Firstpost
  • Home
  • Video Shows
    Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
  • World
    US News
  • Explainers
  • News
    India Opinion Cricket Tech Entertainment Sports Health Photostories
  • Asia Cup 2025
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
Trending:
  • Nepal protests
  • Nepal Protests Live
  • Vice-presidential elections
  • iPhone 17
  • IND vs PAK cricket
  • Israel-Hamas war
fp-logo
LS polls: Mamata takes politics of grievance too far in West Bengal, allows Modi and Shah to turn tables
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter
Apple Incorporated Modi ji Justin Trudeau Trending

Sections

  • Home
  • Live TV
  • Videos
  • Shows
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Health
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • Web Stories
  • Business
  • Impact Shorts

Shows

  • Vantage
  • Firstpost America
  • Firstpost Africa
  • First Sports
  • Fast and Factual
  • Between The Lines
  • Flashback
  • Live TV

Events

  • Raisina Dialogue
  • Independence Day
  • Champions Trophy
  • Delhi Elections 2025
  • Budget 2025
  • US Elections 2024
  • Firstpost Defence Summit
  • Home
  • Politics
  • LS polls: Mamata takes politics of grievance too far in West Bengal, allows Modi and Shah to turn tables

LS polls: Mamata takes politics of grievance too far in West Bengal, allows Modi and Shah to turn tables

Ajay Singh • May 16, 2019, 21:23:12 IST
Whatsapp Facebook Twitter

Mamata Banerjee seems to be taking her politics of grievance a bit too far.

Advertisement
Subscribe Join Us
Add as a preferred source on Google
Prefer
Firstpost
On
Google
LS polls: Mamata takes politics of grievance too far in West Bengal, allows Modi and Shah to turn tables

Grievance is grist for great politics. Its consummate cultivation as an art is a rare skill that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has perfected to the hilt. Recall the visual of a young Mamata being dragged out from the Writer’s Building, the state secretariat, by Jyoti Basu’s administration in 1993 when she was a junior minister in the PV Narasimha Rao government. She nursed that grievance and successfully channelised it into her politics. In her state, where the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) had evolved a vicious strain of statecraft that was authoritarian to the core, Banerjee was seen as an effective antidote. It was not without reason that she got the first congratulatory message from her Gujarat counterpart, Narendra Modi, after her first electoral victory in the West Bengal Assembly in 2011. At the time, Modi also looked at her as a loner who fought relentlessly to create her own space against a cadre-based strong political party. She showed the potential of a great leader in the making. [caption id=“attachment_6604641” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] ![West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee addresses a rally in Midnapore. PTI](https://images.firstpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Mamata-Banerjee_380.jpg) File image of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. PTI[/caption] But Banerjee did not realise the fact that politics of perpetual grievance creates its own antidotes and has severe limitations. Since her ascension to power in 2011, she could not evolve in the role of an effective administrator whose governance is not constrained by politics. In February, she tried to intimidate CBI officials and stall the inquiry against IPS officer Rajeev Kumar — her favourite — in the Saradha chit-fund scam. She not only went on a fast against the CBI,but also encouraged the IPS officer to join her. For the first time, the chief executive of a state was egging on and encouraging rebellion against the State. This was followed up by the slapping of criminal cases against officials of the CBI posted in Kolkata by the state police. The retribution against the central agency was a clear violation of the constitutional arrangement of a federal structure. Yet, Banerjee got away with this indiscretion without any rap on her knuckles. She was further emboldened to declare that the state would not let the central agencies function. As a result, the state police started interfering with customs officials at Kolkata airport and forced them not to take action against the wife of a Trinamool Congress leader reportedly caught with contraband. In effect, Banerjee seems to be taking her politics of grievance a bit too far. Short of declaring West Bengal a separate republic, she has been defying all tenets of the Constitution on the pretext of fighting ‘communal forces’ represented by the BJP, which has replaced the Congress and the CPM as the main Opposition in the state. Her stranglehold over the state bureaucracy and co-option of criminals in the cadre have combined to give a feeling of déjà vu for people of the state. The Trinamool Congress acquired the features of a lumpenised CPM. Like the CPM, which grossly underestimated Banerjee’s challenge, she  has grossly overestimated garrulousness as her political strength and trusted her instincts more than a well-crafted political strategy. Given the demographic change that occurred in the border districts of West Bengal, she seemed to have ignored simmering social discontent and communal fault lines. This social discontent was further accentuated by her image as a leader who pursues anti-industry policies, a fact borne out by her opposition to industrial projects in Singur and Nandigram. As the last round of polls draws near and West Bengal is in the eye of a storm, there is no doubt that Banerjee must have been conscious of the reality that her assessment of Modi and BJP president Amit Shah has gone horribly wrong. The reason is obvious. During her NDA years, she was quite adept in dealing with leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani and found them quite amenable to her tantrums. There were instances when she raised a banner of revolt against the BJP leadership, but maintained cordial ties with both top BJP leaders. In the NDA government, she forced Vajpayee’s hand and had George Fernandes removed as defence minister in the Tehelka bribery case. That led to en masse resignation of the JD(U) cabinet members. Apparently Vajpayee and Advani looked at Banerjee as a potential ally in West Bengal where the BJP was non-existent and yet did not have political ambitions for the state either. However, the Modi-Shah duo changed the game and found a political vacuum waiting to be filled by the BJP. Grievances that were once Banerjee’s weapon became an effective instrument for the BJP, which expanded its organisational network by co-opting ‘notables’ or well-known personalities and celebrities as well as trained political cadres who drifted away either from the Congress or the CPM. Within the past five years, the party has built a formidable organisation suitably bolstered by the central leadership to mount an effective challenge to Banerjee. Her indiscretions and her dismal governance proved to be a catalyst for the BJP’s mobilisation of people on grievances. In essence, she has found more than a match in the Modi-Shah duo. Follow all news from the Lok Sabha Election 2019 campaign here

Tags
Mamata Banerjee Narendra Modi Supreme Court Bharatiya Janata Party ConnectTheDots InMyOpinion Samajwadi Party Kolkata Election Commission of India Elections in India Lok Sabha polls Amit Shah ECI Indian Constitution Lok Sabha Election 2019 Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Article 324 Polling in West Bengal
End of Article
Latest News
Find us on YouTube
Subscribe
End of Article

Top Stories

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House

Top Shows

Vantage Firstpost America Firstpost Africa First Sports
Latest News About Firstpost
Most Searched Categories
  • Web Stories
  • World
  • India
  • Explainers
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Cricket
  • Tech/Auto
  • Entertainment
  • IPL 2025
NETWORK18 SITES
  • News18
  • Money Control
  • CNBC TV18
  • Forbes India
  • Advertise with us
  • Sitemap
Firstpost Logo

is on YouTube

Subscribe Now

Copyright @ 2024. Firstpost - All Rights Reserved

About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms Of Use
Home Video Shorts Live TV