What we know as history is not always a true retelling of the past—and often, history is hidden by falsehoods and a complete whitewashing of facts. With his debut book Blood Island: An Oral History of the Marichjhapi Massacre, journalist and writer Deep Halder did a brave job of uncovering the real bloodied history of Bengal, a blot on its existence, carefully covered up by the Left, which ruled it for 34 long years. Halder’snew book, Bengal 2021: An Election Diary, which is a field book, highlights the moods of the state ahead of the crucial Assembly elections through enchanting interviews with people from all walks of life.
Ahead of what promises to be a historic election, Halder met and spoke to Bengal’s biggest stars-turned-politicians, refugees who want to become permanent citizens, and travelled as far as the Bangladesh border to gauge the mood of the people. Bengal 2021 looks at an electrifying election unfolding in the times of Covid-19.
The West Bengal elections are due in March-April this year. After an impressive show in the 2019 general elections, the BJP is confident of breaching the TMC’s stronghold. The author has tried ascertaining the satisfaction level of the voters with the current dispensation. The TMC’s performance on various parameters such as health, education, economy, law and order, migration, and job creation, etc, has been evaluated on the TMC as well as Left Front tenures, and how Bengal is performing when compared to other states. Mamata Banerjee will also be evaluated by the voters in comparison to the chief ministerial candidates of the BJP and the Left-Congress combine. Here lies the biggest dilemma for the BJP. Should theparty declare its CM candidate? It doesn’t have a leader to match the charisma of Mamata Banerjee. On the other hand, the TMC leader hopes to ride home banking on her development work, sub-nationalism, and the backing of minorities. The Left parties and the Congress alliance (Mahajot) hope to get back some of the votes they lost to the BJP in 2019 and emerge kingmakers.
The level of polarisation seen today is unprecedented in West Bengal politics. The fight for the Muslim vote has intensified with the AIMIM’s entry. Mamata Banerjee, in 2011, and then the BJP in 2019 have somewhat succeeded in converting a classbased election into a caste-based one. The BJP made big inroads in the SC/ST, OBC, and the general vote-bank by working on Matuas and Bhadralok. The BJP has painted the TMC with the minority appeasement brush. In West Bengal, there is likely to be a triangular contest and the TMC could benefit from the split of the opposition vote. For the BJP to win, it needs to draw more voters from the Left and the TMC. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ability to sell the ‘double engine ki Sarkar’ story could decide the BJP’s fortunes. The economic distress inflicted on the people due to Covid-19 has also impacted the state’s finances and they need Central assistance to tide through these tough times. The author meticulously highlights these socio-political changes that happened in West Bengal in the book.
The book is divided into 10 chapters. In the initial chapters, Halder mostly talks about the rise of the BJP as a significant political party in West Bengal. While trying to understand and explain the rise of the BJP, he also analyses Hindutva politics in West Bengal from a historical perspective, highlighting the ideological and organisational legacies of the BJP. This is a well-written book to understand the current socio-political situation in West Bengal.
Halder writes further in the book about the much-talked Bengali pride. Facing a tough electoral contest against an ascendant BJP in 2021, Mamata Banerjee appears to be fuelling an outsider-vs-local divide in West Bengal. The TMC has launched the ‘amra versus ora’ (insider versus outsider) campaign showcasing the BJP as a party of North Indians with no knowledge or regard for the rich Bengali culture and heritage. It is harping on regional nationalism to counter the BJP’s Hindu nationalism. The author has honestly mentioned in the book how the BJP has captured the intellectual elite Bengali mind like never before.
Halder has done a good job with this book without being preachy or hypothetical, and delves deep into the political thoughts floating in the state.
The writer is a Bengaluru-based Management Consultant, Literary Critic and Advisor with Kalinga Literary Festival. He can be reached out at ashutoshbthakur@gmail.com.