Mamata’s Politics is a mix of Welfare Populism and Fascism - II
The Fascist Seed becomes a Sapling (year 2016): The Trinamool Congress won the next round of Vidhan Sabha election in 2016 handsomely and without the alliance with the Congress. Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister once again. She won on the strength of her populist measures. Her think-tank’s appraisal was proven right that the common voter was least concerned about industrial growth, somewhat concerned about infrastructure development such as good roads, availability of drinking water, rural electrification etc, and most concerned about direct benefits, realized through various Prakalpas (Schemes).
What was most remarkable about this election was that she did not need to use violence in order to win. But even then, she unleashed a fair degree of violence using her gang of goons. At the same time, the police force, under political direction, either aided the Trinamool workers or remained an inert onlooker; all this in order to maximize Trinamool gain and wipe out the opposition. Both the Left and Congress were taken by surprise. The Left Front, to its credit and unlike its Kerala counterpart, never used violence at this scale, although it had the wherewithal to do that. Otherwise, Trinamool Congress could never have come to power.
The Fascist Sapling becomes a tree (year 2018): The Panchayat and Local Body Elections were conducted in West Bengal in May 2018. This election saw unprecedented violence on an enormous scale, unleashed by the goons of the Trinamool. We are accustomed to seeing violence during the polling in different parts of India. But here it started much earlier, at the nomination stage. Candidates of parties, other than Trinamool, were prevented from filing nomination papers by physical obstruction, mayhem and murder. The media, Bengali, English and Hindi, were routinely intimidated; objective reporting often became the first casualty. Even then the picture of a fearsome terror, sweeping the countryside, emerged.
A Home Ministry report mentioned 23 deaths in the polling day and preceding night during the Panchayat election. If this is not fascism, then what is? As a result, many of the seats were won by the Trinamool Congress uncontested. Even then it became apparent that the BJP was making inroads into Mamata’s bastion.
In September 2018, the Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana) was launched. It is a health insurance scheme for the lower income group and has some likeness to the Swasthya Sathi scheme of the State. Mamata Banerjee prevented its implementation in West Bengal, in total disregard of the provisions of the Indian Constitution. Yet the BJP-led NDA Government at Center did not act. Their idea was to fight such aberration electorally, an incorrect notion in my opinion. The least they should have done was to take the West Bengal Government to court.
In December 2018, the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana was launched. Under this scheme, a direct transfer of Rs. 6000 would take place into the accounts of small and medium farmers. There is a cap on the land-holding of the farmer. The Lok Sabha election was due in 4 months’ time in West Bengal and Mamata decided to block this scheme in order to curb the popularity of PM Modi. She refused to supply the list of names of the eligible farmers, in spite of repeated reminders from New Delhi. Again, the Central Government did not act. They could have taken her to court.
The Fascist Tree strikes deeper Roots: Then came the 2019 Lok Sabha election that was held in 7 phases spread over more than a month. Central forces under the control of the Election Commission ensured more or less peaceful polling, but violence continued away from the polling booth and outside the polling hours. The concerned Home Ministry report says, “693 incidents and 11 deaths” on the polling day. The BJP won 18 seats and the Trinamool 22. Mamata Banerjee was alarmed by BJP’s growth. Like all autocrats she was mortally afraid of losing power. But she did not lose nerve. She and her top brass went into a huddle to formulate a new strategy. (To be continued…)