Even as a devastating cyclone has hit it hard, Bengal and a few other states will enter the final phase of this crucial, tight-rope Lok Sabha polls. However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will not attend the I.N.D.I.A bloc meeting in Delhi on June 1, to prepare for the final results on June 4. According to sources, a senior representative of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will certainly attend the I.N.D.I.A bloc meeting.
“The I.N.D.I.A team has already called a meeting on June 1,” Banerjee said in a public meeting held in Kolkata on May 27m adding “I said, ‘See, I cannot go on June 1. Here, we have voting in 10 seats. There are elections in Punjab, other places… Uttar Pradesh… granted it’s their state, but there is Akhilesh. Voting in Bihar, too. Voting goes on till late at night, 10 PM or later, for every person is in queue till 6 PM. How will I leave everything and go?”
There is a by-election as well slated for January 1. Besides, Banerjee would be busy with relief work in the aftermath of Cyclone Remal which has left a trail of disaster, from the Sundarbans to Kolkata. Despite massive preparations, the cyclone has damaged 15,000 houses in around 30 blocks and 80 municipal wards, uprooted thousands of trees, damaged the infrastructure, and left everyday life in disarray, especially in the southern coast, as is the initial estimate. The damage could be many times worse.
It is well-known that the Chief Minister works 24x7 during poll-time. She keeps a round-the-clock watch on voting patterns, keeping track of the micro process, while keeping a tab on local leaders and polling agents.
During the Assembly polls in Nandigram, she had parked herself, with a broken leg, on a wheelchair, right outside a polling booth. She called upon rural women to be prepared with their kitchen utensils to ward off rigging and booth-capturing.
In the earlier phase, Junglemahal areas – Purulia, Bankura, Medinipur – have gone to polls. Once a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) bastion, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has been active here and it has become a BJP stronghold, especially among the tribal communities. The TMC has worked extremely hard to resurrect itself here, and is hoping to crack the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) grip on the tribals.
On January 1, crucial constituencies go to the polls: Kolkata South, Kolkata North, Diamond Harbour, Dum Dum, Jadavpur, Mathurapur, Basirhat, Barasat and Jayanagar. Diamond Harbour is the bastion of the CM’s nephew, and heir apparent, Abhishek Banerjee.
The rest of the constituencies have a strong TMC support base. Baranagar citizens will vote for their candidates for the Assembly by-election.
Meanwhile, after being cornered on Sandeshkhali, and badgered by a belligerent Governor routinely, the TMC has found relief and a certain buoyancy, due to certain current developments.
On May 27, the Apex Court gave a judgement which has brought cheer to the TMC camp. It has found that the BJP advertisements against the TMC “were prima facie disparaging”. A Vacation Bench of Justices J. K. Maheshwari and K. V. Viswanathan rejected the plea to intervene with a Calcutta High Court injunction against the “slanderous and derogatory” advertisements.
Justice Viswanathan told the BJP advocate, P. S. Patwalia, that “Prima facie, these advertisements are disparaging… You can promote yourself, you can say you are the best… We cannot lend our hand to cause acrimony.” It said that such advertisements “would not be in the interest of the voters. It will degenerate the debate… Your rival is not your enemy.”
The ruling party in Bengal had earlier appealed to the Election Commission (EC), raising serious objections to the advertisements. The EC had issued a show cause notice on May 18 to the BJP. The BJP had to give its reply by May 21. Justice Maheshwari also enquired if the EC had initiated any action till now; it was “a question of the independence of the Election Commission,” he said
Besides, in a setback to the BJP, former Calcutta High Court judge and BJP candidate from Tamluk, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, was censured by the EC for making derogatory remarks against Mamata Banerjee. It had barred him from any kind of campaigning for 24 hours.
It also asked J. P. Nadda, the BJP chief, to release an advisory to all candidates of his party and poll-campaigners, to refrain from following a similar trajectory. It mentioned that the comments made by Gangopadhyay was a violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
Significantly, the EC stated that his remark was “undignified” and a “low-level personal attack”. He was warned thereby to be extra-careful in the coming days, especially when it comes to public declarations. He made these public comments in a rally on May 15 at Haldia.
In recent times, the murky affairs and land-grab allegations at Sandeshkhali, involving a TMC bahubali, had become a huge propaganda tool for the BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been relentlessly beating the drum of Sandeshkali in rally after rally in Bengal. He would accuse the CM of allowing the hounding of women here, and appeal to the voters to “defeat this anti-woman” regime. However, he has suddenly, and, not-so-surprisingly, fallen silent on Sandeshkhali. Why?
This is because a video was released by the Trinamool Congress which rocked the boat of the BJP propaganda machine. In this 30-minute video, a BJP mandal president in Sandeshkhali II, Gangadhar Koyal, has been recorded by a spy cam.
He is telling the sleazy story of how top BJP state leader, Suvendu Adhikar, had ordered the local BJP leaders to frame TMC leaders. This is crucial because this area is a TMC stronghold.
“We got it done as per instructions of Suvenduda. He helped us. Suvenduda advised us that if we can’t get the (TMC’s) strongmen arrested, we won’t be able to put up a fight,” Koyal can be heard in the video. “And to get them arrested, they must be framed,” said one of the men, accompanying a smiling Koyal.
Indeed, it is difficult to testify if the video is authentic. No forensic test has been done as of now. However, the video became big news in Bengal and became viral. This led to the BJP propaganda machine crashing during a crucial time in the polls, while they lost one of their main trump cards to damage the TMC.
Meanwhile, a BJP woman leader, who played a key role in this propaganda, Syria Parveen, quit her party and joined the TMC. She accused the BJP of "scripting the entire incident". Her resignation is bound to impact the BJP in the crucial Basirhat constituency.
"In Sandeshkhali and Basirhat, I tried to be with women who had alleged molestation and harassment. I was fighting for the truth. Later I saw that this was only a story, a script. Mobile, media and money were used in this.
“And they (the BJP leaders) gave instructions through this… The BJP fights against the TMC. When I got to know that TMC people and leaders are fair, and they did not make any mistakes, then I decided that I would not go ahead with the fake things," she said.
She claimed that she has "many pieces of evidence" to show that her party leader "scripted" the Sandeshkali issue. She alleged that "sim cards and phones" were used by the BJP local leadership to manipulate the women in this area. The TMC's Haji Nurul Islam is pitted against BJP's Rekha Patra in Basirhat.
As a parallel to this counter-narrative, which went in favour of the TMC, West Bengal Governor, C. V. Ananda Bose, has found himself in a soup. A woman staffer at the sprawling Raj Bhawan, his official residence in the heart of Kolkata, accused him of sexual harassment, and filed a police case.
Mamata Banerjee and local TMC leaders, grabbed the situation to their advantage, and cornered the Governor, publicly and relentlessly. They left no stone unturned to support the woman and to accuse the Governor of brazen misconduct.
In what could be a tactical mistake, Modi stayed at the Raj Bhawan during one of his election tours in Bengal. This added gist to the fire. Mamata Banerjee and other leaders, thereby, accused Modi of choosing to keep mum on such a grave issue. After the BJP’s Sandeskhali propaganda was exposed, Modi has been, yet again, rendered speechless.
To the acute discomfort of the beleaguered Governor, the Kolkata Police submitted an investigation based on a complaint of sexual harassment made by a dancer against the Governor in 2023, to the state secretariat. She complained that she had travelled to Delhi last year in June where she stayed in a luxury hotel. The incident reportedly happened there.
In another twist, Mamata Banerjee stated that she has “another video, pen drive” of the Governor. In Hooghly, in a public meeting, the CM said: “The honourable Governor says ‘didigiri nahi chalegi’. That is true, ‘dadagiri and didigiri nahi chalegi’.
“But the Governor must first resign. Who is he to torture women? He recently called the press and showed a few edited videos. Why didn’t he show the entire footage? I ask the Press to go through the footage carefully…
“I got another video… pen drive. More scandal. Scandal after scandal… My God… If he calls me to Raj Bhavan, I will not go. If he calls me to meet him on the streets, I will do that. But, after hearing about the scandals, even sitting next to you is a sin.”
Bose, interestingly, has shown the CCTV footage of Raj Bhawan to around 100 selected people. He said that “the charges are engineered narratives with the intention to stop my fight against corruption and violence in Bengal.
“I always took the stand that her politics is not my cup of tea. Now, because of the humiliating remarks that have been made against me, I am forced to tell you, Mamata Banerjee, politics is dirty.
“Still, I will pray to God to save her, but this is difficult even for God. I will never accept this ‘didigiri’ on the distinguished office of the governor.”
He had earlier used the clause of ‘constitutional immunity from criminal proceedings’ and issued gag orders to the staffers at the Governor’s House. They were categorically told to “ignore any communication from police”.
The staffers apparently called up the woman and shared their solidarity with her – albeit, anonymously, afraid that they might lose their jobs. Questions addressed to the governor by reporters went unanswered.
The woman staffer thereby asked as to why is Bose “hiding behind a shield of immunity”, “so scared” and “afraid of a fair and proper investigation”.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Jharkhand, Kalpana Soren, wife of the elected Chief Minister, Hemant Soren, now in jail, has been making waves. She has proved to be a revelation, a fighter, and a mass-leader.
From a quiet and invisible housewife, who ran a primary/kindergarten school for kids, this MBA-educated woman has taken on the mantle of her husband’s political legacy, and is addressing rally after rally, striking a chord with the masses, especially the tribals.
It is well-known that Jharkhand and its tribals have huge respect for the Soren family, and especially Shibu Soren, who is like a father-figure to the people here. He originally led the protracted struggle for the political and economic autonomy, and fundamental rights of the tribal communities, long exploited by the ‘dikhus’ – outsiders -- since the British time.
This exploitation continued in post-Independence India as well. In the absence of her husband, she has now filled the gap.
In a state where the majority of the tribal communities consider the arrest of Hemant Soren as another brazen case of witch-hunt unleashed by the BJP regime in Delhi, Kalpana Soren might as well turn the tide against the BJP in these parliamentary polls. She is herself fighting a by-election this time.
Apart from mass rallies, often, she addresses small meetings, and interacts directly with the audience. In a recent such rally, while addressing a crowd of Bengali voters, she spoke in ‘Bangla’ and repeated, loudly and happily, what Mamata Banerjee would have truly loved. She said: “Khela Hobe!” The crowd roared back, “Yes, Khela Hobe!”