When the royal Bengal tigress will take on the Asiatic lion of Gir in a battle where two individuals will clash for ‘yes, I am a Bengali tag’, in the unique contest between two individuals where parties are rendered redundant, as votes will be sought in the name of Modi or Mamata, on the ground that the former is a pall bearer of the pride of ‘ Yes, I am Bengali’ tag, by birth, whereas the latter claims to be a more Bengali by adaptation, by serenading its pantheon of icons.
Vivekanand Jha, Ranchi: The upcoming election in West Bengal is the battle of titans, a battle between the two living legends of India, from the arena of politics. In fact, there are several commonalities between the both: Both claim to have come from the bottom of social pyramid; both are self made; both have had to negotiate with the difficult political trajectories; both are contemporaries, to have kick started their political careers almost at the same time: while Mamata Banerjee, began her political career as a Congress worker, Narendra Damodardas Modi kick started his working for the cultural nationalism, under the tutelage of RSS. Subsequently, as the convention of the Sangh has been: He was loaned by the RSS to the BJP.
As Vinay Sitapati, in his latest book Jugalbandi: BJP before Modi, had magnificently traced out the Jugalbandi going on within the BJP, since the formation of Bhartiya Jana Sangh by Dr Shayma Prasad Mukherjee, when RSS, in order to strengthen Jana Sangh, had lent Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay to boost up the organisation work of Jana Shanghai. Later, Jugalbandi between Vajpayee and Advani too, witnessed BJP’s onward march. In the contemporary times, the same Jugalbandi between Modi and Shah is adequately palpable. In fact, Narendra Modi was loaned to BJP by the RSS, who was appointed as its general secretary. During such time, when Narendra Modi was already appointed as the National General Secretary of BJP, Mamata Banerjee too, was seeking to leverage her position within the Congress Party. She had already demonstrated her being a horse for the long run when, scotching all the speculations for her impending defeat, Mamata Banerjee had trounced the veteran leader of CPIM, Somnath Chatterjee, from Jadavpur Constituency.
However, Mamata, shot to the national limelight, albeit for the first time, when she was brutally assaulted by Lalu Alam, when she was struggling to survive against the impending death. Not only she emerged triumphant in her battle against death, but she emerged as the formidable challenger to the ongoing rule of Left Front rule for decades. The formation of Trinamool Congress to carve out an independent space for herself, was the beginning of a new era in Bengal politics. Later, she joined NDA, under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and eventually became the Railway Minister. Her fixation with the Railway Ministry was such that Ataljee had to personally request Nitish Kumar who, initially was assigned the railway portfolio, to switch over to Agriculture Ministry. Thus, Mamata’s stint as the Union Minister began when Narendra Modi was doing the organisational works within BJP. But then when Mamata entered into Bengal politics, after withdrawing from Union ministry, Narendra Modi too was sent to Gujarat as its Chief Minister by Lal Krishna Advanijee.
In 2002, when a massive communal riots broke in Gujarat, there was a tremendous pressure on Ataljee to remove him; in fact, Ataljee, the then Prime Minister, had almost made up his mind to remove him but Lal Krishna Advani saved his days. Significantly, it was the communal riot that cemented Modi’s position as chief minister in Gujarat. The majority Hindus, in the wake of massive vilification campaign unleashed against him by the national and the international media, stood solidly by him to enable him to win the successive elections. Expectedly, as BJP, in the event of Vajpayee walking into the sunset and Advani too, losing much of political traction, experienced vacuum at the top leadership. It was here Arun Jaitley, an erstwhile friend of Modi stepped in to shape Modi as the future icon of Hindus and, thereby, the supreme leader of BJPt o take the mantle of Vajpayee. No wonder Modi, solidly backed by the corporates, smoothly elbowed out Advani from the leadership race. In the meanwhile, Mamata had waged a movement against the West Bengal government in Nandigram and Sigur for returning the land that government had forcibly taken away from the farmers for handing over to Tata Motors for setting up a factory. No wonder when Tata was expelled from Singur it was immediately rehabilitated by Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, in Sanand. Singur and Nandigram brought Mamata to power in 2011. However, 2014 catapulted Narendra Modi on to Delhi Durbar as India’s fourteenth Prime Minister.
2019 general election was the watershed in Bengal politics. BJP, a peripheral player in West Bengal politics till then, barely with 2 seats grew exponentially by bagging 18 seats, leaving Trinamool flabbergasted. Significantly, Mamata, who had already transformed herself into a Didi, by virtue of standing by the farmers and the people of the state, through thick and thin, had realised her humongous blunder: By showing a paranoia towards the left, she had demolished it, leaving vacuum for the BJP to fill up the gap. In fact, every conceivable office of CPIM in different parts of the West Bengal, was demolished. No wonder by the time Didi realised that she herself was instrumental behind giving BJP a leeway, it was too late. The upcoming election in West Bengal in the month of April is the most daunting challenge for Mamata Banerjee to preserve her bastion from BJP’s invasion. Especially when such leader as Subendu Adhikari, who fought shoulder to shoulder standing with her in Nandigram and Singur; Mukul Roy, her close lieutenant who stood with her when she floated Trinamool in 1998, today are sitting in BJP’s lap. In fact, Trinammol leaders, accusing Abhishek Banerjee, Didi’s successor, for his authoritarian streaks, have been making a beeline towards BJP, Mamata’s headache has increased manifold.
Added to her owes, is the orchestrated campaign where Modi is increasingly being showcased as an icon alongside Swami Vivekananda and Netajee Subhas Chandra Bose as the living legend of India, the concerns of Mamata Banerjee grows thousand fold. For 2021 Assembly election is the exclusive battle between the two individuals, where the mantle of not only ‘ Yes, I am Bengali’ is up for the grab but, in fact, who is more Bengali, will be decisive in winning this battle, which has virtually assumed all the dimensions of a war? No wonder the pressure is high on Sourav Ganguly to fight against Mamata and be the chief ministerial candidate of BJP to defeat Mamata’s serious claim for an exclusive’ Yes, I am Bengali’ tag. Also, to nullify Didi’s allegation of a fight being between Bengali and Bahiri–the issue upon which Nitish Kumar’s mahagathbandhan had defeated BJP in 2015 assembly election.Therefore, BJP, fully aware of Mamata’s game plan, has increasingly been parading the Bengali leaders in the public meetings. But then this war being between two individuals, parties have long ceased to have any impact on Bengal politics. It is an open battle between the royal Bengal tigress and the Asiatic lion of Gir. Modi versus Mamata is the battle between two individuals, where everything assumes the secondary position. ‘ Yes, I am Bengali’ tag, along with ‘who is more Bengali’, will be the decisive factor behind winning the upcoming election of 2021.
While Didi is a Bengali by birth, Modi claims to be a Bengali by adaptation: The showcasing of Modi, along with other Bengali icons like Swami Vivekananda and Netajee Subhas Chandra Bose vindicates BJP’s game plan. Whether Bengali will accept it, will decide who will win this contest. Also, BJP’s claim that, with BJP ruling the state as well as the centre, will pave the way for the speedy development of West Bengal, is another factor that will resonate with the voters or not, is another question that remains within the realms of speculation. However the fact is clear to BJP as Prashant Kishor had already made it candidly: While Trinamool will have 100 percent to target, BJP will be left with only 70 percent to mobilise, for the 30 percent of Muslims are exclusively meant for Mamata. Consequently, the entry of Assaduddin Owaisi to cut into the Muslim votes, will resonate with Muslims whose summum bonum is to defeat the BJP at any cost, still remains a mystery.
