Trinamool sweeps Bengal Panchayat polls, but victory isn't enough for Mamata Banerjee
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee was expecting an Opposition-free three-tier Panchayat in West Bengal. It did not happen, but what her party Trinamool Congress (TMC) achieved was not too far-off-the-mark.
The ruling regime has won 19,394 seats and was leading in another 500-odd seats at the time of writing of this piece. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the second position, has won 5,050 seats and is leading in another 50-odd seats. A total of 31,802 seats across the 19 districts have gone to the polls.
While the victory yet again established that the ruling party has complete control over the voters, the administration and machinery, it also brought to the fore that the BJP was emerging as the principle opposition, though it is in no way a close competitor. The Left and the Congress are a distant third and fourth. Along with this, another new observation in the West Bengal political circle is the emergence of independents as the fringe but not-to-be-ignored elements. The independents have won 1,614 GPs and are leading in another 39 seats.
Who are these independents — the disgruntled members of the ruling party, who were denied tickets this time or apolitical persons, who were in the electoral fray in their individual right to participate in the democratic exercise?
Independents are both political and non-political persons. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, however, has branded them "Maoists". She said that the CPI(M), BJP and Maoists have banded together to defeat the TMC.
The western part of Bengal, especially the tribal belt of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura has thrown up many independent candidates, who put up a tough fight, notwithstanding terror, intimidation and resistance of all possible means to come out victorious.
"If contesting from this belt makes them Maoist, it is indeed very sad. Why tribals are unhappy and why they want to fight without the political umbrella has to be understood," said poll analyst and professor of Rabindra Bharati University, Biswanath Chakrabarty.
The tribals have no political banner and so it is natural for them to fight their own battles. But what has come as a big surprise is that eight independent candidates in East Burdawan, five independents in Bhangar in South 24 Parganas and 15 candidates from Jalpaiguri had succeeded in making the ruling party trail.
The Left and the Congress are gradually being pushed to the margins and no alliance can actually improve matters on the ground.
The gap between the Trinamool Congress in the first position and the BJP in the second position is huge. The Opposition alleges of violence, vandalism and unimaginable rigging and false voting by the ruling party to have pushed them to a corner.
It is true, the Panchayat polls have seen widespread bloodbath, heavy casualty and even on the day of counting, candidates in the Opposition accused the ruling party of election fraud. Niladri Sukul of Majhdia in Nadia district complained that he was winning by 220 votes when ruling party cadres “scared him away” and resorted to violence to change the mandate.
The BJP has a long road before it can catch up ahead of the 2019 polls, but the saving grace is that it will be fought on a different paradigm — where the more than one billion-strong electorate will choose their prime minister.
If Mamata had been in the race for the top post, it would have been a different story with the people of the state feeling immensly energetic to catapult her as the first Bengali prime minister, but a Federal Front with some other aspirants for the prime minister's post might not evoke similar regional feeling from the people of Bengal.
In that case, people would look for an acceptable and credible face, as against Narendra Modi. That face is yet to surface.
There is much dithering over whether to have one or two alternative fronts. The chiefs of the regional parties are still divided on whether they must have their own front, independent of the Congress, or merge with the UPA.
Politicians are looking for far more telltale signs. Karnataka was not enough. Perhaps, the poll results in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh will show some clear signals.