Why Mamata Banerjee's prime ministerial ambitions could rip apart Opposition unity ahead of 2019
Almost immediately after the reconstituted Congress Working Committee (CWC) dropped hints that party president Rahul Gandhi could be projected as the face of any alliance formed with the aim to take on the might of the Narendra Modi-led BJP in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the plan faced its first challenge - from the mercurial Mamata Banerjee.
Banerjee, who is known to be nursing Prime Ministerial ambitions, is a regional leader but Indian political history tells us that when coalition governments take centrestage, just about any leader can find himself in the PM's chair.
Deve Gowda, whose party (then known as Janata Dal) won 46 Lok Sabha seats in the 1996 elections, occupied the chair for about a year. Aiming to win all 42 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal, Banerjee's ambitions only find backing from examples such as those set by Gowda and IK Gujral. Both Gowda and Gujral became Prime Ministers through the Rajya Sabha route. Banerjee at least will be able to take the electoral route to the PM's chair.
But the problem with Banerjee's dream stems from the fact that the West Bengal chief minister has no alternative narrative to offer, even as she has dared to take the fight against the BJP straight to Modi's doors, forcing the PM to dedicate significant parts of his high-octane speeches to Banerjee on many occasions.
In a recent interview to India Today, Banerjee said the Opposition is trying to cobble up anti-Modi and anti-BJP votes. She accused the BJP of "committing atrocities, inflicting torture" alleging, "They (BJP members) are behaving like a hundred Hitlers".
While the 'Adolf Hitler' analogy stills seems too far-fetched in the Indian context, the violence and high-handedness that Banerjee seems to be alluding to, ironically, find reflection in her own politics in West Bengal.
The victory Trinamool Congress claimed in the state's recent Panchayat polls had blood spilled all over it. Such was the terror rained by TMC men that on over one-third of the 58,792 seats, the BJP and Left Front could not even field their candidates.
Candidates from rival parties were mercilessly beaten up, forcing the intervening court to allow nominations to be filed through WhatsApp. This was unprecedented, even in West Bengal's bloodied political past.
The party exercises almost complete control over its cadres now. As chief minister, Mamata Banerjee clearly allowed a free rein to cadres indulging in violence.
It is important to note here that Banerjee first became chief minister in 2011, ending 35 years of Left rule, giving hope for a new beginning. For change or 'poribortan'.
While Banerjee and her party alone cannot be blamed for continuing political violence, since 2015, the state has seen a consistent rise in bloodshed over communal issues.
West Bengal recorded 27 incidents of violence in 2015, in which five people died, while 84 others were injured. The numbers doubled over the next two years.
In 2016, four people died and 252 were injured in 32 incidents of communal violence. But the number of communal clashes increased to 58 in 2017 when nine people were killed and 230 injured.
Banerjee has been in politics long enough to know that law and order is a state subject and as chief minister, she cannot get away by pinning the blame on BJP alone, for the violence in a state she governs.
She stands accused of indulging in 'competitive communalism' to take on the might of the BJP.
The chief minister has been trying to match the BJP with Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti celebrations in the state. While, to begin with, she ordered the police to act against those creating mischief, in 2018, she said old Ram Navami processions which have been carrying weapons for years will be exempt from police action.
Trinamool district units in Birbhum and West Midnapore also went on to organise a conference of Hindu priests.
Communal clashes in Raniganj and Asansol during Ram Navami festivities underlined the perils of this 'competitive communalism'.
It is only obvious that Banerjee went ahead to apparently appease Hindus with greater fervour in 2018, having earlier antagonised a section by pausing Durga idol immersions when the occasion clashed with Muharram.
None of this is a mark of a 'secular' leader, least of all, someone seeking votes in the name of secularism to counter 'communal forces'.
Worse, the chief minister is not known to take jokes or humour well — a trait similar to, well, Hitler?
Ambikesh Mahapatra, a Jadavpur University professor, faced sedition charges after he circulated a cartoon poking fun at Banerjee via email.
The chief minister, who is fairly well-known for her temper, also called a female student a Maoist sympathiser for questioning her over the safety and security of women in the state during a television show.
Banerjee's anxieity was so deep that a team of the state police actually descended at the TV channel's studio reportedly seeking details of the participants in the programme. Another student had a police complaint filed against him for sharing a cartoon on Banerjee on his Facebook account.
As Prime Minister, leaders have to face many more questions though. Could Banerjee handle that?
While Banerjee has been vocal against the BJP for not providing a safer country for women, her own responses to rapes don't have much to offer to the country's women, or its men who care for women's safety.
The chief minister went so far as to claim that 2012 Park Street rape was a concocted story.
When a woman alleged she had been raped on a train in Burdwan, Banerjee called it a lie, alleging the woman "happens to be the wife of a CPM supporter." It didn't take long for investigators to find the woman had been widowed 11 years before she was raped.
And, if that wasn't enough, the same Banerjee, at a rally in Minakhan, thundered, "Are all women in the state being raped?"
Seeking support in the name of 'secularism' against Modi could be Banerjee's nemesis.
The chief minister has called for an anti-BJP rally in Kolkata in January 2019. Two months before that rally is held, Banerjee will begin a country-wide tour to drum up support. She is expected to invite Congress president Sonia Gandhi, RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Tejashwi Yadav, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR).
Many of these leaders, ironically, all part of a 'secular front', also have ambitions of their own. While KCR and Banerjee have been holding talks to come together as part of a federal front, KCR didn't even heed Banerjee's call for a vote against the BJP during the recent no-confidence motion.
Banerjee's hunger for the PM's chair could disrupt Opposition unity — even before it is established.