The Bengal rumblings!

I had written last year about how a computer-savvy and technology-driven poll-strategist cannot fit into the ecosystem of West Bengal politics. The party is run by an ageing Mamata Banerjee and winning handsomely in elections by believing in her old ideas. She relies heavily on the support of the poor, for whom all that she can do is offer some freebies, like rations and bicycles.

Those youths, who intend to grow beyond rallying around the leaders, quietly make a beeline for jobs outside West Bengal. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka attracted most Bengali youths, both educated and illiterate, for their many jobs. Simultaneously, like the Bengalis crowded IT sectors, I have seen boys in the remotest places, factories, and restaurants doing menial jobs. Bengal could have done more, but for the rigidity in a few policies of the present government, which has given it the mandate to govern for the third time in 11 years. The hard stance could become a millstone on the party’s neck in the future, hindering employment growth.

Back to where I began, Prashant Kishor, the poll strategist, is passé. He can win only winnable elections and suddenly seems to become jobless. Most of the party stalwarts stiffly resisted his rather ambitious attempt to enter the rudderless Congress party, thus ending his dreams. His next appointment as the advisor to Capt. Amarinder Singh, the Punjab CM, ended abruptly with his employer quitting. I guess i-Pac might wind up much of its operation for lack of newer takers for PK’s ideas. I will credit only Mamata for the landslide win in the 2121 Assembly elections. Mamata Banerjee is a grounded leader and a far better strategist than PK but suffers from the older theories to stick to power in fast-changing politics.

Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of Mamata, recruited PK’s i-Pac to strategise a win in 2021. He is full of modern ideas, all of which may not suit the environs of Bengal politics. The latest salvo one man-one post is the result of an ongoing tussle between the young Turks and the old horses of the TMC party. Some were emboldened to toe Abhishek’s line resulting in Mamata convening a high-level party meeting today. As usual, they did what could be done, appointing a committee with Didi taking over the reins.

The idea is good and bad. On the flip side, Didi is the lone unifying and driving force, an authority that very few leaders exercise in the party. She is now forced to forsake, at least for the moment, to shift her focus from Goa and UP polls. Goa was a mistake, which I wrote long back. A few young leaders led by Abhishek were euphoric about expanding from the end-to-end of India. TMC, who dreamt of ruling Goa, may find no place in the winners. The gamble was entirely PK’s at Didi’s cost and image. Save giving a few leaders a taste of the spirited Goan beaches, the Goa experiment might be a disaster.

Someone within the party must dare, rise, and say that the emperor has no clothes if the party wants to win not by default of the weak and disoriented opposition in Bengal but by able governance. Meanwhile, the confusions in the party are temporarily rested by doing what is best done- by appointing a committee. Hope this will end the powerplay of a few.

Sampath Kumar

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