- Even before the Election Commission announced the poll details for the ensuing state assemblies, the groundwork for the battlefield of West Bengal had commenced long back. The political parties concerned, mainly the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, kick-started their respective campaigns several months back in right earnest. An impressive performance in the last parliamentary elections in Bengal has guided the BJP to believe it has a more than fair opportunity to topple the twice elected TMC at the hustings. No wonder, the mercurial and maverick TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has gone ballistic in ensuring her party does not cede ground to the BJP one bit.
PC: moneycontrol
- Leading up to the announcement of the poll schedule, a slew of the high-profile exodus of political leaders from the ruling dispensation of West Bengal has slightly shifted the comfort levels of Didi but no way the same has succeeded in denting the fighting spirits of the leader. She continues to remain aggressive, belligerent, and acerbic while going about spewing venom on the opposition’s policies. Agitating farmer union’s issues, rising fuel/commodity prices, glaring unemployment scenario, and the pandemic induced economic hardships as also growing cases of sedition charges against criticism/opposing voices will be exploited to the hilt by the shrewd Didi.
- Indeed, she has not held herself back in vociferously highlighting the tricky issues not only confronting West Bengal but also the entire country at large. People in the know would nod in agreement that the TMC rode to power on the promise of ushering in poriborton (change) but the same largely remain on paper. The BJP has been quick to counter by raising the issues of rampant corruption in the face of cyclone devastation, nepotism, hooliganism, depriving the poor and farming community in extending various Central Government schemes, and most importantly, coming out with the newly minted clarion call of ushering in ashal poriborton (real change) is bound to gain traction.
PC: Sentinel Digital Desk
- Amid all the cacophony unraveling in the heat of the elections, the political narrative is sure to gravitate towards personalities that with the Prime Minister himself scheduled to address several rallies leading up the polling dates. By now the stale narrative of outsider and insider claims thrown about by the two leading parties is likely to further muddy the political pitch as the D-Day nears. Real issues, there are aplenty in West Bengal, usually gets undermined in the din of political skullduggery where cult personalities, identities, emotions, and underlying fears are accorded importance rather than addressing burning topics afflicting common people.
- Much is at stake for the BJP as it makes all-out efforts at breaching the hitherto impregnable fortress of West Bengal helping it to consolidate gains made pan-India over the past few years. Any serious setback or performance not on expected lines will render the party vulnerable helping the opposition parties to unite against it to mount concerted challenges in the days ahead. Whatever the outcome of the elections, a resurgent, vibrant, and resilient Bengal is an unavoidable necessity for India’s economic renaissance.
