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TMC vs BJP : Mamata Takes Blows From Modi

TMC vs BJP : Mamata Takes Blows From Modi

The PM’s boast of having 40 TMC MLAs in BJP’s kitty amounts to an endorsement of horse-trading

Frankly, outrageous statements made by political leaders during the ongoing Lok Sabha election are such a flood that temperance is more an exception than the rule. And though the Election Commission (EC) has its hands full signing off ban orders for speeches, the fact is every party is a wilful defaulter, realising that 72 hours of non-appearance would not be able to dim the inflammatory appeal of their momentary virulence. However, nobody expected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to swing so far out in a campaign speech for his party that he not only crossed the decency limits of the office he holds but was irresponsible, unexpected and unethical. Addressing a rally in Serampore, he challenged Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee, saying 40 of her MLAs would switch over to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the election results were out. Does this mean he is talking of post-election defections and is endorsing the process of horse-trading as a holder of a Constitutional post? Does this mean that he is hinting at destabilising an elected State Government, hoping that the BJP can pick up a few seats in Bengal while holding on to power at the Centre? Is the threat of breaking the TMC actually a part of psych warfare intended to rattle Didi and push the undecided voter towards his desired outcome? Or is it that the saccharine admission of Didi’s gifts of kurtas and sweets needed to be countered by a bolder political statement? Whatever may be the intention, Modi has ended up challenging public propriety to such an extent that all transgressions by his party speakers, the vitriolic Yogi Adityanath included, seem to have paled in comparison. This is rather unusual for Modi, who has always separated himself from the motormouths in the fringe. Of course, they, too, have been legitimised and mainstreamed to create a polarised discourse for this election. But such desperation isn’t his style. Indeed, if he wants to appear larger than life, the only claimant to a leadership vacuum, then he has to adhere to public morality.  He doesn’t need to resort to demagoguery.

Why is Modi so keen on Bengal? Of course, there is the issue of harnessing some extra seats from the eastern States as insurance should there be a BJP slip in the heartland. Bengal has the third largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha at 42, just behind Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, and with the Opposition all but decimated, the BJP is hoping to emerge the alternative. But most importantly Modi becomes vituperative about Mamata because she is the key adversary in this election, both as the architect of the Opposition front or mahagathbandhan, as his polar opposite and as a fearless challenger of his persona. Apart from the Hindutva-secularism discourse, Mamata is the only Opposition leader to have taken on Modi head-to-head, be it on the citizenship Bill, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) or the politicisation and manipulation of the administrative machinery for electoral advantages. And she counters his facts with figures. On NRC, she played up how a revision of rolls ended up affecting “22 lakh Hindu Bengalis,” a constituency of which he claims to be a crusader.  And while she has risen in national stature, he hasn’t been able to prop up a CM-face from his State unit.

Of course, defections are not new in Bengal. The BJP itself coopted Mamata’s confidant Mukul Roy when he fell out of grace over alleged scams. Roy at one time hived off Left and Congress MLAs to the TMC camp. In fact, ever since the Left regime, there never has been a healthy two-party system in Bengal. Mamata may have defeated the Left after years of chipping it away but once in governance, she didn’t let go of the inherited monolithic aura. Now, the BJP is trying to come up as the TMC’s main challenger and staking claim to that space. There’s nothing wrong with political ambition but for that, it would be more appropriate for Modi’s BJP to wait it out and take on Didi in the Assembly elections of 2021 fair and square rather than settling for half-measures. Bengal has always loved the David versus Goliath story but it would not surely love a flawed David.  

Writer & Courtesy: The Pioneer

TMC vs BJP : Mamata Takes Blows From Modi

TMC vs BJP : Mamata Takes Blows From Modi

The PM’s boast of having 40 TMC MLAs in BJP’s kitty amounts to an endorsement of horse-trading

Frankly, outrageous statements made by political leaders during the ongoing Lok Sabha election are such a flood that temperance is more an exception than the rule. And though the Election Commission (EC) has its hands full signing off ban orders for speeches, the fact is every party is a wilful defaulter, realising that 72 hours of non-appearance would not be able to dim the inflammatory appeal of their momentary virulence. However, nobody expected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to swing so far out in a campaign speech for his party that he not only crossed the decency limits of the office he holds but was irresponsible, unexpected and unethical. Addressing a rally in Serampore, he challenged Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee, saying 40 of her MLAs would switch over to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the election results were out. Does this mean he is talking of post-election defections and is endorsing the process of horse-trading as a holder of a Constitutional post? Does this mean that he is hinting at destabilising an elected State Government, hoping that the BJP can pick up a few seats in Bengal while holding on to power at the Centre? Is the threat of breaking the TMC actually a part of psych warfare intended to rattle Didi and push the undecided voter towards his desired outcome? Or is it that the saccharine admission of Didi’s gifts of kurtas and sweets needed to be countered by a bolder political statement? Whatever may be the intention, Modi has ended up challenging public propriety to such an extent that all transgressions by his party speakers, the vitriolic Yogi Adityanath included, seem to have paled in comparison. This is rather unusual for Modi, who has always separated himself from the motormouths in the fringe. Of course, they, too, have been legitimised and mainstreamed to create a polarised discourse for this election. But such desperation isn’t his style. Indeed, if he wants to appear larger than life, the only claimant to a leadership vacuum, then he has to adhere to public morality.  He doesn’t need to resort to demagoguery.

Why is Modi so keen on Bengal? Of course, there is the issue of harnessing some extra seats from the eastern States as insurance should there be a BJP slip in the heartland. Bengal has the third largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha at 42, just behind Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, and with the Opposition all but decimated, the BJP is hoping to emerge the alternative. But most importantly Modi becomes vituperative about Mamata because she is the key adversary in this election, both as the architect of the Opposition front or mahagathbandhan, as his polar opposite and as a fearless challenger of his persona. Apart from the Hindutva-secularism discourse, Mamata is the only Opposition leader to have taken on Modi head-to-head, be it on the citizenship Bill, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) or the politicisation and manipulation of the administrative machinery for electoral advantages. And she counters his facts with figures. On NRC, she played up how a revision of rolls ended up affecting “22 lakh Hindu Bengalis,” a constituency of which he claims to be a crusader.  And while she has risen in national stature, he hasn’t been able to prop up a CM-face from his State unit.

Of course, defections are not new in Bengal. The BJP itself coopted Mamata’s confidant Mukul Roy when he fell out of grace over alleged scams. Roy at one time hived off Left and Congress MLAs to the TMC camp. In fact, ever since the Left regime, there never has been a healthy two-party system in Bengal. Mamata may have defeated the Left after years of chipping it away but once in governance, she didn’t let go of the inherited monolithic aura. Now, the BJP is trying to come up as the TMC’s main challenger and staking claim to that space. There’s nothing wrong with political ambition but for that, it would be more appropriate for Modi’s BJP to wait it out and take on Didi in the Assembly elections of 2021 fair and square rather than settling for half-measures. Bengal has always loved the David versus Goliath story but it would not surely love a flawed David.  

Writer & Courtesy: The Pioneer

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