When the TMC government go t electorally ambushed on 4 May 2026, the focus could have immediately shifted to the immense potential that the newly installed government had in terms of meeting the aspirations of the populace in areas of income, employment and commercial endeavours. Instead, at least for the next week or so, we witnessed a continued focus in the media and social networks on the sins and misdeeds of the previous government. There was hardly much interest in who would be the next CM, or what would be his economic and social priorities, but instead a lot of discussion centered around the leading lights of the outgoing government and their perceived shortcomings that led to the downfall.
This, in a way, was not unnatural – given the long wait of the state for what Steven Spielberg described as the “best drink of water after the longest drought of my life.” The last few years of the Left Front rule (1977-2011) had left West Bengal gasping for breath in trying to come to terms with lack of employment and job opportunities, coupled with an all-pervading “party” culture where governance played second fiddle to a parallel government in Alimuddin Street. This was followed in 2011 by a change of regime with the slogan of “parivartan” or change.
The change promised was ostensibly in areas such as infrastructure, employment, work culture, and a general sense of freedom from the shackles of the “party” culture. Although it started off on a promising note, the later years of TMC rule fizzled out into the same pattern of general drift that the Left rule was accused of. In fact, the process was so institutionalized in Bengal that the huge electoral setback of 2026 was quite unexpected for a section of the TMC leadership and political analysts of the state. Now that a new government is in place with a landslide majority, it may be worth re-visiting the wish list of 2011.
A few are of course very apparent – and in the public domain and debates for long. These relate to the need to bring a resurgence in the investment climate of the state, and to improve the health and education infrastructure at the government level. Add to this the imperative of following the “rajdharma” in good governance, and to cut down on the level of corruption in public life. But what Bengal craved for in 2011 was probably the feeling of hope and positivity – and the “feel good factor” that certain undesirable things, entrenched too deep for too long, would now change for the better.
The state has, over the last 50 years, been subjected to a complete “politicization” of the governance process. Party affiliation and unquestionable loyalty counted as significant factors at every level of decision making, ignoring merit and quality. This immediately created a mind block for investors – and it had its negative impact in every sphere of social life, including education, health and social welfare. Another aspect that adds to the overall negativity is the “mindset of mediocrity” cultivated by successive past regimes – where doles and handouts in the name of welfare economics are predominant, and the state failed to provide an environment or platform where industriousness and being competitive to improve one’s self are the guiding virtues.
This becomes even more unfortunate considering Bengal’s past record of commercial and industrial glory, and the vast reserve of human talent that the state still nurtures, as evidenced by the success of the sons of the soil in various spheres of life outside the state. A new dimension that got added was the ambience of divisiveness based on religious identity – something that simmered at the surface in the past, but was now brought to the forefront of public discourse and defined political agendas. It is thus not enough if the new government is able to bring about a few industries to the state, or is able to make some cosmetic and transactional impact here and there in education, health, or infrastructure. Bengal needs to go beyond that.
Bengal today craves for positivity – we need to eradicate the menaces of lumpenisation of politics, the culture of party affiliation dominating every aspect of political decision making, and the refusal to give the right impetus to “spread one’s wings” and soar the heights over mediocrity. We also need to shift the focus away from a continuous feed of divisiveness in the name of infiltration and religion, and to promote the Bengali spirit of cohesiveness and collaboration while we try to march forward collectively as a state. Given the current political atmosphere in the country, this is actually a big ask. And given the track record of the incumbent in the other states where it rules, it would indeed be a tall order to achieve the wishlist, especially as opposition is likely to be vicious and combative. But as Bengal starts a fresh innings in its political history, one can only hope that some modicum of positivity in the political and social spaces will be restored in a state that has suffered for too long.
(The writer is a Chartered Accountant.)