‘Brand Mamata’ has emerged the most popular anti-Left force in Bengal.
There was a time when CPI(M) considered Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee its “white owl” — the auspicious bird believed to bring prosperity to the place it perches. Banerjee’s political flip-flops can only help the CPI(M) regain ground, her detractors used to crow.
But the agitation led by her on the Singur and Nandigram issues should not only silence her critics but have possibly also put Banerjee back on track — for rarely has any agitation to embarrass a state government been more successful than the ones led by Banerjee.
The movement has revived “brand Mamata Banerjee”, the most popular and authentic anti-Left force in the state, at a time when Lok Sabha elections are due in less than a year.
Top leaders of the CPI(M) fear Banerjee would be able to snatch at least six to seven CPI(M) seats in the next elections, and if the Trinamool Congress ties up with Congress, as many as 15 Lok Sabha seats. During the last General Election, Banerjee was reduced to just one seat — her own — from the South Kolkata constituency.
Banerjee did successfully what V P Singh or Kuldeep Bishnoi could not do in Uttar Pradesh or Haryana. Like West Bengal, huge tracts of land are needed by these state governments regularly for new industries or Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
But Banerjee made land the biggest political issue in the state, single-handedly. Unlike others, she could sustain the movement and was able to retain the popular support even when she fought against a Tata project.
Just when the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee administration needed to move fast on industrialisation to score quick political points, Banerjee emerged as the political speed-breaker. She managed to do what Left allies like the RSP, CPI and Forward Bloc could not do for the CPI(M) — put a majority government on the defensive, that too, on its own political turf of land reform.
After establishing the Trinamool Congress in 1998, Banerjee had spent most of her time with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and enjoyed power in Delhi.
But after her party’s miserable defeat in the assembly polls of 2006, Banerjee steadily distanced herself from the saffron brigade. The agitations in Singur and Nandigram were completely her own agenda. The BJP was not allowed to share a platform with her even once, helping her woo back the crucial Muslim voter.
Banerjee was quick to notice that a substantial number of victims of the state government’s land acquisition were Muslims, and moved cleverly to address the twin vote banks of farmers and minorities. Hence, in the near future, even if the likes of Lal Krishna Advani and Arun Jaitley try, it is unlikely that she would return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) camp.
It is clear that because of Banerjee’s revolt, the government has stepped back and is now willing to even consider the possibility of returning land from the project site to (mostly) unwilling farmers. Banerjee too, must have been relieved to reach the compromise formula on Sunday because she was under increasing pressure of being dubbed as “anti-industry”.
Her best option now would be to join hands with the Congress as previous elections have shown that only a joint venture of the two parties can oust the CPI(M).
