Nandigram revisited!

Mamata landed in style in Nandigram, the constituency that she has chosen as her electoral battlefield. Her opponent, Suvendu Adhikari, was her long-time confidante and colleague. In the first place, Mamata must not have lost Suvendu, an able general from her army, but that is fait accompli. In the event of a loss, Suvendu loses nothing, and Mamata loses everything, which does not make the fight a balanced one.

Mamata and her government largely ignored the place that propelled Mamata as a State leader. She addressed her voters today that every house will have at least one employed and that Nandigram will be converted into a model Nandigram, whatever that meant. “I shall build a bridge between Haldia and Nandigram,” announced Mamata at an impressive rally at Nandigram today. I wonder why she did not think of this in the ten years of your rule. 

Claiming to build a ladder to reach the stars during the elections is not uncommon for any party, though. In case the CM returns to power and re-initiates industrialization, the effort could meet with even vigorous opposition from the same farmers and the locals, this time fueled by her more powerful political opponents.

Mamata had earlier overdone her minority appeasement part and was attempting at an atonement now reciting ‘Chandi path,’ invoking Goddess Durga. She seemed anxious to prove her Hindu roots to the two-thirds of Hindus in her constituency. The largely secular Hindu votes are usually divided between the Left, TMC, Congress. A new claimant has emerged now, the BJP. 

The CM, to balance her secular credentials, marched to a nearby ‘Mazar,’ a Muslim place of visit. Her additional headache is Abbas Siddiqi, the volatile ISF leader, who doesn’t spare the Chief Minister, his one-time idol.

I guess the compliment of the ‘outsider’ jab at the BJP central leaders, who are descending in the State in hordes, is returned in strength by the BJP. She is branded an outsider at Nandigram as against the ‘bumiputra,’ son-of-the-soil Suvendu. Mamata has promised to build for herself a tiled hut, where she would live as a commoner whenever she visits Nandigram. She can and will fulfil the promise with ease and elan, given her simple living style.

Meanwhile, a few kind-hearted media are already predicting Mamata’s victory and her forming the next government. Even if it so, she will have to face formidable opposition, with BJP winning close to a hundred seats, as predicted by the same media. I differ from these predictions. 

It is not rattling of mantras, nor donning a hijab to placate communities on religious lines, which are impressive. In Didi’s effort to keep the supposed religious fundamentalists like the BJP and the ISF, Mamata Banerjee is unwittingly turning herself into one as well. 

Sampath Kumar

Intrépide Voix