I was, for one, certain of the I.N.D.I.A. as a doubtful substitute to take on the might of the well-oiled poll machinery of the BJP. The reason was the many aspirants to steer the I.N.D.I.A. boat. The waiting-on-the-wings Rahul Gandhi from a resurgent Congress party; a sulking Nitish Kumar, whose political future hangs on his Delhi promotion as an impatient Tejaswi is ready to boot him out of Bihar; A wily Sharad Pawar who keeps the trump card close to his heart and hobnobbing with all and sundry who matter in politics; and finally, now Mamata, who is testing the waters with his trusted lieutenant calling for the Bengal CM as the future PM of India.
West Bengal Mayor Bobby Hakim convened a group of social networking warriors, named FAM (Facebook AITC Members), pitching for Didi as the next PM with a clarion call, “Bolche Banglar jonota, pradhanmantri hok Mamata,” meaning, ‘the people of Bengal want Mamata to be the Prime Minister.’ “Mamata has been seven times M.P. and four times in the Union Ministry and is the senior most politician eligible for the post if Bengal gets a sizeable share of the seats in the parliament,” a spokesperson of the party claimed.
Bobby is one of the oldest members of the AITC and a shadow of Mamata Di, but his luminosity in the party has been somewhat dullened when the party seemed to be divided into two groups, the elders and the youth brigade, the latter baying for Abhishek Banerjee’s elevation. Abhishek was already the de facto number two in the party, which may have riled Didi, who stepped in to take the reins of the party in an effort to quell the discontent among youth leaders while distancing himself from a few elders.
Now that the inner party problems seem to have momentarily ended with a resounding win in the Panchayat elections, a few side-lined leaders like Madan Mitra are bending backwards to draw themselves closer to Mamata, and the party has cold-shouldered him and a few like him.
Back to the question of Mamata becoming the Prime Minister of India, she has to work harder beyond the borders of West Bengal to change a confidence deficit and build a positive perception, even if her party wins sizeable parliamentary seats from West Bengal. Her dream is directly dependent on how Congress will fare in the 2024 polls, which should not be dismissed as an over-and-out party.
However, my best wishes!
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
