The civic poll test

First,the results are a reaffirmation that the CPM-led front in the state has run out of ideas to capture the electorate’s imagination. In the few pre-poll campaign meetings,top communist leaders like Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,Biman Bose and others were heard harping on the theme of reversing the Trinamool wave. “We sense a reversal in the mood among the people. A section of the electorate who had discarded us might be returning to us because of the chaos our political adversary has created in their spheres of influence,” they said. They accused the panchayats,the zilla parishads and other grassroots bodies controlled by the Trinamool Congress of gross mismanagement.

The poll results,however,show how far off the mark the CPM’s assessment has been. It brings to a whimpering end the Left campaign that the tide is turning away from Mamata Banerjee. They also reveal how Left leaders have persistently misread the people’s pulse. There can be a debate over whether the municipal results are a positive assertion for the Trinamool,but there is,however,not an iota of doubt over the outright rejection of the comrades.

In the backdrop of such successive debacles,the legitimacy of the present government assumes importance. The CPM,party insiders admit,is divided over this vexed issue. The majority favours clinging on to government,to enjoy the fruits of power as long as possible. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and some others were in a minority in proposing to relinquish power after the Lok Sabha polls. The majority took refuge under the constitutional validity of staying in power till its term ends in May 2011. What they fail to realise is that the more they cling to power,the more they bleed,and the contempt of the people grows deeper.

This is because the government under Bhattacharjee has lost direction and momentum. Nothing moves at Writers Buildings,the state secretariat,for months. The writ of the government does not run in Darjeeling. The administration does not exist in vast areas of East and West Midnapore,Bankura,Hooghly and parts of Purulia. There is no progress on the building and widening of the national highways because of land acquisition complications. There is no fresh industrial investment in real terms. The desperation was best portrayed in the state industry minister Nirupam Sen’s response to the civic results — “Onek to holo. (We have had enough)”. But the dichotomy of the Left was on distinct display as he went on to add — “We will stick to the normal poll schedule for the state assembly.”

For Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool,the civic poll outcome has come as a massive political stimulus. Her victory is real as well as symbolic. Her gamble of going it alone and facing a triangular contest has paid off,with convincing wins in Kolkata and Salt Lake. In her pre-poll meetings she had laid bare her plans for 2011: “I need your vote to win Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Bidhannagar Municipality so that we can work in tandem when we capture Writers Buildings in 2011.”

In the post-poll euphoria,her most significant comment has been her claim that she will have a Trinamool chairman in as many as 51 municipal boards while her party has independently won only 26 civic bodies. In the remaining 25,the Trinamool and the Congress jointly make up the numbers. But her statement hints at the possibility of engineering splits among Congress-elected councillors,who may be lured to join the Trinamool.

The big picture emerging out of this municipal poll is Banerjee’s growing clout,not only in denting the Left but also sinking her UPA ally in select pockets. In Ranaghat,for example,Congress bigwig Shankar Singh was given a lesson,as Trinamool alone captured the board. In Pranab Mukherjee’s home constituency of Jangipur,Trinamool played spoilsport and paved the way for the Left to retain control over the municipality by splitting opposition votes. Given her present popularity,she might be sensing a new political reality of marginalising not only the Left,but the Congress as well.

subrata.nagchoudhury@expressindia.com