Tussle over BJP rally in Kolkata: Amit Shah should send Mamata a 'thank you' note

Mamata Banerjee has the unerring ability to shoot herself in the foot. She has repeatedly handed the BJP easy psychological victories by being oversensitive about its rise in West Bengal. With the Calcutta High court allowing the rally of BJP President Amit Shah to go ahead after the municipal authorities said no, she has been delivered a rap on the knuckles. She had no business trying to block it. Now she has lost face. [caption id=“attachment_1826947” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] BJP president Amit Shah. AFP[/caption] Making belligerent noises and not getting anywhere with it has been Banerjee’s track record with the BJP. During the Lok Sabha campaign she threatened to jail Narendra Modi. A party spokesman, Derek O’Brien, once the voice of sobriety, called Modi “the butcher of Gujarat”. At the end of the day, the BJP ended up with 17 percent of the popular vote – an unprecedented achievement for a party that was practically non-existent in the state till recently. This week her party MPs disrupted parliament claiming to be concerned about black money. It may have embarrassed the BJP leadership somewhat, since many non-BJP parties joined in the bashing, but once the spotlight moves on, it will rest on the black money scam erupting in Mamata’s own backyard - the Saradha Ponzi scheme which has seen several Trinamool leaders arrested. Everyone now understands that Mamata’s belligerence stems from her vulnerability on Saradha. If the BJP now looks like the main opposition to Mamata in the run-up to the 2016 assembly election, it is entirely due to her nervousness and panicky reactions to it. Some time back, she asked the Left to join her. More recently, she attended the Congress party’s Nehru celebrations in Delhi, indicating that she is willing to swallow her pride to get closer to the Congress. None of it has helped establish her as a confident politician. The latest development was the Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s (KMC’s) decision yesterday (27 November) to deny permission to a party rally at its chosen venue in front of the Victoria Memorial this Sunday (30 November). The BJP claims it had put in a request for permission to hold the rally a month ago, but both the municipal corporation and the fire brigade decided to say no on specious grounds: traffic problems and, apparently, the party’s failure to provide a proper sketch of the stage it plans to build for the rally. This was obviously nonsense – as any Kolkata resident can attest. Traffic jams created by political parties holding rallies have been the norm in the city. Mamata herself held one in July, and the city was hardly amused to be held hostage to it. To say no to the BJP fearing traffic jams was thus an admission that the BJP could garner huge crowds. A self-goal if ever there was one. But thanks to the police denial, the matter landed up in court and the Bengal Tigress lost another battle. The stage is thus being set not merely for a much-publicised rally this Sunday, but for a broader confrontation between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress. Banerjee could have avoided embarrassment by letting the BJP vent its spleen on her. Instead, it gave the BJP a chance to do the same to her. They had decided to hold their rally despite the denial, but now that is not necessary. To be sure, the court order has prevented Banerjee from ruining her image further. If the rally had stayed banned and BJP workers had either been arrested on their way to the venue or there was some kind of violence, it could only have benefited them politically. Mamata Banerjee, by her visceral response to Modi’s rise, has ensured that the BJP is the prime opposition party in West Bengal. The BJP will be thrilled that it has been elevated from non-entity to Public Enemy No 1 in just six months. A party with almost no organisation and a lacklustre local leadership is now giving the strongest party in the state the shivers. Amit Shah should send a thank you note to Mamata Banerjee and not the high court.