The run-up to the Assembly polls in West Bengal has grabbed national headlines for the fierce fight being witnessed between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP. It is more so because of the injuries Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sustained hours after she filed her nomination from the Nandigram constituency on March 10. The BJP is out to capture the state without which, as the party top leadership has declared, its victory remains incomplete. As such, the Bengal election is not simply about one single state, but its fallout will have ramifications in national politics as well. This does not hold good for the elections to three other states and one Union Territory – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Pondicherry – which are going to polls at the same time but not in the same manner.
Many in this country expressed happiness on hearing that a large state like Tamil Nadu and a populous state like Kerala could hold polling on one single day. That demonstrated the expertise and efficiency which the Election Commission of India (EC) is capable of. However, in the case of West Bengal, the polling that will be held in eight phases demonstrates how shamelessly the same EC is playing to the tune of the BJP. No doubt, Assam too, has polling in three phases but that is understandable since a major part of that state has mountainous terrain. It is West Bengal which will be pivotal in deciding the future of democracy in India.
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From the BJP’s perspective, vanquishing Mamata Banerjee is more important than winning elections in the other states since she is the only politician in power whom the BJP is finding tough to tame, unlike most other Opposition leaders and non-BJP Chief Ministers. That apart, victory in Bengal Assembly elections could bring more Lok Sabha seats to the BJP’s kitty in 2024 election. With the farmers’ unrest, the BJP is seen to be losing ground in the Hindi belt. Admittedly, no other political party seems to be gaining the BJP’s lost ground, yet the bosses have probably realized that states like West Bengal will become extremely important for their survival in power next time through. They cannot expect the same from the Southern states as the BJP is perceived as an alien pro-Hindi force down there.
A subplot to this electoral drama is the ideological-tactical clash between the CPI-M and the Naxalite outfit CPI-ML on the issue of opposing the BJP and the Trinamool which requires deeper understanding of both those parties’ stand regarding Mamata and Modi.
Four days after suffering injuries at Nandigram, Mamata Banerjee is back on the campaign trail, participating in a Kolkata rally on a wheelchair. What is amazing is the statement issued by the EC claiming that Mamata’s injuries were accidental and not a result of any attack. It must be noted that such reports can only be generated by the supposedly impartial ‘EC Observers’. These observers are primarily in-service IAS and IPS officers from other states who are expected to be truthful and uninvolved in their assignment which includes overseeing the process of campaigning, account management as well as actual polling. It is well known to all those who have contested elections as serious candidates that the worst kind of mischief is played by these very same holier than thou observers. Therefore, the EC’s statements pertaining to West Bengal should always be taken with a handful of salt.
