What are some sad truths about Mamata Banerjee?
Mamata Banerjee is undisputed leader of Bengal in absence of strong opposition but there is no positive opinion about her outside Bengal. The recent 2022 state elections proved that. Her ‘khela hobe’ slogan was a winning slogan only in Bengal and other opposition leaders tried replicating it without success. Economic progress in Bengal under her is better than previous disastrous 34 year communist rule and this is what people of Bengal compare to support her. They do not compare with other states which are performing much better. Except agriculture and related primary activity, there is not much action on other fronts.
Durga Pujo is perfect time to project ‘Maa Mamata’ image
As per Axis poll, Mamata Banerjee’s leadership rating is only 2% which is higher than Rahul Gandhi rating of 1% but much below current PM Modi’s rating of 40%. TMC leaders like Shatrughan Sinha, who got Assansol Lok Sabha by-election seat from TMC and won it, say Mamata Banerjee is alternative as PM but she suffers a strong negative image outside Bengal.
Her image is also not positive in leftist states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu etc. The 2% rating she is getting is only from small section of Bengal population who enjoys her only card she has – Bengali sub-nationalism. This also means many people in Bengal are forced to vote for her party for these reasons – fear factor, hopelessly weak opposition, Mamata playing emotional issues like Bengali sub-nationalism, appeasements instead of doing real economic activity on ground (like grants minority community issues and also Durga Puja events), strong anti-north and anti-Delhi rhetoric to project them as victim of injustice which was done by her predecessor communist government also.
TMC lost badly in Goa 2022 state election despite getting many heavyweight congress politicians including ex-CMs. TMC may get disgruntled leaders from BJP also like Shatrughan Sinha and Yashwant Sinha but winning outside Bengal is extremely difficult. In other states like Haryana and Goa, politicians who joined TMC with great hope after 2021 Bengal 2021 state election win have quietly exited the party. Even in Bengali population state of Tripura and Barak valley of Assam, TMC is not successful in village level, municipality level or MLA level elections. In Tripura, congress is emerging opposition to BJP government.
Money matters for most politicians
TMC wasted 47 Crores in Goa state 2022 election
This is what she got in Goa election
TMC spent highest money among all the political parties which 47.5 Crore (link attached) while other parties spent much less. BJP spent around 18 Cr, congress 12 Cr. And AAP 3.5 Cr. If you are wondering, how TMC manages huge funding for small state Goa election, then then answer is Partha Chatterjee-Arpita Mukherjee teachers scam, Anubrata Mandal cow smuggling scam and various other state level ponzi scams where TMC extracts huge money from common people for their political needs. Helplessly poor people just can’t avoid this extraction called ‘tolabazi’ locally.
Mamata Banerjee’s election campaign in UP for 2022 state election for Akhilesh Yadav proved ineffective. Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party got least number of seats in last two decade. Mamata Banerjee made no impact in election campaign despite her high visibility visit to Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. She was shown black flags and her supporters in Bengal can only fume.
Taking political blessings or curse?
Blue football in Bengal and red football in UP – as per party color
No ‘khela hoi’ in UP
Never done this in Bengal – Secular in Bengal and communal in Varanasi just for votes!
Chamchas can only protest
Mamata Banerjee tried forging an opposition alliance just before 2019 general election to defeat BJP and Modi but no luck. She is again trying for form a non-congress opposition just like Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is trying. The problem with Mamata Banerjee is that she cannot get along with anybody. She is a born fighter and has been doing street fights against communists from her early days. She will keep fighting with anyone who comes in front of her.
After Goa and UP misadventure in 2022, she has not much courage left to fight Gujarat and HP election in 2022. The overconfidence to fight Goa election with a bang after 2021 Bengal state election win has disappeared.
Picture source: Google/ABP/ToI
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