West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is fighting the toughest battle of her career where she is taking on the might of the BJP. Despite a 10-year anti-incumbency, despite the BJP unleashing its ablest general Home Minister Amit Shah to take her on, she seems to be holding her own. No one can predict who will win the fight for Bengal, it is becoming the bloodiest battle in this round of elections.
Yet right in the middle of the voting Mamata Banerjee shot off letters to fifteen leaders of Opposition parties including Sonia Gandhi, Farooq Abdullah, Akhilesh Yadav, Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Jaganmohan Reddy, M.K. Stalin, Tejashwi Yadav, Mehbooba Mufti, Arvind Kejriwal, Hemant Soren and Naveen Patnaik highlighting assaults by the BJP and the Modi government on democracy and Constitution. “I am writing this letter to convey my serious concerns over a series of assaults by the BJP and its government at the Centre on democracy and constitutional federalism in India,” Mamata Banerjee wrote in the letter. She went on to claim that the “BJP is trying to establish a ‘one-party authoritarian rule’ in the country and wrote how the BJP is misusing central agencies.
Now there are those who see this letter as an act of desperation. Why is she reaching out to Sonia Gandhi when the Congress is fighting against her in Bengal? If she wants to portray herself as the leader of a coalition against the BJP, shouldn’t she have waited till the Bengal elections are over? Reaching out now seems like a plea to the Opposition leaders to come and bail her out, rather than one making a leadership bid.
All are very valid arguments, except there is a counter argument. One of the points raised by Mamata in the letter is how the BJP is trying to destroy the federal character of the country. The “double engine” plank of the BJP’s campaign in West Bengal where it claims having the same government at the Centre and the state would ensure smoother implementation of the government’s schemes can also be read as a larger plan for “One Nation, One (BJP) Government”. And that is worrying not just for Mamata, but also for Naveen Patnaik, Kejriwal, Jaganmohan Reddy, Stalin, Uddhav Thackeray and all the other leaders she has reached out to. This is why the battle of Bengal is so important, because it is a huge impediment in the BJP game-plan of saffronising the rest of the country. Apart from the south and parts of east, there are very few bastions left that haven’t succumbed to the BJP. Of these West Bengal and Odisha stand out specially with Maharashtra facing a question mark, post Sharad Pawar’s meeting with Amit Shah recently. In fact, Amit Shah has announced that after capturing West Bengal his next focus would be Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
Hence this letter, written now in the middle of the Bengal polls makes strategic sense. In the letter she reminds the other leaders of what the BJP has done to Delhi with the National Capital Bill and also the many face-offs she herself had with the Governor of West Bengal. And interestingly most leaders have reacted positively to this letter, agreeing that the BJP is out to weaken democracy. This includes Rajasthan CM and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot. As Congress leader B.K. Hariprasad told NewsX, there are national considerations and there are state considerations, when asked to react on Mamata’s letter.
As to whether Mamata Banerjee can become the face of a united Opposition’s fight against the BJP, that will depend on how she fares in West Bengal. If she can save her bastion, then her candidature gains heft. But it is to be remembered that Mamata is not a team player. Her politics may have matured over the years but she is still to prove her credentials as an Opposition leader and one who will not walk out on her allies in a tantrum. Don’t forget she has supped with both the NDA and the UPA, and left both coalitions midway. But that’s a debate for a later date.