The winds of change.

I had written a post captioned ‘The strategist’ on 22 Nov 2020 and had detailed how Prashant Kishor’s signature campaigns designed for the revival of TMC’s electoral fortunes have misfired badly.

His Didi-ke-bolo opened a can of worms, people openly criticizing to the CM about the syndicate menace and ‘cut-money’ bribes by her party men. The programme had to be shelved soon. Her party men became the sacrificial goats, while Didi’s face was unblemished. Didi, marching the streets of Kolkata shouting CAA CAA Chi-Chi with the accompaniment of gongs and conches, kept many amused. The Covid abruptly put a lid on the movement.

The ‘outsiders’ chant started soon after that, another brainchild of the strategist. I guess harping on the ‘outsiders’ was a fallacy, which boomeranged on her. Her disgruntled party men, waiting for the right opportunity, caught her on the wrong foot and started leaving. Didi forgets that her strategist is merely a mercenary. Didi’s best bureaucrats are outsiders; mostly outsiders run the large industries in Bengal, the building promoters are mostly outsiders as are the rickshaws pullers and basic workers.

Suvendu, the former MLA and Minister quit the party this week, which is by far the biggest jolt to Mamata and her party, after Mukul Roy’s departure. The denials of any poll impact by seniors like Sougata Roy or the lawyer MP are very weak, as the party is on an unprecedented fire-fighting mode. Suvendu is not alone. Two more ministers and an unignorable number of MLAs could be quitting TMC in the next days.

Duarey Sarkar, I guess will meet with powerful retort by the main opponents, the BJP. I already wrote as to how the Duarey project will be grounded as the financials defy any logic. Why such progressive attempts on the eve of departure? What had happened in the intervening nine long years of her reign? The brick rains on the visiting BJP leader’s convoy and the taunt after that by the State’s chief has not brought any glory to the State either.

A continued confrontation with the centre has not benefitted Bengal at all. TMC was elected for the long-awaited golden Bengal promised by Didi. Any promise by the BJP to make Bengal as great as Gujarat is responded with disdain, obviously remembering the riots that followed the Godhra massacre. Where was TMC leadership when there were Sikh riots in Delhi in 1984? By defaming Gujarat, for the violence by a few, are we dividing or uniting the country?

The warning about BJP being the religious bigots who have landed in Bengal, who are out to divide. What had happened in the past? Every party had exploited the minorities as a vote bank. If TMC has truly been championing the interests of the minorities, why does it have to fear the Imam of Furfura Sharif’s threat to start a party of his own? Why is there a scare of a minority vote divide by AIMIM’s Owaisi and branding him the ‘B’ team of BJP? The tension is perceptible and loud. I had written earlier of Owaisi’s grand entry into Bengal, which is bound to divide the Minorities votes, causing a dent only into TMC’s tally.

If there’s an implosion at the party, it is not without reason. Failure to introspect now will only lead to further and speedier crumble. TMC made two mistakes, one, promoting the party as another dynastic one and the other, bringing PK as the strategist. 2021 is just around the corner, and time will prove or disprove Didi’s charisma or the citizens’ ire.

Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix