded by bloodshed and ground battles fought on political lines, has arrived in Bengal. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress-led alliance succeeded in dethroning the Left conglomerate’s rule of 34 years, reducing the Left Front which had 235 seats in a 294-member outgoing assembly to a dismal 62. Mamata’s alliance got 227.
Shocks were expected but not to the extent witnessed. Eleven seats that cover Kolkata and the region around have all gone to the Trinamool, reflecting the urban mood, also witnessed in last year's municipal election. In the north, the Darjeeling issue is unlikely to die in the days to come, going by the results in the six seats there. Three of the six have been bagged by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, that has been steering a separate statehood demand in the hills. Trinamool has been successful in holding on to constituencies that witnessed headline-making conflicts in the past, such as Singur, Nandigram and Jhargram (Lalgarh). It also made dents into the Left’s bastions such as Burdwan.
LEFT HEADS ROLL
Among major defeats are those of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, finance minister Asim Dasgupta, housing minister Gautam Deb and industry minister Nirupam Sen. Almost all senior leaders and ministers of the Left Front have lost. Suryakanta Mishra, who was minister for health, made an exceptional victory and is a probable candidate for being the Leader of the Opposition.
Trinamool’s major winners include Manish Gupta (against Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee), Amit Mitra (also Ficci secretary-General, pitted against Asim Dasgupta) and Bratya Basu (who defeated Gautam Deb). Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit Mukherjee, who debuted from Nalhati, has also won.
With exit polls already having declared Trinamool a landslide winner, the mood was upbeat among its supporters from the morning. Party flags were put up overnight in lanes and by-lanes. At Mamata’s Kalighat residence in South Kolkata, hundreds of supporters thronged the locality. A humbled Mamata, however, maintained her calm, addressing media representatives who had gathered there from across the country. “It’s the victory of democracy. This is a victory for Maa, Maati, Manush (mother, motherland, people)” she said, repeating her catchy slogan. She got long-distance felicitations from UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
A humiliated Left, refusing till the end to believe it was on its way out, continued to put up a strong front till late last night. But once the trend began pouring in, leaders and party opted for accepting the defeat with dignity. “The victory for Trinamool Congress and Mamata Banerjee is an endorsement of the policies that have catapulted her to victory. I congratulate her. But this also means that we have to mirror these policies on the road ahead,” said Gautam Deb. “In the spirit of this endorsement, we salute the spirit of ma, maati, manush over industry.
CPI(M)’S READING
Deb also saw a message for all sides in Mamata’s campaign against forced industrialisation and land takeover. “Irrespective of whether we come back in five years, or whether we remain in opposition for 34, I assure you, Singur and Nandigram will never happen. We will ensure that she (Banerjee) sticks to anti-industry,” Gautam added. The Left pledged to continue with “pro-people agitation”.
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Among the losers, a notable one was chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee himself. The face of the Left Front and considered among the most progressive CMs in the country till a few years before, feted for a sweeping re-election win in 2006, he made a silent exit from the scene, meeting Governor
M K Narayanan at noon to give in his resignation.
With the political transition, Bengal has moved from one phase of uncertainty to another. It needs to be seen how the Trinamool, that confronted every industrialisation move of the Left, will revive Bengal. Trinamool is celebrating the ‘festival of democracy’, the Left repenting. For most voters, who helped Mamata bring down the Left in the state, it’s a wait and watch situation.