From Ma Mati Manush to Bangla Nijer Meyke Chai

The Trinamool Congress was launched by Mamata Banerjee in the year 1998, it is an All India party but with a regional character operating mostly in West Bengal. The article seeks to uncover the reason behind a shift of slogan from Ma Mati Manush to Bangla Nijer Meyke Chai.

In the year 2011 West Bengal witnessed a massive Paribartan (change) with the slogan Ma Mati Manush. The mighty Left Front lost to Trinamool Congress under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee. This marked a significant shift in the politics of Bengal. In the era of Left Front it was always more about the party and less about the individual reflecting as Dwaipayan Bhattacharjee has rightly pointed the Party Society model. But in case of TMC it has always centered around Mamata Banerjee, as the political strategist Prashant Kishore has accepted   “the core of TMC is one and only Mamata Banerjee and her decisions.”

Bengal saw a new model of governance with her with the advent of the TMC. Mamata Banerjee on assuming power appointed Manjul Krishna Thakur as a minister of MSME and Kapil Krishna Thakur contested from Bongaon constituency on a TMC ticket. An interesting fact is that both of them are the sons of Binapani Devi famously known as Boro Ma, the custodian of the Matua community. With the passage of time, her dependency on a group of loyalists has increased. The Birbhum district President, Anubrata Mondal is a classic example of it. Though he has been popular grassroots leader in Birbhum but his loyalty towards Banerjee has earned him a position wherein the party supremo values his recommendations be it in the realm of policy making or candidate selection. This is proof of the massive structural change that has happened in politics of Bengal with time. While Left politics was centered around organization building but for the TMC it loyalty oriented.

Though the TMC enjoyed an almost opposition less electoral battle in 2016 but in 2021 the situation is very different. The meteoric rise of BJP has become a matter of concern for the ruling party and its leader. The rise of the Saffron brigade is not an accident, an indicator being that after the BJP’s coming to power at the centre in 2014 the number of RSS shakas has increased in Bengal. The politics of identity has been a core political instrument employed by the BJP and it never hesitated to use it in Bengal. The increasing rise of Hindutva in the constituencies dominated by SCs and STs has meant further trouble for the TMC. The announcement of CAA is considered as a master stroke for the central party which garnered them 18 Lok Sabha seats out of 42. To name some of the seats won by the BJP, included Jhargram, Midnapore, Bankura, Bishnupur etc which are mainly dominated by the ST population. Some scholars have rightly pointed out that the rise of Hindutva should be viewed more as a subaltern rising. The TMC did grasp the fault line and kept no stone unturned to woo the lost votes. The mass campaign Tapashili Sanglap launched by the party in the constituencies dominated by the SC and ST population was designed to gauge the peoples feedback and how seek ways to overcome it. Rajib Banerjee now an ex-member of TMC was removed from the Backward Class department and Binay Krishna Barman the then Mathabhanga MLA was appointed with the responsibility. The state govt announced a holiday in the name of  Panchanan Barma, the leader of Rajbangshi community. The government also announced the opening up of schools in Nepali, Kurmali languages. It has further announced the creation of Dalit Sahitya Academy to promote Dalit literature and the chair person appointed for the same was the famous Dalit author Mr Monoranjan Byapari. While the saffron brigade alleged Banerjee of promoting appeasement politics she replied with reciting Chandimantra on many occasions and identifying herself a daughter of a brahmin family and that it would be futile to debate with her on Hinduism but she respects all other religion and communities. These political steps further show how deep-rooted identity politics has become and is being promoted by her, as well. One may consider it as a ploy by BJP where she is stepping in. But it is important to understand the charisma she possesses and the way people of all sections follow her and therefore how imperative it is to maintain the image. Though a number of corruption cases has been alleged against her own party leaders famously her own niece, Abhisekh Banerjee, yet every time it is Mamata Banerjee who has come to the rescue of her party. The BJP central election machinery has accused the ruling party of corruption and lawlessness in the state with Ms Banerjee countering the claims, almost single handedly. This is the turning point that requires analysis.

While in 2021 the TMC had launched the campaign theme Bangla Nijer Meyke Chai which proposes the idea that Ms Banerjee is the daughter of the soil and Bengal in order to get governed needs no outsider but the TMC and Mamata. The outsider referred to here is  the BJP because the central election machinery of Bengal BJP is controlled by Amit Shah and JP Nadda who are nowhere connected with Bengal politics The subnational Bengali identity and outsider vs insider debate is currently operational in Bengal politics. The idea of party control is losing ground and an individual is becoming the sole repository of power as well as the only real political identity. The launch of this campaign directly proposes the position.

In conclusion we can say though Ms Banerjee is thriving due to her individual popularity and the welfare schemes she had launched, but there is a significant anti-incumbency wave as the ground organization is losing its bearings. While the BJP has an ambitious election manifesto, it has earned some ill will by taking many of the TMC leaders who have multiple corruption charges leveled against them. But even if it does not win there is nothing for them to lose. On the other hand, if the TMC comes to power for the third time it needs to ensure that its organization gets stronger.

Pronil Mridha

Intern, AGA

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author in his personal capacity.  They do not reflect the position of Asia in Global Affairs.