Amit Shah, not PM Modi, is Mamata Banerjee’s real challenger in this Bengal election |
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Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story
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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit
ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures
Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story
More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice
Amit Shah, not PM Modi, is Mamata Banerjee’s real challenger in this Bengal election
According to BJP leaders in West Bengal, five factors are working against the Trinamool Congress. When you travel across the state, these factors do surface in one form or another.
Two parallel realities seem to co-exist in West Bengal today. First, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s welfare schemes continue to shape the electoral discourse. You travel around the state, and there isn’t a household that’s not a beneficiary—of the monthly assistance of Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,700 for women under Lakshmir Bhandar Yojana, Rs 1,500 for unemployed youth, or cycles and smartphones for school students, among a host of others. The second reality is the talk of porivartan or change that keeps resonating, albeit gently. Fifteen years is a long time. A change may bring them more. But are they so unhappy with Didi that they want her to go?
I asked this question to a group of villagers—four women and three men—in Kastodanga village, about 70 km north of Kolkata, on Sunday afternoon. The women almost looked through me—at my naivete, I guess. A man in his twenties, however, nodded vigorously from his scooty: “You give Rs 18,000 to (unemployed) youth per annum, who have done BA, MA and MBA. They should be getting four times more per month, but there are no jobs.”
The others joined him in the conversation when he started talking about how the doctor at the nearby health centre came just for an hour twice a week, and they had to travel 26 km to get medical help in times of emergency. “Have you approached your MLA or MP about it?” I asked. The village is in Haringhata Assembly constituency, represented by Asim Kumar Sarkar of the Bharatiya Janata Party. It falls in the Bangaon Lok Sabha constituency represented by the BJP’s Shantanu Thakur.
“They never come back after the elections,” said another man. Asked if they felt the need for a porivartan in government, the scooty-borne man said, “They all just make money—first the Left, then the Trinamool Congress. Another one will surely do the same, but at least give them a chance.” The other man quipped, rather sharply: “Who—Suvendu Adhikari? He was Mamata Banerjee’s lieutenant all his life. How is he going to be any different?”
The penny dropped. The chief ministerial face remains an issue for the BJP. The........